We often get asked this question –
what is it really like to work in a call centre?
We commissioned three young journalists
to investigate. The findings are surprising.
Despite the modern sweatshop image,
our reporters found a work hard, play hard environment, with rewards, job
satisfaction and even love!
The Untold Truth Of Call Centre Life
Behind the negative stereotype
there’s a secret satisfaction to call centre life.
By Matthew Brown
Call centre employees know something
most people don’t. A dirty little secret that some of them keep from friends
and family.
Something that people who haven’t
worked in a call centre can’t understand, or won’t believe. But sooner or
later, many call centre staff let someone in on their secret. It’s really quite
simple.
Many call centre employees love
their job.
They don’t feel boredom or monotony.
They aren’t upset by angry customer complaints. They don’t even feel that their
work is pointless. To them, the stereotype of a call centre as a dull place to
work is nothing like their own experience.
“Calling the Account Managers to
tell them about a lead is like telling a child that tomorrow is Christmas Day,”
says Gabrielle Deschamps, 22. Gabrielle works for an international
telemarketing agency based in Bournemouth.
“I do business development for Dell,
calling companies in France to talk about the virtualisation of their server
and storage systems. My job is to find leads, and it is very interesting
because I’m speaking to the IT Directors of the companies I call.”
Speaking to senior staff at a range
of companies makes Gabrielle feel that her work is valued. It also uses her
language skills. Born in France, Gabrielle speaks both her native French and
fluent English. In an increasingly globalised business world, many
telemarketing and international companies rely on multilingual employees. Call
centre workers with a second language alongside English can often find
themselves earning a good wage in a job that values their skills highly.
Sales Agent Nick Upton, 24, finds
his personal interests help him to do his job at the Dixons contact centre in
Sheffield. Like Gabrielle, he appreciates the value his employer places on
skills and knowledge.
“I’m interested in technology and in
this job I talk people through the details of laptops, televisions, stereo
equipment and all sorts of electrical goods. I’ve gained a great deal of
knowledge and I enjoy helping people improve their work or leisure time by
choosing the right product,” says Upton.
Creating a good working atmosphere
has long been a key part of a call centre manager’s or supervisor’s role. Most
call centres have their own motivational games and internal competitions to
keep staff productive and relaxed. To outsiders, these can seem silly, but
managers use them for a reason. They work.
“I really enjoy the competitive side
of my job. Being in sales means the rewards and bonuses are very good,” says
Upton.
“This is the first call centre job
I’ve ever had and before I started I thought I would hate it. But it’s
enjoyable.”
Before working at the Dixons contact
centre, Upton thought call centre work would be all about hitting harsh sales
targets set by management.
“In fact it is quite laid back.
There are targets to hit, but I take inbound sales calls so half the job is
already done by the time the customer picks up the phone.”
Of course, every job has a downside,
and call centre work is no exception.
“I do speak to the odd grumpy
person, but most people are willing to have a conversation at least,” says
Deschamps.
Many call centre horror stories
feature angry customers venting frustration at faulty products or bad service.
In reality, such calls are in a minority, and complaints department staff are
specially trained in how to deal with problems.
“It can be quite funny to listen to
an angry customer sometimes. Someone having a rant cheers me up if it’s been a
hard day. It does throw them a bit when I just agree with what they say and
pass them through to the complaints department,” says Upton.
But most people love a good
conversation. Call centre work is communication, and talking to a diverse range
of people can be incredibly satisfying, whether it’s a great group of
colleagues or the chance to have friendly conversations with customers all day,
every day, ultimately it’s people that make a workplace into more than just
somewhere to grind out a living. The mixture of people employed by large call
centres can also make colleagues into lasting friends.
“It’s the people I work with that
make the job so enjoyable, and I have some great colleagues. But that’s because
they too are happy in their work, and the atmosphere around the office is
jovial and fun,” says Deschamps.
Some people even find love. Just
like Gavin and Stacey in the BBC comedy of the same name, telephone flirtations
can lead to romance. Earlier this year a poll commissioned by Lloyds Pharmacy
found that call centre employees were more likely to have had an office
relationship than workers in any other job.
Out of 3,000 people surveyed, 29% of
those that worked in call centres said they had shared an extra-special
connection with a colleague. Finance and HR workers were next on the list, with
28% and 26% respectively admitting to a workplace fling.
