Best-in-class
call centers: Scorecards for success
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How does your call center stack up?
The first step toward delivering world-class customer
service in today's environment is to separate the different
components that contribute to a successful call center and
evaluate your performance in each area. This series
will focus on the Contact Center Model, which breaks the
call center into its five key components - Strategy,
Processes, Technology, Human Resources and Facilities.
Each section will include a short scorecard to evaluate your
current call center performance.
Module 1: The Contact
Center Model
Module 2: Strategy
Module 3: Processes
Module 4: Technology
Module 5: Human
Resources
Module 6: Facilities
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If
you don't see the penguin, it's not Centerserve. |
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Click here to download tutorial as PDF
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Module 5: Human Resources
This tutorial continues our
evaluation of the Contact Center Model and provides a scorecard for
examining the fourth component, Human Resources.
Context
The Contact Center Model,
shown in Figure 1, illustrates the importance of strategy in the overall
health and success of a call center. To learn more about the
Contact Center Model, see
Module 1 of
this tutorial series.
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Figure 1 - Prosci's Contact Center Model
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Human Resources
Human resources are key to the success of your call center.
Evaluate yourself on the following questions. All questions
are on a 1 - 5 scale, with 5 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest score. For
each statement, circle the appropriate score for your call center.
1. Our current
organizational design and reporting structure is an enabler to our strategy
and processes.
1 2 3 4
5
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2. We have up-to-date
job descriptions that clearly outline job responsibilities.
Compensation is equitable based on industry comparisons.
1 2 3 4
5
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3.
Our hiring and recruiting processes support the
call center strategy and goals, and we employ
processes and tools, including exit interviews,
to improve employee retention.
1 2 3 4
5
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4. Managers help develop career paths and
professional development plans, and use fair
performance evaluation procedures.
1 2 3 4
5
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Total points you received out of 20 possible = _____
Total your score for this short assessment. This score will
give you an overall indicator of the "health" of your call center
human resources:
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Score |
Rating |
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17-20 |
Excellent |
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12-16 |
Good |
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8-11 |
Fair |
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5-7 |
Poor |
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4 |
Failing |
Key elements of call center
human resources
There are three key areas to focus on when considering the
human
resources aspects of your contact center. Examples of elements to
consider are listed in the table below:
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Call Center
Human Resources Element |
Description |
Recruitment
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Job descriptions
A well-written
job description
allows you to attract the right candidates. An ideal job
description should contain the following information:
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organizational overview and job
context
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description of position
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relationship to other positions
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required skills and experience
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pay level or salary range
Recruitment
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determine staffing needs and
hiring
criteria
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develop a recruitment strategy
including channels for finding possible candidates,
possible channels include:
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contract with a specialist
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use government employment agencies
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place advertisements in local
newspapers and websites
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talk to college career counselors
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reward current employees for each
successful hire they initiate
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use screening techniques to make sure
candidates are suited for the job
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make sure candidates are fully aware
of all aspects of the job
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Training
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Determine content areas for training
Determine training methods
Develop training sequence and
examinations
-
determine the order in which to
deliver content areas
-
if using tests for evaluation, develop
questions and testing method
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Performance Management
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Factors that contribute to successful ongoing
performance management:
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ongoing training: targeted refreshers
and new processes and procedures
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communication: feedback regarding
individual, team and overall call center performance
and actions/plans to improve
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rewards and incentives: individual and
team motivation programs to improve productivity and
performance
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coaching: input from supervisor or
team leaders to improve performance, meet standards
and attain personal goals
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quality monitoring: program of contact
review, evaluation, feedback and action
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These areas are high-level overviews of considerations
for your human resources plan. If you need to do detailed planning, we
recommend the
Call Center
Planning and Design Toolkit for in-depth information on recruitment
strategies, training programs and performance management.
The newly released
2007 Call Center Best Practices
Reports contain data on recruitment, training and
performance management programs from 250 contact center managers
worldwide. Find out what others are doing to ensure the
success of their call centers.
Summary
This tutorial focused on important components of call center
human resources and how to determine if your current strategy is
appropriate for your organization.
The
Call
Center Planning and Design Toolkit contains a
Master Planning Guide to lead you
through the process of reassessing your call center performance and strategy. It will help
you identify the areas for improvement, and it gives you detailed
steps on how to evaluate each identified area. The toolkit
provides step-by-step instructions, templates and checklists for
developing your own specific Contact Center Model - including your
strategy, processes, technology, human resources and facilities. Key
aspects of the
Call
Center Planning and Design Toolkit include:
- a comprehensive planning checklist and design guidelines for
successfully setting up a new call center or redesigning your existing call center
- the approach and tools to help you create a contact center strategy
and manage the implementation effectively
Find out more about the Planning and Design Toolkit by visiting the webpage, emailing callcenters@prosci.com or by calling 970-203-9332
to speak with an analyst.
Coming up...
The next tutorial in this series will provide a
scorecard for evaluating your call center facilities.
Recommended resources:
This tutorial
provided information from Prosci's
Call Center Planning and Design
Toolkit. This toolkit can be used for starting or
reengineering call center operations for improved performance.
More information on this and other call center products can be found
in our Bookstore.
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Call Center Planning and
Design Toolkit |
A comprehensive guide to call center
strategy, planning and design;
an excellent resource for new contact center
start-ups, existing call center
improvement and future planning with detailed
templates and planning roadmaps. |
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Best Practices Reports |
Over 240 call centers from around the world share
how they have improved service quality, productivity and
customer satisfaction. This report shares
lessons learned by
call center managers regarding their
most effective management
practices. |
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Call Center Business
Performance Packages |
Find a call center package to meet your needs and
save 20-25% off the
list price. |
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