COACH ’ S CORNER
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY SENSVECTOR ADOBE STOCK
CALL CENTER TRAINING IN THE NEW ERA
ONBOARDING AND MANAGING AGENTS IN THE NEW NORMAL
28 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
MAY MEAN CHANGING TRAINING METHODS .
The COVID-19 pandemic did disrupt the old normal of grabbing coffee and rushing into the office . Today it ’ s more like hitting the alarm and running to your work desk to log in to take calls .
The pandemic did teach us new ways of adapting to the changing circumstances , and it taught most of us that what we do at work can be done in the comfort of our own homes .
The pandemic has evolved the mindset of the call center agents . They have chosen companies that offer remote or hybrid work environments , which has left call centers that require agents to work from a brick-and-mortar office to pay a premium to attract and retain talent .
BY MARK PEREIRA , BRILJENT
AGENT ATTENTION , RESPECT
Call center training has also changed as agents are sensitive to the training provided during orientation and who rightly insist on being shown attention and respect .
I recall four trainees this year telling me that they left previous call center positions that paid more due to the poor quality of training offered .
One trainee mentioned that the training was supposed to be from 8 am to 5 pm . But the trainer stopped teaching the class at 3 pm because they were too tired and unorganized , jumping from one topic to the other without completing the first topic .
Another trainee mentioned that she left because she was given just three days of training and then placed on the phone to assist callers with processing healthcare applications . She did it for the first week and found herself unable to assist callers with understanding questions on the application .
But when she asked for assistance via chat , her team leads , supervisors , and trainer ignored her for over an hour before replying to her messages . She felt frustrated and then applied to our call center .
To circumvent this challenge , change what gets delivered , engage different learning styles , review content constantly , bring in other trainers , and ask agents and call center leadership to get involved in training .
I recall a trainee telling me that she saw and or heard from her supervisor just once in the three months of training . I believe this practice needs to be different , so each week of training , the leadership team either presents training materials or checks in with the class . It makes the class feel connected with leadership and helps the leadership teams build rapport .
Call center agents also want ongoing training and feedback with the remote or hybrid work environment present .