An open-plan office can certainly be
perfect for making eyes at a cute new colleague or casually flirting with the
boss. Many call centres have large staff and organise works social events,
always a great time for mutually attracted co-workers to finally cop off. Of
course, the office gossip grapevine is sure to spread word of any romance
around long before the lovers arrive at work the next morning, whether together
or separately!
Office gossip also provides a
never-ending supply of amusing anecdotes for happy call centre workers to share
with friends who doubt the fun side of the job.
“We get people calling up and asking
for dooooves (DVDs) and lucitvs (LCD TVs), like on the Fonejacker TV show. It’s
not annoying at all, we’ve all done prank calls when we were younger so we just
humour them and act like we know what they are talking about,” says Nick Upton.
“And although I’ve never encountered
him, there’s also one guy who calls the contact centre whilst, ahem, you know
what.”
Now that is a dirty little secret.
Matthew Brown
Student work in call centres – what
is it like?
Dewi Griffiths investigates.
It’s not exactly the first thing you
want to do after finishing a long shift but, only an hour after returning home
from work, Richard Thompson welcomes me into his student house with a warm
smile. The 22-year-old is currently studying to be an accountant at university
but I am more interested in his part-time work.
Thompson works at a call centre in
Cardiff and unlike the majority of students and graduates who are struggling to
find work, he is thriving.
Firstly, I needed to find out about
Thompson’s duties in his current position. “After my employers realised that
90% of calls put through to stores were not being answered, they decided to set
up the call centre in order to deal with more queries and to be able to supply
an improved level of customer service,” he explained. “Some of my duties
include handling customer complaints or queries, tracking delivery orders and
assisting with business queries from stores or from different departments
within the centre.”
Thompson worked in a local
convenience store after finishing school and it was his first real taste of
employment. However, after being accepted on his university course he decided
to try for something more challenging and successfully applied to work in the
call centre.
That was two years ago and I quizzed
him on what type of skills he felt he had acquired and developed since joining
the call centre. “Firstly my negotiating and interpersonal skills have really
developed as most of my duties involve dealing with customers in a courteous
and helpful manner. I have also improved my problem-solving skills. There are
so many situations where there isn’t a clear solution, therefore I am often
required to think on my feet. Thirdly I would say that I have improved my
team-working skills as I often assist my colleagues with queries and I also seek
the advice of other members of my team. With around 850 members of staff
working at various times, there’s always someone there who is ready to offer
support!”
Having mentioned team working, I
quizzed him about the opportunities he had to build relationships with his
colleagues. “I found it very easy to make friends and after a few months I knew
about half the staff! There are also lots of different staff working there,
young and old, men and women, people of all races and religions – it really is
diverse, which is great!”
Thompson continued, “The staff
facilities are also quite impressive. When you’re on your break you can either
go out for lunch or use the in-house facilities such as the pool table and TV
room, so you can catch the Fifa World Cup if you’re really lucky! It means that
you can make friends at work in a relaxed environment, which is tremendous.”
It is obvious that Thompson enjoys
his work. Also, compared to his last job where he received the minimum wage, he
is well rewarded. “My wage is fantastic and because I work weekends I am on a
double-time rate. There are other benefits too, such as free shares and
discounts on products. You feel like you are being rewarded for your hard work,
which is important. There are also awards and achievements, for example
employee of the month and rewards for positive customer feedback, which also
contributes to your drive for success.”
Even though it is late on a Saturday
night and he has just finished a 10-hour shift, his enthusiasm shines through
and he explains that his current shift pattern helps him to balance his
academic studies and social life. “One thing that has really impressed me is
that they have student shifts which cover evenings and weekends. This is an
indication that the company is aware that everybody is in a different situation
and that they are prepared to cater for our needs.”
One thing he does emphasise is that
whilst he is happy in his current position he isn’t taking it easy. “There’s no
room for complacency in my position and you are always required to work hard.
Everybody has KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), which are statistics that
measure your performance, for example average length of call times, your
availability for calls and work attendance.”
“I think it’s a good thing,” he added.
“It is a clear indication that everybody is working to a high standard. It also
means that if you hit certain targets you are eligible for benefits and
bonuses. If your statistics are low, you are trained in the areas you are
struggling in so there is also plenty of support on offer that can further
develop your skills.”
