“We do a lot for our employees to make work fun and to bind and fascinate employees”. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the echoes. There is of course little wrong with free fruit in the workplace. And gamification is also quite fun – for a while. Just like a good party to end a successful year. But whether that helps 'the profession' of customer contact employee further?

 

Anyone who takes science seriously understands that the well-intentioned fruit has no positive effect on the binding and fascination of employees. Gamification, nice colleagues and motivational managers cannot make up for the absence of career opportunities, variety and autonomy either. I can already hear the contact center managers grumbling: “Should we just stop with that free fruit? As if that costs nothing!”

“You are our calling card”

What makes a job really fun has often been scientifically researched. The standard in that research into 'job satisfaction' has been set by Frederick Herzberg. The short version: satisfiers contribute to a positive feeling about the work, such as personal growth, success, recognition, responsibility and autonomy. If present, all of that adds something to the enjoyment of your work. Dissatisfiers cause dissatisfaction. A salary that is too low continues to act as a dissatisfier. A salary increase or a good salary is only a temporary satisfier. Lack of job security, poor social relations and or unpleasant working conditions are also dissatisfiers.

Anyone who really wants to take 'binding and captivating' seriously will have to get to work with the content of the profession.

I wonder if contact center managers sometimes turn that question about 'the profession' around. “Does our employee satisfaction survey, our exit interviews (huh, what?) and our scores on the Great Place to Work survey show time and time again that our customer contact employees are extremely positive about their salary, career opportunities and autonomy in their work?”

Anyone who really wants to take 'binding and captivating' seriously will have to get to work with the content of the profession, and that starts with a conversation that goes beyond that fruit bowl.

Who's on?

The question is, of course, to whom should we leave the discussion about the subject.

The cops? Despite their large number, they are not united, and that may say something about how a large part of them view the profession.

The unions? They have a different interest and moreover have little influence on the content of the course.

The contact center managers? There are exceptions here and there, but the large group would rather talk about the desire or need to change the cost center into a value center than about tackling turnover. Because then “at least the rest of the organization will take your department seriously”. Does that manager actually take the employees of his own department seriously? And is that reflected in the richness of the contact center employee position (which of course comes in all shapes and sizes)?

Perhaps we should pin our hopes on the managers who themselves once started on the phone. Or is there a task for the professional association of contact center managers, the CCMA? Wouldn't it be great if the CCMA would cooperate with the KSF in this area. Attention from managers, attention from agents.

A condition for a full-fledged discussion about social innovation within the professional association is that one of the major sponsors of the professional association is kept at a distance. Because what can you expect in terms of social innovation from an employer who calls his own employees 'members', but then pays less than 10 euros gross per hour?

There is light on the horizon

In addition to 'old school practices in a new guise', I have also heard managers with realistic stories about both strengthening and putting the 'subject' into perspective. The contact center agent position is rarely a job for life, but in many cases it is ideal starting point for a career. I can confirm that from my own experience. Is there still hope for the contact center? Yes, even without a fruit basket. But not without tackling the content and remuneration of the profession. (Ziptone/Erik Bouwer)

Human Resources, Opinions