Please Leave all sense of Reality at the Door
It’s no secret that I don’t hold call center management in high regard. I think the main reason is that I once worked in a call center as an operations manager. I saw with my own eyes the stupidity that was management as they consistently blamed poor performance on employees whose only fault was in trying to satisfy their manager.
I saw team level managers given goals that were diametrically opposed to each other. But because they wanted to keep their position, they agreed to do the best they could.
The problem with a call center environment is not the work, o even the management. It’s the constant moving out of reality that causes the problem. There are many people that actually like customer service and don’t mind phone work. The problem is when they’re given such ridiculous things to do in addition to satisfying the customer on the telephone that the job runs into trouble,
Who thought up the idea of up selling to people calling into a call center with complaints? The customer is upset or angry that the product originally purchased doesn’t work correctly but the phone agent is expected to try and sell them more stuff! How stupid do you think the customer to be?
Managements answer is that they were stupid enough to buy from them in the first place.
Oh well…
Call Center Environment
Get around a call center for any time and the systemic issues or attrition, customer experience and operational integrity will come up in any conversation. After all these years, it’s interesting to note that the same exact issues that plagued the industry decades ago are still with them.
What comes to mind is the definition of crazy…
that is, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. This, unfortunately is the life of call centers and that environment. Management continues to spout great speeches about the importance of customer service while lowering the morale and effectiveness of their primary customer service and support organization. This is just plain short sighted but has been going on for years.
The attrition, or loss of experienced employees continues unabated while management continues to be “alarmed.” Alarmed!? Because people don’t want to be treated poorly for lousy wages and few benefits? Oh please! Get your head out of the sand and take a look at the real world. Walk a mile in the typical employees shoes and management would quickly see that the real problem is…. poor management. Go figure!