Motivation is one factor in BPO’s that reduces attrition rate. This plays a dominant role in call centers where the work is quite stressful. Employee motivation and call center training are two faces of the same coin. Read this article to know what is the role of motivation in call centers?
It is certainly no longer a secret that call center is an industry that has been doomed with high attrition rate due to long hours of work, stress and quality of work. The performance of call center agent greatly affects the success of a call center itself and the various campaigns it carries out. There is no doubt that these employees give their 100 percent because they value their jobs most but they need something more than this. This is the time when motivation comes into picture.
Motivation is not a new concept at a work place but this is the one that has taken a new meaning in call center. It is become extremely difficult to have a motivational environment with the introduction of Internet based application and multichannel communication tools. This application is somehow leading BPO employees towards stress and dissatisfaction. To combat these kinds of negative traits in a BPO the call center managers are consistently searching for ways to motivate employees to make them more efficient and effective.
The key factors that a call center manager should keep in mind to motivate his employees are networking, mentoring and trust. Call center employees work in pressurized environment therefore it is not always possible to achieve these factors instanteously. A negative employee can not only create havoc for a company but can also de-motivate others. A BPO company should understand that relationship with the team members should be built and nourished. A healthy relationship among the team members enhances communication among and between the employees. It encourages people to talk about other topics apart from work.
A call center training and motivation should go hand- in-hand. Employee training and motivation are interconnected with each other as it teaches them to climb the ladder of success. Most of the call center managers regularly face one common issue of how to motivate their employees in a high-turnover culture. They fail to do so because they do not address the root cause of motivation. There is no set of rules to motivate employees in call center. Morale plays a major role; the three areas that affect the motivation of employees are the following:
?#Physical environment
?#Emotional environment
?#Working environment
?#Intellectual environment
The best way to understand what an agent wants is to listen to what they have to say. This can be accomplished through focus or survey groups that enable agents to vent their issues and express their needs better. It is better to include a cross- section of all call center agents in this survey like new hires, veterans, laggards, jubilant, disgruntled and high-performers. The call center culture has great effect on the motivating factors of the agents. A call center manager or a supervisor, who are angry, tired, bored and distracted hardly become great motivators. Building enthusiasm in team requires it to responsive and ready to in projects.
Incentives also play a major role in motivating a team like sales incentives, contests, bonuses, intangible rewards, promotions and career guidance. Incentives are just one way of motivating agents and they can used as powerful tool when carefully applied and can be used to build a productive work force. In a call center, the biggest factor in motivating employees is dealing with complacency. If the agents realize at one point of time that they are stuck in rut with nothing more to do there are high chances that their morale might go down. Keeping them motivated and preparing them for additional responsibilities reduces attrition rate.