How do we get the contact center out of the dark? Perhaps part of the solution lies in a different way of communicating about the contact center. Transparent, reliable, consistent. That is what consumers expect from service these days. Doing what you promise also fits in that list, just like doing what you say. Only then will dealing with prejudices work. What also helps: being honest about differences.

Working at 0900-0113 is somewhat different from Sanoma's subscription line. Work pressure is everywhere, KPIs and objectives are really not exclusive to the contact center. It is not always difficult at a contact center, there are also hours and days when it is not as busy as it should be. The simplest work becomes automated and the remaining work becomes more complex, but even that is not true everywhere. The high turnover is partly due to strong peak demand for projects: after the peak periods that e-commerce and health insurers have to deal with in the autumn and winter, there is an outflow again. But not everywhere the trend can be attributed to these seasonal patterns. Often the organization of customer contact simply comes down to 'talking production work'. Not everyone wants to do that for more than a year. There is nothing wrong with that, unless employees become ill or exploited en masse. Don't make it prettier than it is. Explain why your contact center is or is not a dovecote.

Social innovation

Does it have to look nicer because you notice that the outside world gives few compliments? Then get to work and modernize the profession. I'm not talking about chatbots, but about social innovation. What you currently spend on turnover costs, quality monitoring, managers, team leaders, coaches and so on, you can also spend on setting up a job where people will last longer. And where, in addition to end-to-end services and a mandate, they can also get started with improvement processes. Speaking of young talent, mandate, remuneration and breeding grounds: take a look at the better IT service providers in the Netherlands and check how modern IT helpdesks are organized. Continue to educate your clients, choose your own standards and determine your 'perfect customer'. And if none of that is possible, because you opt for maximum shareholder value: don't squeak about the image, the money has to be earned somewhere. That choice will increasingly come at the expense of that image.

Chain

Will we also deal with things that have apparently taken on a life of their own? It is inevitable that the much-mentioned 'pee chain' does not exist. He was brought up in 2018 in an article by RTL NewsHowever, a survey by Ziptone yielded no results. Even the FNV is not providing an explanation. Anyone who has a photo or video of this urinating chain is welcome to contact the editorial team (redactie@ziptone.nl). In the absence of proof, that urinating chain can be relegated to the realm of myths as far as I am concerned.

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