Whilst I understand that he is happy
in his current position, I am keen to find out whether there is any capacity to
progress within the organisation. “I’m actually applying for a new position at
the moment which is a real-time analysis role,” he stated. “This is a more
technical role which studies the statistics of our team members and forecasts
the number of calls the centre will receive in the coming weeks. I’m hoping to
get the position as it is something I have not yet experienced and it will
equip me with a greater range of skills.”
Finally, my thoughts turn to whether
he would advise someone else to apply for a position in a call centre. “Would I
recommend it?”, he asks whilst rubbing his chin in a contemplative manner. “I
know that to work in our centre you have to be of a certain standard and I’m
sure it is the same in other centres. You have to be prepared to work hard, be
able to adapt to difficult and stressful situations and show initiative. You
also need to be cool, calm and collected and not get discouraged by the odd
‘difficult’ customer! The position has its positive and negative aspects, much
like any job, but if you work hard then you are rewarded accordingly. Working in
a call centre certainly suits me and if you are looking for a challenge and an
interesting work environment, then I would definitely recommend it!”
Dewi Griffths
Graduate employment in a call centre
A growing number of graduates are
turning to call centre work in a bid to give their career a flying start – as
well as reduce that graduate overdraft of course!
Tom Waller investigates this growing
employment trend.
Getting that foot in the door is
more vital now than ever as the recession bites particularly hard for
graduates. With the number of students graduating steadily rising and the
graduate job market shrinking, the sector has become somewhat unbalanced.
Recent studies have shown the average graduate job is now attracting more than
100 applicants for each position.
Having had first-hand experience of
both industries I can conclude the old adage of it being who you know is also
dead in the water. So, no quick fix there either, I’m afraid. Unless you’re one
of the chosen few that get through the rigorous recruitment process and scoop
that gold-dust-like graduate job, the only way to get ahead now is hard work.
Call centres provide a good way of
getting a great overview of a company and its operations, and the results can
really pay off. Handily, two of my good friends from my call centre days have
used the basis of my theory to prove my point.
Adam just graduated from the
University of Manchester and Jim from Portsmouth. We were taking calls for
various companies, including Dell, Texaco and The Royal Mail to name a few. I’m
not sure their degrees in Sports Science and Forensic Biology were entirely
utilised, but they were working and that’s half the battle when leaving Uni.
We were all on the front line as it
were. You quickly build friendships in the hustle and bustle of a busy contact
centre and rapidly learn to rely on each other’s experience and knowledge as
well as your own. It really can be physically, mentally and emotionally
challenging. Long night shifts in the depth of a dark winter can be lonely
without a friend to get the coffees in, early morning shifts can be busy and
testing without a friend to get the coffees in and the mid-morning lull before
the lunchtime storm can be tough without a friend to get the coffees in. Adam
and Jim were my (coffee) drinking buddies.
There is, however, a sense of
camaraderie in this line of work, you have to think on your feet and remember
your training. I like to imagine it is a lot like being a soldier, but with
less camouflage and gunfire. And more coffee.
Anyway, my point is that you can
really develop yourself both professionally and personally in this environment.
You now have a demonstrable ability to work in a team. You may have done a
presentation at Uni and cited it as an example of teamwork in every interview
you have been turned down from, but you now have real-world team-working
experience. You can’t get by in this industry without it.
How about an example of how you have
effectively used communication? How you resolved a conflict? How you went out
of your way to help someone? Check, check and check. What we quickly learned is
that a call centre is a great way to enhance your CV and push on. It can be a
fun place to work but also provides you with so much more.
Another great advantage of working
in a call centre is that you really can get an oversight of the whole company.
As CEOs of multinational brands go undercover and back to the “shop floor” for
TV programmes to get a feel for their customers, brand and staff; you’re
already in a perfect position to get a flavour of all of these. In fact, you
can’t help but take it all in. It wouldn’t make for as interesting TV programme
I guess but they could just ask their call centre staff…
Taking this experience on board,
Adam has since left the call centre to join a national wine retailer and is
currently an area manager for the firm. His career has soared Majestically…
Jim progressed within the company to
Account Manager, and since then, Account Director. He gets the best of both
worlds, full interaction with both the end-customer and staff.
