Call Centres

Modern-day Sweat Shops?

Executive
Summary

ICS Regional Support Centre (RSC)

Provides technical support
services
Customers from ASEAN and
around the world
The center's problem
arises because of stressful
environment and high
turnover

Statistic
s

Employee Workforce by Nationality

Employee Workforce by Gender

180

300

160
250
140
120

200

100
Number of Employees

150

Number of Employees
80
60

100

40
50
20
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Year

Year
Malaysian

Non-Malaysian

Male

Female

Telephony Call Statistics for September and October

2008
Category

Target

Sep-08 Oct-08

Calls Offered

13453

13144

Calls Answered ACD 11

Calls Answered ACD within
60 secs

11993

10689

60 secs

10164

7563

% ACD within 60 secs

Total Calls Abandon (ABN)
ABN after 60 secs

> 90

Actual

Actual

75.60% 57.50%
1460

2455

676

1493

% calls ABN after 60 secs

60 secs
< 5% @ 60
secs

Average Abandon Time

< 60 secs

0:01:08 0:01:24

0:00:22 0:00:48

Avg Speed of Answer (ASA)

*Total Calls (ACD + ABN > 60
secs)

5.30% 12.30%

12669

12182

Executive Summary (2)

Scenarios
related to agents s daily tasks
repetitive duties
dealing with difficult and irate
customers
sense of powerlessness over the job
strict scripts to be adhered

Executive Summary (3)

Objective of study
to educate in sense of
human resource management
organizational behavior

in terms of
benefits, training and career
development
for retention and job satisfaction

Problem
Statement

Issues faced by management and employees:

1. High turnover rate

Negatively impacted the call center
When agent leaves, pressure on others to
ensure optimum service level
Heavy cost on recruiting, hiring, training
and developing new staffs
2. Stress among employees
Stressful environment in the organization
and job nature

Problem Statement (2)

3. Declining service level
Deteriorating employee performance
Top management requested for explanation
4. Competitors
New competitors setting up similar
operations
Offering attractive packages
Employees leaving ICS to join
competitors

Root Cause
Low job satisfaction
Unhappy employees
Affected work performance
Changed employee behaviour
Affected other employees

Root Cause (2)

Reasons
for
Root Cause
(2)Leaving
(taken from exit interview)
Lack of career growth
Stress over handling complaints and
problems all day
5%

4%

Repetition of tasks

17%

9%

Lack of training
Daily physical confinement (tied to the desk)

12%

14%

Salary package offered is lower compared to

other company(s)
Lack of job security

12%

13%
13%

Heavily monitored (feeling of being spied on)

Sense of powerless or lack of control on the
job

Solutions
1. Better human resource practices
. Hire the right agents
. Meet HR to review recruiting strategies
. Explain complexity of the job to agents
. Use
competency-based assessment tool
behaviour-based interview questions

Solutions (2)
Survey new hires
Track agent attrition to improve the
hiring processes

Solutions (3)
2. Increase morale and job
satisfaction
Offer competitive pay
Establish clear objectives and goals
Reward goal
Create a career path
Have open conversations with
agents
Implement short breaks

Solutions (4)
Invest in growth and development
Segment customers to the right
agent
Share best practice by holding
group session
Have a team huddle session
Re-examine the key performance
Improve agent desktop and work
facilities

Conclusion
Increased average call handling
time leads to:
the need for agent training
increased levels of frustration
turn-over
Customers feel frustrated
while waiting for agents to
resolve issue

Conclusion (2)
Increasing agent productivity
requires:
Enhancing engagement with work
Perception of being a valuable
member
Rewarding performance
Encouraging them to take breaks
Optimizing the software
Streamlining business processes

Conclusion (3)
Appropriate approach to tackle
issues discussed
can reap huge rewards in
employee productivity and
Promotes healthy work
environment

Thank
you