“...these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on 'em. That's ‘institutionalized’.”
– Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman) – The Shawshank Redemption
The quote above made me think about contact centers and how agents can sometimes feel. At some point in their ‘in or outbound call’ career, contact center agents lament that they feel like an inmate in a prison; able to move only as far as the ‘chain’ (read headset cord) allows them. Serving a sentence that seems like its never-ending.
So, here you have a life that feels like you are going nowhere and performing tasks that seem inconsequential to the greater purpose of existence as we know it. Allow me to present what I feel are the …………. (make drum roll sound):
TOP 10 REASONS CONTACT CENTER AGENTS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE IN PRISON!
1. You come and go as you are told
2. You need permission to go relieve yourself
3. You are under constant guard by the TL’s
4. Your activities are under COMPLETE observation by the ACD
5. You share ‘horror stories’ of customers during meal times
6. You are sent to ‘solitary confinement’ waiting for your call quality monitoring session
7. Your contract is like your prison sentence
8. Your prison warden (read Contact Center Manager/ director) has an open door policy that no one can use
9. All inmates have to return to the phones when the siren sounds (read calls queued)
10. Receiving parole or release is when you are recruited to another prison with better perks.
All thoughts are welcome and if you have any, put a comment in and we will add to the list.
– Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman) – The Shawshank Redemption
The quote above made me think about contact centers and how agents can sometimes feel. At some point in their ‘in or outbound call’ career, contact center agents lament that they feel like an inmate in a prison; able to move only as far as the ‘chain’ (read headset cord) allows them. Serving a sentence that seems like its never-ending.
So, here you have a life that feels like you are going nowhere and performing tasks that seem inconsequential to the greater purpose of existence as we know it. Allow me to present what I feel are the …………. (make drum roll sound):
TOP 10 REASONS CONTACT CENTER AGENTS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE IN PRISON!
1. You come and go as you are told
2. You need permission to go relieve yourself
3. You are under constant guard by the TL’s
4. Your activities are under COMPLETE observation by the ACD
5. You share ‘horror stories’ of customers during meal times
6. You are sent to ‘solitary confinement’ waiting for your call quality monitoring session
7. Your contract is like your prison sentence
8. Your prison warden (read Contact Center Manager/ director) has an open door policy that no one can use
9. All inmates have to return to the phones when the siren sounds (read calls queued)
10. Receiving parole or release is when you are recruited to another prison with better perks.
All thoughts are welcome and if you have any, put a comment in and we will add to the list.
6 comments:
It can be pretty bad in the contact center and I believe the people of ATCEN has captured the essence of why people cannot survive the contact center environment.
Can imagine what a nightmare to work in contact center environment.Since there are 10 reasons contact center center agents feel like they are in prison. What are the ways to improve this negative environment?
Working in Contact Center is a tough journey. However, it may be a good place for young generation to experience and develop themselve as they will get a lot of trainings and guidances along the journey in Contact Center.
Yes, most of the people I know who work in contact centres dread going to work. They only have one motivation at the end of the day, MONEY.
Really enjoyed reading this, reminded me of the 'Letterman' show, lol.
Seems scary to me?! However, we can always judge by the remuneration, award and/or reward. Nothing is "absolutely wrong", right?
h'mm.. [musing]
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