Because he’s been there, done it and
got the call centre T-shirt the staff appreciate him and know he’s not guessing
his way through the day. And from his point of view, he knows what to expect
and what the pressures of call centre working can be. This overview of the
business and lesson from the ‘front line’ prevent him from placing unreasonable
demands on his staff. As a small aside, Jim owes more than his career to the call
centre; “I think my life and my son’s life would have panned out slightly
different if I hadn’t met his mother there!”
Graduate trainee schemes are tough
to get on to but you can fulfil your journey to the top if you tailor your own
scheme in a call centre. It can be hard work, but from experience it is better
to be working hard than waiting for a trainee scheme that may never
materialise.
The modern call centre has shelved
its former image. They are nice places to work, the unionisation of the
industry is also a bonus, but above all, if you treat the experience correctly,
you can learn and progress. You’re not just taking phone calls; you are
networking, managing customer accounts, training others and developing your own
skill set that you have spent so much time fine-tuning at university. The
rewards are there too if you choose to progress up the call centre ladder. Team
leaders in a call centre earn on average £5k more per annum than retail
managers and you don’t have to put up with huge deliveries or January sales!
Been there, done that too…!
So before you think about waiting
for that graduate scheme, taking that job down the local pub or working for
minimum wage in a shop, you may want to consider work in a call centre.
Tom Waller
Do these
stories match up with your experience? Perhaps you have a story to tell? Please
let us know in the comments box below, or send your stories into the newsdesk.
We will run a follow-up story in a few weeks’ time.
……………………………………………………………………….
Are you a call center
employee? Do you work hard, day and night, struggling to earn a decent living?
If this situation sounds familiar, I can help. I can offer a few tips and hints
to increase the quality of your work experience – and possibly earn you a raise
in the process.
First of all, be ready for work. Regardless of whether you’re a customer
service representative or you work in the sales department, customers love to
hear a happy voice on the other end of the phone. As you wake up in the
morning, vow to make someone’s life better. Go above and beyond your normal
work attire of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It’s a proven statistic that
better-dressed people do a better job at work. Act like you’re in a good mood
every day.
Be overly helpful. If a customer needs a walkthrough of a step-by-step
process, dictate every step to them. I know that some bosses will tell you that
quantity is better than quality, but it is better to have a few returning
customers than a bunch of one-time customers who are dissatisfied with your
company. Unhappy customers will tell their friends about your business, and
then the number of calls you receive will dip even further. However, this does
not mean that you should spend 3 hours on the same call (unless it’s SUPER
important).
Encourage clients to keep in touch. Once you’ve resolved a customer’s query
or fixed their problem, ask them to recommend you to your boss. If you’re the
telephone help representative for an online company, ask the customer to write
an email to the company, thanking “Bob” (you) for his (your) service. If this
email gets back to your boss, you just might be in for a nice surprise in the
paycheck department. If you are in the customer service wing of a big
corporation, ask the customer to write a simple letter saying how happy they
were to receive your help. It isn’t being vain – it’s every man for himself in
the business world.
To sum it all up, try to be the best that you can be every day. Sound
enthused about your job, even if you’d rather be walking the runway in Paris.
Take breaks often to give yourself a moment’s rest from the unhappy customer.
And remember, Call Center Cares encourages you to CARE about yourself!
If you’ve recently been
hired to work at a Call Center, you may or may not be excited. While the pay
may be a little low and you may have to deal with unhappy customers often, many
call centers can offer you the best reward of all – the feeling that you have
made someone’s day better by fixing their problem. Read on for more info about
what to do to prepare for your first day working at a call center.
First of all, your first day at work is going to be a lot like your first
day of school. You will meet lots of people, so it’s best to get rest and relax
a little the night before. Be sure to be clean, wearing clean clothes on the
first day. Act happy on your first day at work. Even if your job ends up being
terrible after that, at least you were slightly excited on the first day.
People are more likely to be nice to you if you’re nice to them. It’s a proven
fact.
Know your hours ahead of time, and stick to them. At a call center, it’s
very easy to get carried away on the phone with a customer and lose track of
the time. The reality is that you probably have a life outside of work, and you
should not let your job consume that life. Therefore, you need to know BEFORE
you go to work what time you plan to leave it. Many companies do not pay their
call center employees overtime salary, and so you have nothing to gain by
staying anyway. If you have any qualms or uncertainties about what is expected
of you around the workplace do not hesitate to ask your supervisor or another
employee.
