Antasis

Tips For Happy Staff

Everyone can agree that workers are the lifeblood of an organization. They are one of the pillars that help a business succeed.

  • A business needs skilled management to run the business and make decisions.
  • It needs customers to buy their products or services.
  • It also needs team members to develop and support/execute the product or services that customers buy.

​Every part of this check list is just as important as the others. One crucial part are the people, the team, the employees. It is vital that every organisation should value their employees, and in turn its employees will make sure to take good care of them. After all, without the employees, there is no business. And replacing people costs a fortune!

​For the same reasons, at Antasis, we value and develop its people to meet the high standards of sustainability that the company has set for itself. A successful company that wants to increase profitability needs to protect and nurture its employees. Here are some insights that we can share, and we believe every organisation should practice specially in contact centre industry.

1. Make every day a fun day!

​It is known that contact centre work is demanding and repetitive. If it is not managed properly, this environment can cause unusually high levels of sickness and stress in people in it. This affect your staff’s morale and could result to high unscheduled leaves. But adding fun into your daily routine is a great way to counteract these negative side effects – and it does not have to be difficult OR expensive.

​There are several ways to make every day routine a fun day, from simple gestures such as bringing in sweets or “fruit day”, recognizing someone in the team and celebrating birthdays, to playing games such as keyword bingo, and handing out spot prizes to reward excellent customer service. Even a regular dress-down or fancy-dress day each week can help to turn an average day into a great day.

2. Maintain a clean and comfortable working environment

We all know that the agents are the face and voice of your organization. And if the agents are not happy, your customers will know about it!

Get every day off to a great start by getting the basics right. Comfortable chairs, clean workplace and clean toilet facilities can all help to keep a smile on everyone’s faces. Happy employees = happy customers.

3. Connect with your team members

In a contact centre industry, as well as to other industries, communicating with your team is the key. Leaders must demonstrate that they value and appreciate their team members.

One way of doing this is by engaging them. Talk to them. A simple greeting first thing in the morning, asking them how they are doing makes a difference. And if there is an opportunity, engage them in decision making, do so. This will give your team members the chance to share ideas and feedbacks. As a result, they feel like they are part of the bigger picture.

4. Create visible opportunities for career progression

The contact centre industry may have a reputation for high turnover of rate. But you can help to shake off this stereotype by offering visible career progression of opportunities to your people.

Such as, an individual joining your team should know from their very first day where they could be in 6, 12 and 18 months. Make time to talk to your agents about their ambitions, then check in regularly to support them in achieving their goals. For small medium enterprises with limited opportunities for internal progression, introduce qualifications and training opportunities instead. These advances could be recognised with certifications and it will enhance their skill sets. Whichever approach you take, taking an active interest in your agents’ personal development will help to nurture a happier and more engaged workforce.

5. Use metrics based on effectiveness not efficiency

There is a tendency in the c

ontact centre industry to focus on the efficiency of an operation, rather than looking at the effectiveness of individual interactions. While this approach does look good in the short term, as your agents’ power through your call queue meeting their strict Average Handling Time (AHT) targets, poor-quality conversations often lead to call-backs from dissatisfied customers.

​There are several ways to Get the Best Out of Your Metrics on effectiveness rather than efficiency:

  • Ask your agents what is stopping them from achieving their metrics targets
    • Ask if they feel they have the tools to resolve calls in the most efficient way. You will not know what is stopping them from achieving their metrics targets unless you ask!
  • Focus on quality conversations to reduce overall Average Handling Time
    • Average Handling Time should not be the driving force behind efficient customer-agent conversations. Quality conversations should drive down Average Handling Time.
  • Treat your agents well to help deliver a better overall customer experience
    • You can measure all the metrics in the world, but if you don’t treat your agents well and like grown-ups, they will deliver a poor customer experience.
  • Focus on developing your agents – instead of on what they are doing wrong
    • Focus on improving your agents, rather than focusing on what they are doing wrong. This should have a positive impact on them meeting their targets.

​A good first step is to start targeting your agents on First Contact Resolution and just let your supervisors worry about Average Handling Time.

6. Empower your agents to deliver excellent customer service

Your agents do not need to be micromanaged to do a good job. Ironically, this approach can result in a poorer customer experience and even lower agent morale.

Instead, empower your agents to handle customer issues and trust them to do the right thing. Train your agents on how to handle an escalating situation, encourage your agents to think for themselves and to ask for help only in extreme circumstances. Your supervisors have better things to do than babysit your agents, and your customers could do without being put on hold AGAIN while approval is granted for their requests.

​To conclude, people are one of the crucial parts of any organization. At Antasis, we value and take good care of our employees’ welfare as they are the most valuable assets in our organization. Happy Staff, Happy Client, Happy Business!

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