Contact Centres resolve to raise Employee Engagement

The Customer Contact Association (CCA) says a drive to boost employee engagement in contact centres where less than one in five is ‘very committed’ to their jobs will unlock greater productivity and lead to happier staff and customers.

CCA has completed an authoritative industry census in which it emerged that an overwhelming majority of organisations described their contact centre employees as mostly committed. However, it identified room for improvement to boost the proportion of employees described as ‘very committed’ from the current figure of 18%.

CCA Census 2010-11, which canvassed the views of 246 respondents (the majority of whom work for organisations employing more than 1,500 people globally) found that 73% of organisations describe their staff as ‘often committed’ while a minority of 8% said staff are ‘rarely committed’.

CCA Chief Executive Anne Marie Forsyth said: “Front line contact centre staff are living through taxing times, frequently bearing the brunt of customer concerns and complaints as well as worrying about job security. Despite these pressures, employee engagement is relatively high among our membership. CCA is leading a drive to help members raise the bar on engagement levels even higher in order to deliver consistent world class service.”

Forsyth added: “We need a renewed emphasis on people issues to reflect the seismic change taking place in customer contact. Performance throughout the recession has been good - our census shows that 82% of our members have had ‘very active’ engagement with customers and 79% are committed to personal development of employees. We’re proud of what members have achieved in a cost-cutting environment and we’re collaborating on strategies designed to boost performance even further.”

Forsyth said: “There are many critical questions facing the sector on a range of complex issues from multi-channel communication to automation and self-service systems. There is tension between calls for total automation and demands for more personalised service. The good news is CCA has the intellectual resources and professional insight needed to devise innovative strategic solutions for the sector.”

She added: “The economic downturn has concentrated minds on finding new ways to do things. We are excited about the possibilities emerging of more varied and valued roles for contact centre staff. We need to develop problem-solvers and powerful brand ambassadors in our sector and to underline the value they bring to an organisation.”