Be prepared to get to know your fellow employees – but don’t treat work like
the mall. It’s always a good idea to have at least a civil relationship with
your coworkers. Depending on how long your breaks are during the workday (if
you have any at all), you may have more or less time to get to know them.
Although you should know your fellow workers, do not anticipate spending the
majority of the workday socializing. At a call center, the job is highly
technical and you will spend the majority of your workday on the phone or on
the computer with a customer.
To tie it all together, simply prepare for your first day at a call center
like you would any other job. Prepare to be patient if you’re dealing with
customers, and to take your time while helping them out.
At one time or another,
we have all had to deal with an annoying telemarketer that didn’t stop reciting
their canned speech even as you hung the phone up on them. Or maybe you just
pretended to be mentally disabled to avoid having to be rude. You may have even
considered taking on just such a job yourself. In today’s world, jobs are a
little harder to come by. There are ten or 20 people more qualified than you
are for the job you’re applying.
So if you find yourself in just such a predicament, ask yourself, what it is
that really annoys me about telemarketers. It is actually a very important and
necessary job and most companies at some point rely upon telephone sales to
assist their business in some way. There are things you can do to make it a more
pleasant experience for both yourself and the person you are calling on. First
of all, lose the canned speech. Nobody wants to listen to a robot with a radio
announcer’s voice spewing a sales pitch at them, nor do they want to hear you
read it. Spend some time learning about the product you are selling so that you
can comfortably discuss it in your own conversational voice. Don’t be afraid to
be yourself and let a little bit of your personality show through. You will
sound much more genuine. Second, understand just exactly what it is you’re
selling. Research it and find out why someone would want what you have to offer
them. You need to be able to explain to them in just a few short phrases why
they want what you have to offer. If you take too much time getting to the
point, they may hang up. You will be much more convincing if you believe that
you have something of value to offer your contacts. Third, do some research
about the company you are calling. Knowing what kind of business they are
conducting will help you to explain why what you’re offering is so important to
their business.
Additionally, everyone is impressed to know that understand what kind of
business they do. Last but not least, have a little sense of humor. You never
know what kind of person is going to pick up on the other end of that line.
Maybe a nice person, maybe a nice person having a horrible day, and perhaps a
very angry person that hates everybody will be answering. Since you don’t know
these people, don’t take it personally. It’s not you they are annoyed at, it
could be their boss, their spouse, or that their just simply an unhappy person.
Never let them spread their unhappiness to you. If you have the right attitude,
and just spend a little extra time to be that expert in your field, you will
experience success. Every job is important if you believe it is.
When you are running a
business, it is likely that you are going to have a call center that will help
customers to be able to get the assistance that they need with different
questions that they may have. By doing this, you are going to be able to
provide instant customer service to those who buy your product. A
call center is basically a
must have for those running a business that is starting to grow.
You want to make sure that the call center that your business is running is
equipped with the
latest technology to
be able to help customers out the best way possible. You see, you are going to
want to make sure that your customers are treated well by your help desk. You
want to make sure that this happens because of the fact that there are many
horror stories out there about customers receiving terrible treatment from call
centers. This kind of thing is simply not acceptable. You want to make sure
that you are giving your customers the best kinds of service. The reason for
that is simply because if you do that, then you are going to stand out in the
minds of customers.
One tool that you can use to help yourself out in this quest is something
known as help desk software. This is simply a computer program that will help
you to be able to keep the information that you get from callers all in one
place. If you are able to do that, then you are going to be able to respond to
the questions coming in from callers in a more timely manner. You may be able
to figure out what kind of questions you are getting on a frequent basis. If
you figure out this information, then you are going to be able to have the answers
ready to go when callers call the help desk.
Help desk software is able
to speed up the process of getting customers questions answered. That will keep
the customers happier since they are not having to waste as much of their time
trying to get their questions answered. Remember that many callers are going to
be frustrated when they call in. If you are able to help them out in a timely
manner and in a good attitude, then you are going to be able to keep more
customers purchasing from your company rather than the competition.
As a call center agent,
it’s either you sell an insurance policy coverage, track down those who have
credit card debts, sell video wall processors, attend to customer complaints,
or offer technical support services. The very nature of your job asks you to
pump up your patience, amplify your listening skills, stretch your vocal
chords, and hone your sense of empathy.
Needless to say, the call center industry is the playing field of the brave,
and where one needs a strong grip of his or her sanity. Loading your system
with coffee, and still
more
coffee helps. Add to it the strong urge to smoke—simply to release stress
that slowly builds up and overwhelms you.
