Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

As I walk past the row of agents on the floor, 3 out of 10 people would be surfing the web or checking their personal email.  You would think they are doing this during their break or perhaps while waiting for a call, but it’s done during a call.  Though security measures have been placed, it is still dependent on the level of access given to them, knowing it will be beneficial for work.

It’s frustrating to see this lack of dedication and focus on the calls they handle every day, more so the impact it has with customers calling to have their problem resolved.   It is sometimes futile to expect them to stop after you’ve told them to use the PCs in the break room instead.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

It is a fact that there are more agents in a center than management.  You can’t have your supervisors spend their time checking their screens every 5 minutes.  So, how do you stop or at least minimize the behavior?

Placing limited access in the agent’s stations is the easiest way to do it.  No problem.  But, if the client allows access to the Internet because it is needed to do their job, what’s the next step?  A couple of things:

• Roll out a consequence management process
  
• Allow them to surf but don’t limit it to the break room.  Place another PC that has Internet access near the stations, but make sure that it is on the other end of the row that not a lot of people have access to.
  
• Roll out incentives – instead of cash, why not time to use the Internet during low peak hours so as not to affect the speed and bandwidth

They are not perfect, but we’ve realized that if you give your agents some space and compromise with them instead of not allowing them altogether, creates a more harmonious and still efficient working environment.