I Work In A Call Centre And I Like It
Of the three people you will hear from in this article, Gary Stroud works in an environment that is most representative of the average call centre - busy, bustling and high energy. Yet the similarities end there, as working for the Sony PlayStation account for his employer Sitel means that break times often entail intense sessions of gaming action, rather than sitting in a dreary canteen waiting for a shift to end.
Stroud, who has been a customer service advisor for the past four years, was introduced to the business via an agency and ‘liked it straight away’. The stereotypes most people associate with call centres - overcrowding, constant pressure, stress, and high staff turnover - do not apply here. “We have ample room to move about, and we have targets but they are achievable and the pressure is not as high as people might think.”
Phone Games
The reason why these problems are absent is thanks to the strategic focus of PlayStation. Many call centres are driven to reduce costs, rewarding agents by their efficiency at moving onto the next call, rather than offering a quality experience to customers. This alienates agents, making them feel like robots merely processing calls and creates many of the issues that typify the negative call centre experience.
The PlayStation approach differs, using service quality to maintain brand integrity, and encouraging staff to go the extra mile to ensure customers are happy. This extends to the reward programmes as Stroud details. “We are targeted on quality and excelling in this area means going into prize draws for things like Champions League tickets and PlayStations.”
Work repetition is dealt with by giving staff additional and alternative tasks to carry out; Stroud for example spends some of his time creating schedules and handles web chat and email as well as phone-based interactions. The dreaded lack of career path has also been addressed: ‘the majority of the managers here started off on the phones’. All team members are approachable, including Andy Barker, the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) UK director of consumer services, who is ultimately the boss of the entire operation. “I can talk to Andy, he’s a knowledgeable guy and I can ask him direct questions if I’m having difficulty on a call and he is around.”
As well as getting to play the games which they support, Stroud says the team has some fun with the game playing public, recalling a gamer who had ‘won’ a speedboat when playing the quiz game Buzz on his PlayStation and called up to see when the boat was being delivered.
Home Life
Another person helping reverse stereotypes is Gillian Rose, who is employed by outsourced call centre services provider Maygenta, and works for several of its clients. Suffering from acute Agoraphobia, Rose says that if it wasn’t for Maygenta, she wouldn’t be working at all. The reason why her condition is not a barrier to work is that all Maygenta call centre staff are home- based workers.
The interview, training, and the job itself are all handled remotely, meaning that Rose who is able to leave her home for short periods hasn’t been required to leave the house to fulfil the needs of the role.
“The job is very flexible, I work roughly two half days per week, broken up into blocks of four hour shifts. You can ‘pause’ when you need to, go and put the washing on etc. Everyday brings a different challenge and I enjoy speaking to people and solving problems.”
Although working alone can be difficult for some people, Rose says she is friendly with other members of staff and
occasionally calls one of her colleagues for a chat.
“Maygenta is adding a message board and chat facility to the website soon which will allow us to talk more frequently. On line training sessions are also fun and make me feel part of a team.”
For Rose, it is fair to say the role has transformed her life.
Stroud, who has been a customer service advisor for the past four years, was introduced to the business via an agency and ‘liked it straight away’. The stereotypes most people associate with call centres - overcrowding, constant pressure, stress, and high staff turnover - do not apply here. “We have ample room to move about, and we have targets but they are achievable and the pressure is not as high as people might think.”
Phone Games
The reason why these problems are absent is thanks to the strategic focus of PlayStation. Many call centres are driven to reduce costs, rewarding agents by their efficiency at moving onto the next call, rather than offering a quality experience to customers. This alienates agents, making them feel like robots merely processing calls and creates many of the issues that typify the negative call centre experience.
The PlayStation approach differs, using service quality to maintain brand integrity, and encouraging staff to go the extra mile to ensure customers are happy. This extends to the reward programmes as Stroud details. “We are targeted on quality and excelling in this area means going into prize draws for things like Champions League tickets and PlayStations.”
Work repetition is dealt with by giving staff additional and alternative tasks to carry out; Stroud for example spends some of his time creating schedules and handles web chat and email as well as phone-based interactions. The dreaded lack of career path has also been addressed: ‘the majority of the managers here started off on the phones’. All team members are approachable, including Andy Barker, the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) UK director of consumer services, who is ultimately the boss of the entire operation. “I can talk to Andy, he’s a knowledgeable guy and I can ask him direct questions if I’m having difficulty on a call and he is around.”
As well as getting to play the games which they support, Stroud says the team has some fun with the game playing public, recalling a gamer who had ‘won’ a speedboat when playing the quiz game Buzz on his PlayStation and called up to see when the boat was being delivered.
Home Life
Another person helping reverse stereotypes is Gillian Rose, who is employed by outsourced call centre services provider Maygenta, and works for several of its clients. Suffering from acute Agoraphobia, Rose says that if it wasn’t for Maygenta, she wouldn’t be working at all. The reason why her condition is not a barrier to work is that all Maygenta call centre staff are home- based workers.
The interview, training, and the job itself are all handled remotely, meaning that Rose who is able to leave her home for short periods hasn’t been required to leave the house to fulfil the needs of the role.
“The job is very flexible, I work roughly two half days per week, broken up into blocks of four hour shifts. You can ‘pause’ when you need to, go and put the washing on etc. Everyday brings a different challenge and I enjoy speaking to people and solving problems.”
Although working alone can be difficult for some people, Rose says she is friendly with other members of staff and
occasionally calls one of her colleagues for a chat.
“Maygenta is adding a message board and chat facility to the website soon which will allow us to talk more frequently. On line training sessions are also fun and make me feel part of a team.”
For Rose, it is fair to say the role has transformed her life.
Before this job, my confidence and self-belief were very low, but Maygenta has been so supportive and the operations manager, Lionel Lincoln-Lewis, is always on the end of the phone if something needs fixing. It’s given me a new chapter in my life"
Gillian Rose, Maygenta Advisor
Social Life
The final person helping to bust myths about call centre work is Emma Sykes, who works for healthy children’s food specialist Ella’s Kitchen.
For a start, rather than working on her own in a separate call centre, Sykes works in the central Ella’s Kitchen office located just outside of Henley. “The whole business employs 15 people, so I sit with the rest of the team in our converted barn. It is an open plan environment and I deal with every customer enquiry personally, whether it be phone, email or letter.”
Being at the heart of the team, rather than working as a fringe department, is vital because it means that Sykes is not only able to address any problems that customers are experiencing, but also work with the rest of the team to ensure the reasons why a problem occurred in the first place are fixed.
While the average call centre agent finds themselves classified as being on the bottom rung of the business hierarchy, Sykes describes herself as managerial level.
“I’ve worked in major press offices and I’m a mum myself so I hope I bring some gravitas, and I’m totally empowered to do whatever is needed. I love helping people and I believe in the mantra of treating people like you want to be treated.”
There are two defining shared characteristic of these three individuals. Firstly, they enjoy talking to and helping people. Secondly, the businesses they work for fully support them in fulfilling their roles. By understanding the value of their customers, rather than treating service as a costly burden, SCE, Maygenta and Ella’s Kitchen allow service-orientated people to blossom and do what they do best.