The following are tips you can live with to be able to survive the hectic
life of a call center agent.
Leave your personal issues at home.
Marital woes, or friction with parents or siblings tend to let you feel
down, and make you highly emotional. Bringing the same worries to work will
just stress you out, not to mention your tendency to bark at your coworkers for
the slightest things, or the possibility of getting involved in a
heated exchange with your customers.
Be organized.
Keep a record of important customer information. This way, you don’t have to
call back the person and let him or her repeat the same details. After all,
every client expects that you are efficient enough in handling this stuff.
Professionalism is the key.
When talking with customers, be friendly yet professional. Adhere to the
company’s policies without sounding bossy.
Take a breather after a stressful call.
Get a cup of coffee, smoke if that will make you feel better, and eat your
comfort food. As much as possible, don’t take another call when you haven’t
recovered yet from a bad one.
Stop whining.
Face it: you will be jobless without your customers. Instead of complaining
about how rude some of them are, why not focus on providing them solutions?
Lastly, keeping a positive and happy disposition is a surefire way to
survive the demanding job of a call center agent.
You arrive at your workplace,
ready to face another set of accomplishments and challenges. Your
optimism is high
until you see your workstation – it’s a mess. And then just like that, you’re
in a bit of a sour mood.
A cluttered work desk can be a source of unnecessary frustration and stress.
Likewise, it also hinders your productivity. A messy work space affects your
mood – it distracts you, bogs you down, and is just a sore to look at. As a
call center supervisor, it’s something you don’t want to deal with every day.
You have to get rid of anything that gets in the way of productivity and a
positive work environment in the workplace. It’s actually not that difficult to
deal with a messy desk, you just have to think of the peace of mind and
organization that will result from your clean-up efforts.
Archive old emails – A supervisor gets loads of emails in a
day and getting that “mailbox full” error message is one you thing don’t like
seeing.
Email
archiving is the best solution to this. There are emails that are
disposable, but there are also some that you just have to keep for future
reference. Archive and organize them in a hard drive folder with neatly-named
subfolders to keep everything identifiable and easy to retrieve.
Use spill-proof containers – Spilled drinks are one
frustrating, unnecessary mess. They create unsightly stains on your desk, carpet
and even your clothes. To avoid these accidents, use spill-proof bottles and
mugs for your water, coffee, soda or tea.
Go paperless – Avoid printing unnecessary documents as much
as possible. Aside from being environment-friendly, you can also help avoid
starting a mountain of discarded paper on your desk. There’s also the risk of
papers being misplaced, smudged, or spilled on so make sure to keep them at a
minimum.
Organizers and waste baskets are your friends – Store your
work materials and some knick-knacks in drawers and organizers. If they’re
something that doesn’t need to be seen, keep them away. Neatly organize files
and documents – be it alphabetical, per department, in order of importance, etc
– so they’re easy to retrieve. And if something goes in, another must also be
thrown out. Anything that’s no longer needed must be discarded immediately.
Tangled… not – Headphones, speakers and other electronic
devices with cords and wires must be properly stored to avoid untoward
accidents. They tend to tangle into knots so make sure they’re properly tucked
away and hidden from plain sight.
De-cluttering
isn’t a hard task. When done regularly and consistently, a clean and clear work
desk increases efficiency and productivity of work.
Stress is a word
very common to call center agents like us. It’s because we experience it quite
often given the kind of work that we have. And because we can’t let stress beat
us, we try almost anything and everything to relieve us from it.
One of the things that we turn to is
food. And what happens? We’re relieved from stress, but we get another problem
— unwanted weight gain. Next thing we know, we have to find ways to get
slimmer, read all sorts of diet pill
reviews, or do crash dieting. It’s even more frustrating to find out that
all our efforts to lose weight don’t seem to work.
Now, hold on a second, try to check
first whether your eating habits are the ones that’s stopping you from losing
weight.
Mistake # 1: You don’t eat enough. Yes, you’re supposed to cut down your food intake, but you
shouldn’t overdo it. Eating too little slows down your metabolism, so you’ll
have enough energy to survive before your next meal. What you should do
instead, is to eat just right, so you won’t be hungry. This also prevents you
from overeating later.
