Module 1: Understanding Call Center Culture

Background

For many call center managers, motivating agents means holding contests or handing out prizes.  There are literally thousands of activity workbooks, game-oriented software packages, and structured programs of so-called “incentives” on the market today aimed at bolstering employee performance.  Unfortunately, we cannot merely adhere to a list of the "top 5 incentives"; incentives are only valuable if they improve performance, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.

Most call centers provide incentives to their agents to increase productivity and promote a positive work environment.  In this tutorial series, you will discover that the things that most managers and supervisors think their agents value and what agents say they value, are often very different.  You may be surprised at the “disconnects.” 

Are the incentives you are using supporting your goals or are they actually interfering with them?  Are you motivating your agents to achieve quality and performance or are you inadvertently teaching them how to “beat the system”? 

This series will help you learn the genuine differences between “incentives” and “motivators,” and prepare you to create lasting changes for a truly motivating workplace.

What is "call center culture"

In our Best Practices in Call Center Operations research study, when agents talked about “culture,” they described their relationships with co-workers in the call center and whether the overall environment fostered a sense of family and mutual caring. 

However, when managers discussed culture they talked mostly about contests and prizes. 

This distinction has been studied in psychology and is referred to as “autobiographical memory.”  What this means is that, as human beings, we have a stronger memory for the feelings of a particular event, more so than for the facts and details of the event.  True to this theory, it mattered less to agents what a specific contest was or what kinds of prizes were offered; what mattered to them was the fun and sense of belonging they experienced with their co-workers and supervisors during the event and how they felt about the process after it was over.

What agents were also clear about is that being part of a team helps them work harder with their team members toward a mutual goal.  This concept is fundamentally different from performing or competing solely as individuals, which generally fosters a sense of competitiveness, as well as a reluctance to assist their co-workers.

Call center managers and supervisors who encourage their agents’ participation and involvement in various company and extra-curricular activities (such as team competitions, volunteer events in the community, etc.) inspire attitudes of mutual caring and responsibility among their agents.

Call center culture as a motivator

In the Supervisor Skills tutorial series, we addressed the Top 2 Agent Motivators.  The most important motivating job factors as identified by call center agents were "positive leadership skills of supervisors" and "relationships on the job with co-workers and peers." 

Both of the top two motivating job factors are directly related to agents' relationships with people on their jobs. 

What does this mean?  Agent loyalty and productivity are not concepts that can be purchased with incentives, contests or prizes.  Many incentive programs have a scatter-shot effect as they manage to hit a lot of people, but often the incentives are not what agents truly value.  True agent motivation needs to be earned through the identified values of strong leadership and a people-friendly culture. 

What agents say motivates them (relationships) and what managers think motivates them (incentives and prizes) often differ.  This disconnect may come as a surprise and has critical impact on agent retention.  Understanding the culture of your call center will greatly affect your agent motivation program.  Next week's tutorial will take a deeper look at the agent-manager disconnect and ways to overcome the misunderstanding.

Coming up...

Understanding call center culture is an essential building block for improving employee motivation and loyalty.  The following tutorials in this series will explore other motivation misunderstandings and ways to improve agent satisfaction and retention.  Next week's tutorial will focus on the agent-manager disconnect and its impact on motivation.

For more information on improving agent loyalty, check out Centerserve's Motivating Agents eToolkit.

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Recommended resources:

This tutorial provided information from our Motivating Call Center Agents eToolkit.  More information on this and other call center products can be found in our Bookstore.