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Are We There Yet? - Adapting to Generation Y Employees in Today's Call Center

by Tori J. Miller, Senior Director Customer Care, Central Florida Division, Bright House Networks - June 27, 2011

Are We There Yet? - Adapting to Generation Y Employees in Today's Call Center

By Tori J. Miller, Sr. Director Customer Care, Central Florida Division, Bright House Networks


Those who run a call center in today’s economic times have lower turnover, larger pools of applicants who are very diverse, and cross generational employees, including Gen X, Gen Y and Boomers. New employee class sizes are smaller. Longevity in the positions have enabled supervisors and managers to build better relationships with agents. Productivity and efficiencies have resulted in higher FTE’s, without adding staff.

Running call centers today is not like it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Today we have technology that can record every call, enabling us to mine call data to determine how many times during a call, a certain word was used. This gives us an understanding of what our customers are saying, without having to ask the agents.

Call centers can trend why customers are calling by the troubleshooting steps that are performed on the agents’ desktop.

Companies have spent millions of dollars in making sure that they have the best technology to assist their customers so they remain competitive in our industry.

Have companies given this same focus to understanding the new generation of workers that will be sitting in the call centers using this new technology?

Are we preparing for when the economy turns around and we get back to the low unemployment rates? Are we training our supervisors and managers on who our new workforce is so we can recruit them and retain them? Do companies know if their culture and benefits are attractive to Gen Y?

So who are the newest members for the workforce?

These are Gen Y (also called Nexters or Millennials). They were born between the years of 1977 and 1994 (the date range has also been reported as 1980 to 2000). This is a generation of workers who were taught to question authority, they were taught to require constant feedback, they are the most wanted generation in the workplace, and have a very strong need to feel valued.

Gen Y works very well in a team environment. They have grown up with computers, love technology and use it for social networking, which is a very important part of their daily lives.

Gen Y is results oriented and do not focus or care about the method used to achieve the results. This generation is open to any new technology as long as they perceive that it has real value, and is of  benefit to them.

Gen Y contributes to their 401Ks at the same rate as Boomers do today. This is the result of seeing their parents lose their retirement though scandals. (Enron) So there is a strong need for long term fiscal planning.

Communication with Gen Y has to be easy, timely and efficient.  If you can instant message someone a quick question and get a quick reply, while multi-task?  Why should they be forced to call into a queue for help, only to wait on hold?

When it comes to questioning a process, procedure or policy, they will not hesitate to go straight to the CEO with their question. Following the chain of command is not something that the Gen Y was taught to do. They don’t understand why they need to do this and will ask why?

Gen Y wants to learn from, and be inspired by their leaders. They want to know that their leaders are learning so that they can turn around and teach them. If their supervisor does not have the technical knowledge and is not a great coach with helping to change a behavior, then you have lost the Gen Y employee.

Socializing and being able to network while at work is expected and needed by Gen Y. This group of workers is not loyal to the company, they are loyal to the people they work with. By having activities which allow people at work to get to know each other, there is a network created. These networks can be very powerful in helping to attract and retain good Gen Y employees.

Flexibility in schedules is also important to this group of workers. Call centers are especially challenged with this Gen Y need because call centers are staffed for when customers need to reach their clients.

So how does your call center measure up? Here are some questions that Call Center Directors should be asking themselves:

Socialization: Does your company allow employees to surf the web during downtime? If the answer is no, how will the Gen Y employee be able to stay connected with their friends, who are their families? Is there any harm if they are not on a call with a customer? Gen Y sees this no differently that the person reading a book or knitting at their desk between calls.

Schedule Flexibility: Does your company encourage schedule flexibility so that the employee can take time off without using their vacation or personal time? If not, how will the Gen Y employee be able to fulfill their needs to spend time with their family and friends who are their number one priority? Do you allow agents to swap schedules with themselves? If someone wants off on Monday and is willing to work Saturday and the business needs are there – make it happen. Do you encourage schedule swaps with other employees? There are times when a call center is overstaffed, do you allow them to leave early or come in late without pay?

Earn More, Work Less: Do you have the opportunity to increase sales in a technical environment? Can you pay commissions and show how these commissions can add to their income? This extra money can cover their wages for the time they take off without pay.

Benefits: Gen Y is not planning to stay at their jobs for a long time, so providing agents with sick time and expecting them not to use it, but save it up for a rainy day is Boomer thinking. What is your call centers’ average accumulated sick time? Gen Y feels it’s a benefit owed to them. They are using it instead of losing that paid time off when they leave. Give it to them, plan for it and let them schedule it. Why can’t there be different benefits for call centers than the rest of the company?

Feeling Valued: Are the supervisors of Gen Y trained to understand who Gen Y is? Do they understand the importance of showing them how their work brings value? Do they understand the need for constant feedback? Do they know how to be teachers and coaches? Do they understand how to take the feedback and present it to higher levels and recommend process changes? This feedback is important because it is how we will know how our employees think and what we need change to stay in sync with Gen Y.

So are we there yet? This is a question to continually ask ourselves. Personally, my answer is not yet, but we have a good start. We need to take this a step farther and look at overall company policies and benefits to see what can be changed to attract and retain this new generation of worker. It’s not just about what happens in the call center, it’s about the overall company benefits and culture. At 71 Million strong Gen Y are the next leaders of our companies and we need to figure out how to change the work environment and keep that competitive advantage.

Contact:  tori.miller@mybrighthouse.com



 
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