Mistake # 2: You don’t drink enough
fluids. Are there times when you feel that
you’ve already eaten a lot and still feel hungry? Maybe you’re just thirsty. A
study has shown that more than 70% of people commonly mistake thirst for
hunger. Take as much water, juice and fruits (there’s fluid in them) as you can.
Coffee is also good, but don’t drink too much lest you get the shakes.
Mistake # 3: You eat the wrong kind
of food. Working
in a call center may mean that you’re always in a rush, even when it comes
to eating. As such, you resort to fast food, processed food and anything that’s
grab and go. You do save time in doing this, but you also save those extra body
fats. These kinds of food are prepared with different kinds of chemicals to
make them last longer. These chemicals have toxins that go to our body.
The liver’s the one taking care of
these toxins. When the liver gets too busy taking them out of our system, it
can’t efficiently attend to its other job, which is burning body fats. It’s the
same thing when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. Unless they’re
organic, pesticides and other chemicals were also used on them when they were
grown. What you should do is to include cooking real food in your
schedule and to buy organic foods as much as you can.
Your coworkers are
supposedly the ones who will help you in your struggles at work. They’re the
ones you air out your concerns to. They’re supposed to lighten up your mood in
the office, especially when you’re already stressed out. Unfortunately, not all
of them are like that.
Whether you’ve only had one job since the beginning or have jumped from one
job to another, even
paid surveys
would agree that there will always be at least one person who will get on your
nerves. In some cases, you know he/she intentionally makes it a point to ruin
your day. But there are also cases where they don’t have a clue that they’re
annoying. It might be a habit of that person or his comments that irritate you.
Sometimes, it’s his mere presence that spoils your day.
Of course, resigning from work isn’t the solution. There are other things
(that won’t cost you your job) that you can do.
First is to examine where the negative feeling is coming from. You might be
surprised to find out that it’s actually your behavior that’s causing the
problem. This needs a serious self-check. For instance, you don’t like a
co-worker because he consistently tells you to lower the volume of your iPhone,
ask yourself, should I hate him because he doesn’t mind his own business or
does he have a right to do so because I really play my
iPhone
too loudly? I know it’s not that easy to accept you’re the one at fault, but we
know that goodness in showing such humility.
However irritating a certain coworker is, remember to keep a professional
attitude. Yes, even if you feel like smashing the headset in front of that
person. Remind yourself that he’s the one that has an
annoying
act. And if you’re going to level with him, you will also look goofy as well.
The best antidote is to stay away from that person. This is quite easy to do
when you’re in a call center. Never mind if he notices it. If it’s unavoidable,
keep your encounters with him to a minimum. Let’s say you have a team meeting
after your shift. Don’t sit next to him. Don’t be caught alone with him. This
will just make an opportunity for the two of you to clash – something you don’t
like your team leader or supervisors to see. If he makes a move to get close to
you, grab another teammate so there will be three of you.
After one particularly
grueling shift in the call center, I went home and proceeded to crash on the
couch.
Only a slight interruption by the wife leaving for her nurse duty woke me.
But soon, I slipped back into dreamworld where strange images visited me and,
as of late, did not leave. Until a few months ago I barely remember dreaming at
all, but for hte past six weeks they have been vivid. This time a strage image
of
Wolverine
gutting a sofa trying to get to Mr.Sinister who’s levitating backwards to some
floating craft, but at the end of it a horrid feeling came over me as I
realized that the dream sofa looked too much like the sofa I’m sleeping on, and
I had a miniature Logan on my hands. I wasn’t conscious enough to act on that
horrid feeling though, and snuffed back to a blank sleep.
At around ten o’clock in the morning, I was again lying with my eyes open,
my
headache
nearly gone but once again the kat was nowhere to be seen. I was about to panic
on what might have happened to my sofa by now, but then I felt a fuzzy
sensation on my foot. Looking down I was met with the cutest sight I’ve ever
seen! The kitty with it’s head, halfway upright, with my foot as its dusty
pillow. Its bed made out of a basin lined with a clean white towel and
pillowcase lay on the floor unused. A slight movement from me was met by an
aggressively cute protest: the kitten, half-annoyed and half-trying to look
cute, pushed its forehead against my foot, wearing what seemed like a content
smile on its little face.
