{"id":67977,"date":"2024-03-11T09:40:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/?p=67977"},"modified":"2024-03-11T09:41:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:41:17","slug":"tips-to-create-a-positive-call-center-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/article\/tips-to-create-a-positive-call-center-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to Create a Positive Call Center Work Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Care for Your Staff and They\u2019re More Likely to Care for You and Your Callers<\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staffing a call center is hard. Keeping it staffed is getting harder. With finding new staff becoming increasingly challenging, retaining existing staff is even more critical.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Peter<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here are five tips to create a positive call center work environment and boost agent retention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Create a Team Attitude<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To foster teamwork and collaboration between call center staff and with your operation, do occasional team-building activities. This will draw them together and grow camaraderie toward a shared purpose. Though these exercises generally carry an expense, don\u2019t summarily dismiss them because of cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, look for ways agents can work together to support each other and achieve common goals. For example, instead of just focusing on individual agent metrics, consider collective stats for the entire shift as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Encourage Effective Communication<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider an open-door policy to encourage agents to share their thoughts, concerns, and ideas. Listen to what they say. Whenever possible, act on it. And if you don\u2019t or can\u2019t act, let them know why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, seek their feedback on your ideas to solve problems or improve performance. This shows respect and is more apt to earn their buy-in of changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Provide Ongoing Training<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most call centers do well at agent onboarding and initial training. But instruction should never end. Offer intermediary and advanced training to help call center agents improve their skills, increase their value to you, and ultimately boost their pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A related issue is to make agent coaching and career mentoring a priority, not an optional when-we-have-time intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Reward Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publicly recognize call center agents\u2019 accomplishments. Praise them for their dedication, successes, and positive attitude\u2014whatever stands out. Though this may mean money or other tangible rewards, this shouldn\u2019t be the default assumption. Look for low cost, yet meaningful, ways to celebrate their success. The goal in this should be to encourage, motivate, and boost morale. This will go a long way toward building a positive call center work environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Promote Work-Life Balance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stress the importance of work-life balance. To the degree possible, offer flexible scheduling, provide paid time off, and acknowledge the importance of the nonwork portion of their lives. In this, lead by example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you go the extra mile and create a positive call center work environment for your employees, they\u2019re more apt to go the extra mile for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Lyle DeHaan<\/em><\/a> is the editor-in-chief of <\/em>Connections Magazine. He\u2019s a passionate wordsmith whose goal is to change the world one word at a time.\u00a0Check out his latest book, <\/em>Sticky Leadership and Management<\/a>, along with <\/em>Sticky Customer Service<\/a> and <\/em>Sticky Sales and Marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Care for Your Staff and They\u2019re More Likely to Care for You and Your Callers By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Staffing a call center is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[836],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZWWd-hGp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44034,"url":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/article\/call-center-into-a-care-center\/","url_meta":{"origin":67977,"position":0},"title":"Three Tactics to Transform a Call Center into a Care Center","author":"Admin","date":"August 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By Gina Tabone Healthcare strategists must lead the campaign to transform call center agents into caregivers and move from a call center mentality to a care center functioning as the doorway to an organization. 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With finding new staff becoming increasingly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/category\/issue\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/connectionsmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/March-2024-CM-TOC.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11682,"url":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/article\/improving-agent-retention\/","url_meta":{"origin":67977,"position":2},"title":"Improving Agent Retention","author":"Peter Lyle DeHaan","date":"May 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kelli Massaro Retaining top performers is essential to call center success. The challenge is to create a positive work culture that sustains, nurtures, and engages employees - both as part of a team and individually. Retention is a multifaceted issue that is affected by both intrinsic factors (individual employee\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10625,"url":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/article\/cheering-for-your-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":67977,"position":3},"title":"Cheering for Your Team","author":"Peter Lyle DeHaan","date":"December 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"By Ray Pelletier At a Sunday afternoon professional football game, the stands are filled with enthusiastic fans cheering on their favorite team. These fans wake up Monday morning with scratchy throats and hoarse voices, still enthusiastic for their favorite team. 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Being the first interaction, there is a big responsibility to provide exemplary service and set the tone for an overall positive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40896,"url":"https:\/\/connectionsmagazine.com\/article\/major-benefits-of-a-medical-call-center-partnership\/","url_meta":{"origin":67977,"position":5},"title":"Three Major Benefits of a Medical Call Center Partnership","author":"Admin","date":"February 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Medical Call Center Partnership Contributes to Organizational Efficiency By Karen Brown Organizational efficiency is the\u00a0ability to implement plans using the smallest possible expenditure of resources. 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