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@ Title, reason being my call center requires you to live within a 2 hour drive and like hell will I tell you where I work. This post originating from someone else’s that insinuated that we were all “stuck” in our positions and that escaping from a call center is a universally desirable outcome. I know a lot of call centers are run shittily but if a call center is ran properly then you shouldn’t feel it’s something you need to escape from in the first place. Of course most of the time they are, but I just want to highlight a good call center in a sea of bad ones.
Some background, this is my first “real” job coming from a few crappy part-time ones. I have had 0 call center experience prior to my current employment and 0 customer service experience. I have been in my position for about a year and 3 months now, and I am a training lead.
FIRSTLY
“This is a dead end job.” I want to hear what it’s like at your work places, but at least here you can train into different departments and get sponsorships to pursue higher education. We have an IT department you can train into, legal department, social media, graphic design, even interior design because reasons. I am completely disinterested in those but those options are available to me if I so desired. My progression isn’t linear either. The company will send out company-wide emails saying a particular department is hiring and they are accepting new interviews. You get a pay raise for every new skill you pick up. Once there are no agents to train, I’m going to go back on the phones as an agent but I get to keep my training lead pay raise. I’ve gotten 5 pay raises since being here.
OVERTIME
I will never be forced to take overtime nor will any agent that works under our umbrella be forced to take overtime. Overtime is something you sign up for, and if there is no one signed up for overtime then management just has to deal with it, usually the supervisors and leads will get on the phones with the agents.
AGENT SUPPORT
My call center has a dedicated lead line for each department who’s entire purpose is for agents to ask questions to if they get stuck on a particular call. That is literally all they do. Even if it’s midnight there is an Agent In Charge available to help answer agent questions and help them out of sticky situations. Our training is a 2 week classroom followed by 1-5 weeks of a training bay where you have a lead assigned to you, and you meet with them daily so they can discuss how your day has been going and help you succeed on the phones. If calls get overwhelming we encourage agents to get in touch with a lead so they can put in an extra coaching with you and give you a break from the calls. We have a no one left behind policy when it comes to training. If you need the help we will absolutely take the extra time to get you through training and even sit with you through your calls holding your hand if that’s what you need.
BENEFITS
Holy shit I have health and dental insurance, how did that happen? I have a lawyer too? Since when?
INCENTIVES
Of course there is the monetary “You’re doing great!” bonus check that can come in the form of $240 if you’re good and an extra $500 if you’re REAL good and some paid time off on top of that. They also run some raffles every so often that can get you goodies. When I was in my training bay I was shadowing an agent (sitting next to them jacked into their phone line before the coof hit) and he was explaining how easy the job was and how to do a few things in the system. He went under his desk and pulled out a macbook air and told me he had won it just last week for good performance. The guy two booths down got a TV.
ATMOSPHERE
Back when our HQ was open, man were those the days. The company really invested in their employees. We had our own cafeteria that served fresh burgers and deli, a frozen items section that had ice cream, snacks, pudding, a fruit bar, man I miss that place. Oh, and free coffee 24/7. In addition to having a break room that would play episodes of The Office (because of course they did) they had a “relaxation room” that was put in per agent request. It was this room that had these nice reclining chairs in it to it’s front, and when you go to the back, these little cubicles with sound mitigating walls and a soft cushioned raised floor that was about waist height, with a little outlet near the back. Idea being you can just cuddle up inside one and take a nap or just listen to music and chill out, and there was a “No noise allowed” rule in that particular room. My other lead who I’m teamed up with would commonly take naps in that room.
THE TEAM
It’s legitimately a team that you’re a part of. All the supervisors still have pictures of the graduating class they were a part of like 3 years ago, 10 years ago, so on and so forth. I still have mine tucked away in a drawer in my room, and I remember the graduating day we all had a potluck. Everyone brought in a bunch of stuff to make tacos but I was a broke boi who can’t cook for shit so I brought in free comics for everyone cause why not. We also had this lady who would go up and down the call center floor with a cart of snacks and just give them out, and sometimes you’ll come back from break and find you have a new bag of cheetos waiting for you or some random candy.
I hate to hear so many people are stressed out by their workplace and that they feel trapped and without any options, and by all means, screw those places, but I don’t feel like we highlight the good places at all.
If you are at the same business as me and you think you know who I am, send me a “Spaghettios” through work. Keep it on the down-low though 😉
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