It’s been a long while since I’ve seen anything sleep like this, and as I
used to, I lingered on for almost an hour just watching the kitten sleep, as
entranced as I am as when I
visit
website about… educational stuff. At the end of it, I moved my foot to rest
it’s head on my hand, but I guess by that time his sleep was much lighter, and
before I could touch its head he got up and walked around like a drunk kitty,
akin to me walking to a (cel)phone or to smoke in the middle of the night, or
both, or one after teh other turns out to be a crank call. Alas, the help was
on her way home, and I had to join my grandmother at the other house. I lifted
the cute cat, filled its bowl with meat-pocket biscuits, then walked out of the
house shouting reassurances that I’d be back after dinner.
So yes, while I spent my entire day sleeping like a loser, the cat made it
bearable. Every call center agent needs a cat.
A
call center agent works in shifting schedules. This is because contact centers
cater to different customers all over the world, and this means they have to be
available for all the time zones 24/7. Depending on how long you’ve been on the
job, you’ve probably been on the night shift at least once.
There are advantages to working at
night. One of which is the night differential pay, which could be as high as
20% of your monthly salary. It’s also relatively easier to go to work and to go
home because there’s less traffic. You just really have to adjust your sleeping
habits and try to make daytime your sleeping time.
Here are some tips for you to have a good night sleep during the day.
- Use sleeping aids-
Since your senses are used to be up during the day, you could use some
help from some stuff. These items will help make a regular day – bright,
noisy and busy, an ordinary night – dark, quiet, and peaceful. Buy ear
plugs, so you won’t be interrupted by the vehicles passing by, the
television in the living room or that door-to-door salesman offering food
insurance. Dark-colored curtains can also block the sun’s rays to
create that dim atmosphere in your room. If that still doesn’t work, put
on a sleep mask.
- Avoid taking stimulants- You may still feel sleepy at night when you’re
already in the office. Many agents turn to caffeine to solve this problem.
But the cups of coffee that you took at work to keep you awake may still
have an effect until the morning, when you already need and want to sleep.
You can try other ways to perk yourself up in your shift. Try taking brisk
walking during your break or drinking cold water. Not only are they more
natural. They also let you be caffeine-free,
so you won’t have trouble sleeping later on.
- Avoid using sleeping pills- Yes, it’s an easy solution and will take effect in no
time, but sleeping pills are not the best solution. They can have side
effects which can damage your health. It also changes the normal sleeping
process which can even make your sleeping behavior more erratic.
Consequently, this can affect your performance on your job. There are only
extreme situations wherein you can take sleeping pills, but before you do,
you’d have to consult a doctor first.
A lot of people seem to
think that call center internal culture is very much based on the individual
and that the team structure is only there to help improve management or
allocation of resources. In some ways, this view can be somewhat justified.
After all, only one person in the team actually does the selling of
Canon printer cartridges or
spends hours on a call trying to fix a confusing, inexplicable technical issue.
However, the reality is that the focus isn’t solely on the individual and that
the team structure is in place as more than just an organizational tool.
One of the core purposes of
the
team structure is as a support system for agents. This goes beyond mere
metrics. It is no secret that the industry has a very high turnover rate, that
the stress gets to people sooner or later and they drift away to seek greener
pastures once the pressure gets to them. It is also known that irate callers
are a common occurrence, sometimes breaking even the most experienced of
agents. They serve as the “shock absorbers” for the stress that builds up on a
daily basis, mostly through sharing their experiences and talking about their
bizarre or angry calls. It’s a way for them to cut loose that’s immediate and
interactive – interpersonal contact that isn’t in a business or hostile form is
important to retaining call center agent sanity.
The team structure also plays into the metrics of the agents. Yes, each
individual agent is measured by their own metrics, but at the management level,
this doesn’t happen. Beyond a certain level of authority, individual
performance
metrics just cease to matter compared to collective team metrics. While
they will notice poor performance in one aspect or another, it becomes a lesser
concern if the team is able to “carry” the bad agent in that one aspect. A lot
of managers are willing to forgive mediocre performance from an agent so long
as they’re doing their jobs and their teammates are making up for it.
Finally, the team is also the first resource an agent has for things he
can’t handle or simply doesn’t know about. A lot of people in charge will point
out that everyone on the team has something they’re good at or just has a knack
for. These are going to be far more convenient to go to for advice on specific
issues and problems than trying to
find the
answer on the Internet – which has a high likelihood of having a lot of
sites blocked by the office network administrators.
