Call Centre Operators Suffer Too
As reported in The Mail On Sunday, March 4th 2007
We all know how frustrating it can be having to
contact a call centre. But have you ever given a thought for the person
on the other end of the line? Regular complaints and the anger of
frustrated members of the public can leave call centre staff emotionally
drained and less able to respond appropriately to customer calls.
A study by Dr Gail Kinman, a senior lecturer at the University of
Bedfordshire, found that emotional labour - the extent to which
employees fake and suppress their emotions - creates stress that can
extend into the home.
She believes bosses must recognise the risks of the work and help
employees to manage their emotions more effectively. Hannah Toner, 23,
from Banbury, Oxfordshire, is a customer service adviser for Vodafone, a
job she says is far removed from her last experience of working in a
call centre.
'With my first telesales job I had very little training and wasn't
prepared for the pressure that came with it,' she says.
With virtually no support from an unsympathetic employer, Hannah found it
increasingly difficult to remain calm and composed while dealing with
frustrated, bad-tempered customers.
She says: 'There were days when I was called every name under the sun, but
all the management cared about was how many calls I was handling in a
day.'
At a time when customer service is considered so crucial to business,
Aubrey Stuart, a consultant at learning and development firm MaST, is
surprised by the lack of training offered to frontline employees. He
says: 'You have to be aware of your own emotions to understand other
people and more specifically, why customers get upset.'
Dave Millner, a director at global recruitment consultancy Kenexa, says
that the real key to reducing the stress of customer service work lies
in effective recruitment.
'You need employees with inherent people skills - empathetic problem
solvers who are resilient, tough-minded and don't take rejection
personally,' he says.
Copyright 2007 The Mail on Sunday.