Customer Service

[downtown]

One of the clients I worked with tried to improve morale by allowing flextime for a majority of their call center employees. If employees demonstrated they were reliable and could stay on message, they could answer their calls at home X days a month, or break up their schedule outside of their regular shift.

The company then hired a lot of recent retirees and stay at home moms, who were in turn grateful for the flexibility (there are a lot of folks who would love to work from 9-3, while their kids were at school). This reduced turnover and improved employee satisfaction, so they didn't have to pay a ton of money in wages. I think JetBlue did this as well....

 

[Deviate]

I think it's safe to say that your mileage may vary as to quality of various call centers. My state is ...or was...considering legislation requiring call centers to declare their location. The idea that call centers here are better than over there. (Plus it keeps jobs here. Theoretically.) I also think that it's important to remember that most of the people working these jobs aren't what I'd call "professionals." We employ a lot of students. We employ a lot of part time people. I'm not remotely suggesting that things can't be done, but I do think there's only so much. At the end of the day, people care about their job or they don't. (This is more an issue for the other departments here.)

 

[Speedo]

The awful pay bit I don't find to be too true. Keep in mind you're talking about a job that doesn't require a university degree. My starting pay in a call centre was like 40% more than the starting pay of a teacher in some states.

I don't don't doubt that some call center somewhere has decent pay. But around here they start at a dollar or two above minimum wage.

 

[BasketCase]

A case that came across my desk:

Location: Amtrak Newark station
Unit: sales computer in main ticket office
Problem: mouse non-functional

Fine and dandy. I dispatch a tech. Later in the evening, the tech appends the following:

Technician's report: mouse ball is dirty.
Resolution: mouse ball cleaned, unit tested functional. Ticket closed.

Terrific. I sent a tech to clean a mouse. Whatever, I still got paid.