Taking the time to show frontline agents how much they’re valued is a critical role for the center management team—or should be. Jill Houghland, senior operations manager at InterCall, and a finalist for ICMI’s 2015 Best Contact Center Manager Award, points out that management can’t always impact significant daily change on agents’ pay or time off, so they need to find different ways to show appreciation.
Besides collecting their feedback through various methods and making them feel like they’re a part of the process, “We also bring agents in for brown-bag lunches and have conversations to understand what they go through on a daily basis, and what ideas they have that we might be able to implement to make their jobs easier,” she says.
Practical pointer: Make sure that your team huddles don’t focus solely on updates and changes. End on a positive note by asking agents what went well on the previous shift and why, what they were proudest of that day or week—emphasize the things that are going well.
