Absenteeism

[bmasc1]

Can anyone please share with me best practices on absenteeism. What seems to have worked well in your center.

Thanks

[sealink]

Rewards for perfect attendance in the form of a bonus is what my call center uses. Also attendance is also stressed during training of the employee. As far as being absent, a percentage is recorded and if the company rep gets over a certain percentage than termination is possible.

[brewer]

It seems that call center envrionmnet is often shapen by it's leadership. When the leadership exmplifies a mindset of motivation, and concern toward quality, it tends to be mirrored in the workforce. The downside to this is that so often times the metrics for measurement are not arrived at through the utilization of those who have actual experience in determining factors like AHT, Adherence etc., thus the emphasis becomes one focussed on quantity, which so readilly lowers the rate of qualoity.

[sealink]

Originally posted by brewer
. The downside to this is that so often times the metrics for measurement are not arrived at through the utilization of those who have actual experience in determining factors like AHT, Adherence etc., thus the emphasis becomes one focussed on quantity, which so readilly lowers the rate of qualoity.

When can you say that a company rep. is not measured on anything but AHT, quantity of calls, and other statistics.. When a call is monitored is the rep given anything for quality or just metrics that must be adhered to?

[brewer]

Perhaps I was shallow in the clarity of what I was attempting to state. I believe that it is important to have metrics of measurments and standards.

I was addressing the way that some companies arrive at these metrics. For instance, some companies allow the standards and goals to be set by departments that have no real knowledge of the call taking process. They do not allow consideration for negotiations during Customer Sat calls, nor do alot of inbound/outbound call centers actually teach there agents "soft sales techniques", "common buying signals", or assumptive sales skills. All of which enhance the agents ability to succesfully meet the required standards and metrics.

Not to mention how the addition of this training aids in the empowerment process of the agent and instills within them an even greater sense of confidence. While increasing the conversion which is the bottom line.

[sealink]

Originally posted by brewer
While increasing the conversion which is the bottom line.

I agree with you, it was just that well-spoken agents sometimes my be overlooked if they fail to meet the required statistical criteria.

Regards,
Sealink

[brewer]

I totally agree. That is a concern that I share. Oftentimes agents who place emphasis on quality of service and cusotmer care often are overlooked when it comes to promotions, opportunities, and incentives because they do not meet the numbers.

[Alan Clayton]

a certain number of occurences in a 6-12 month period = verbal warning

plus one in that period = written

plus one from the written = final warning

plus one from the final warning = pack your boxes and have a good life.

occurrences = tardies or unexcused absences....

It is fair, it is published, and as long as you stick to it, you will have many fans among the ones who follow the rules...

[djdaley]

Whilst Alan's post is very effective, it discounts "explained" absenteeism.
Unexplained absenteeism is a compliance matter (mostly) and as such Alan's post is effective.


Where you have consistent or regular absenteeism, you need to firstly look at the leading indicators. Is there high occupancy in your centre? Do you have fair, equitable, and valid measurement systems in place (same for incentives / rewards and development)?
Are staff spoken to in a non aggresive manner upon return to work? Do they understand the impact of their absences on their peers and on the centre?

Target the causes rather than the effects - it is better to cure the real reason than to run around fighting spot fires.

Good luck!

David

[Sachin]

I have been reading views of Ops. Managers across the forum and the only solution they seem to be suggesting is warning( s) followed by termination.

However, I hold a different opinion. You all will agree that the pre-process and process training costs are very high for a company to bear . These are ever increasing with the advent of technology and more demanding service environment. Thus, dealing with absenteeism by 'termination' should not be the ideal way.

Absenteeism is often a result of disinterest in the work resulted most often by the monotony of the call taking job. Thus, to make it interesting and the employees motivated it is essential to keep on motivating the call taking agents more often than is required by any other type of job.

If your organisation follows the point system on appraisals , for each performance parameters ...NOT JUST THE NUMBER OF CALLS ANSWERED but the quality, proactiveness, login hours , Average Call handling time, listening / questioning skills and rapport building ...then the issue of absenteeism can be handled very effectively by giving higher weightage to the parameter on the appraisal scale. This can be even customised to an extent that it becomes effective for any specific chronic case.

Thus, the onus this way, will be on the agent to perform and acheive the turnarounds along with self inflicted discipline. Also, coupled with it should be incentives for >98% ( eg.) attendence over each quarter.

This has worked fine by me and has been very consistent as far as the results are concerned. Also important to consider is the profile of the agent at the time of recruitment. This can assume higher weightage for first 3 months of service and can diminish as the vintage intensifies.

Food for thought..............

[rakesh_nayak]

Hi!

Refer to my writeup: " People Management – The Individual, The Team & The Goal". I'm sure you will find some useful tips on how to curtail absenteeism. Let me know if I can be of any help... any time.

All the best!

-Rakesh Nayak