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UK Call Centre
Environment Report 2004
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Contents

Foreword by Sarah Faux, CEO Datapoint 2

Can technology really impact upon the contact centre environment? 4

by Clive Sawkins, vice president, Avaya UK and Ireland

Executive Summary 8

The Findings 10

[Q1] Can you tell me your age group? 10

[Q2] How long have you worked at your current call centre? 10
[Q3] Which of the following best describes your general feelings towards the working 11
environment in your office, that is, the ambience of your workplace and the facilities
you have?
[Q4a] What facilities does your employer provide you with? 11
[Q4b] Of the facilities you have at your workplace, which ones do you enjoy most or are the 12
most important to you?
[Q5] Think about the facilities that you said you particularly enjoy or are particularly 12
important to you. In which of these specific ways do they make a difference to you?
[Q6] Which of these would you say best describes the degree to which you can use 13
personal initiative in your call centre?
[Q7] Which of these best describes the level of management support? 13
[Q8] How much training and coaching do you get each month, on average? 14
[Q9] Does your call centre forward calls to you on the basis of your particular area of 14
knowledge or level of experience?
[Q10] How often are the calls routed to you actually appropriate to your expertise and 15
experience?
[Q11] Does the system automatically give you all the customer information you need when 15
you first take a call, that is: account details, recent transactions and so on?

Datapoint's top tips for running an effective call centre 16

Copyright © Datapoint 2004

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Foreword
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At Datapoint, we firmly believe in the importance
of customer service to gain competitive advantage.
As such, we are committed to helping companies
build effective call centres as the front line of
customer service, ensuring they are efficient at a
commercial, operational and technical level. One of
the frequently important and most overlooked
aspects of this process is to ensure the call centre
agents are provided with the best facilities and
Sarah Faux,
environment in which to provide excellent
CEO Datapoint
customer service.
At the beginning of this year, we commissioned
this research report to explore the state of UK call
centres and to highlight best practices centres in
terms of environment, facilities and good
operational procedures.
The research finds that in the majority of cases,
call centre agents are provided with excellent
working environments with measures in place to
support them and help develop their skills. The
research clearly highlights the enormous progress
industry-leading call centres have made. Their
emphasis on providing first-rate working conditions
benefits both employees and customers alike. A
positive external image can only be achieved
through an equally positive and supportive internal
atmosphere. This ultimately boosts customer
service and reduces both customer and employee
churn.
As in all business environments there is room for
improvement and our research highlights one of
these instances. For some call centres there is
progress to be made in using technology to help
serve their customers and provide their agents with
the best possible information. It is imperative for
organisations to understand how their technology
can work for them, providing agents with all the
facts about each customer and ensuring callers
receive impeccable service every time they
communicate with the call centre.
However, call centres are clearly ahead of the pack
in terms of personnel development, and it is
encouraging to see the obvious investment in
training and development and the benefits this
brings. Call centre agents must be properly trained
and acquainted with the company's products,
brand and values. If this takes place agents can be
trusted to use their own judgment, making call
handling slicker, more productive and customer
orientated.
It is critical that companies in the UK invest in their
call centres so that they can focus on delivering
high value services and remain competitive in an
increasingly global economy. In a few years, if the
findings we have uncovered with this research
spread across the rest of the industry then the
customer service industry with be full of home-
grown talent that understands the vital role that
call centres play. Other industries should sit up and
take note.
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Can technology really impact upon
the contact centre environment?
Clive Sawkins,
vice president, Avaya UK and Ireland
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The belief that overall business success is directly
linked to a positive environment that makes
employees more productive, is finally gaining
credence. This positive environment in a contact
centre is made up of a variety of factors including
company culture, strength of management,
infrastructure, facilities and the empowerment of
agents to do their jobs fully. An important part of
the infrastructure and facilities is the technology
available to the agents. Getting the technology
right is critical as the contact centre agent has
greater potential to influence customer behaviour -
and, therefore, revenue generation - than almost
any other employee.
By enabling agents to do their job better,
technology can help create a more positive
atmosphere in a contact centre and will also
impact upon customer service. Conversely, poorly
implemented or out-of-date technology can often
hinder agents and, in my experience, many of the
sweat shop images stem from this problem.
However, simply purchasing new technology is
clearly not the answer to improving the working
environment. Before even considering the various
solutions on the market it is essential that
companies discuss the impact on the contact
centre environment that the solution is likely to
have. A plan for full implementation,
communication of the change to agents, agent
training and plotting Return on Investment from the
system are all key.
Call routing
While most customers are usually well served,
some experience poor service once too often.
During the first crucial seconds of an interaction,
when the customer is waiting to reach the agent,
your automated system is in control. It is during
those seconds that a sophisticated call routing
system can make a huge difference. Such systems
can personalise the routing of inbound calls, based
on customer segmentation and experience (and
corresponding agent knowledge).
Skills-based
Skills-based routing has been used by some
contact centres for over six years. Analysts believe
that more than 10,000 contact centres world-wide
have benefited from improvements to customer
service and performance by using this technology.
As the Datapoint research shows, many UK contact
centres are still not implementing call routing, at
their own peril.
When skills-based routing was first introduced, the
industry focused on how it would improve
customer service. These days, with more
sophisticated systems, we can increase
productivity using the same solution.
Skill-based routing can help you revitalise your
contact centre by giving management more
flexibility to best use agent knowledge, reduce call
handling times, reduce training times, support
better incentive programs and lower operating
costs. Intelligently distributing calls to agents,
reducing unnecessary transfers and enabling
agents to become specialists gives you cumulative
results that make your contact centre more
effective.
Agent development
But that is only half of the picture. Skills-based
routing gives contact centres the ability to
recognise agents' valuable contributions and treat
them as individuals. With skill-based routing,
agents are no longer assigned to queues - the
system recognises their unique abilities and then
can match them to callers' needs. Freeing agents
from queues and allowing them to develop
distinctive sets of skills ultimately leads to a
greater sense of value and job satisfaction and
provides a distinct career path for agents, who can
become experts in a particular area, eventually
leading a team of other agents in this area or
sharing their knowledge as a trainer.
From the agent's point of view, skills-based routing
can make them stand out to their employers; they
are being recognised for their skills and the value
they add. As a result their line managers are more
likely to be able to develop a tailored development
plan for them, with appropriate coaching, training
and objectives - much like employees in most other
office-based jobs. It also gives agents a chance to
take more control of their own careers, choosing
and adding new skills that keep their job
interesting and expand their knowledge. They are
therefore more likely to stay in their job for longer.
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Customer loyalty Call centres are an important employer in the UK,

As well as being skills-based, routing can also be yet have been unable to shake their 'second-rate'
customer loyalty based. With such software, not image. The call centre industry is letting itself
only can you route your best customers to your down by doing little to break outsiders'
most experienced agents, you can also set the time perceptions. For the person on the street, the
limits for hold and transfer time for each segment image of the call centre remains that of the sweat
of customers. By combining previous call shop. In reality, as Datapoint's research indicates,
experiences with customer profile information, many call centres offer positive environments and
customer satisfaction and loyalty can be further career opportunities to rival most other industries.
increased by this type of call routing. Technology such as call routing offers a way to
improve the environment and offer further career
Multi-channel development. I strongly urge call centres to
When we consider the full range of customer continue this trend so that we can build an industry
interfaces available in many contact centres today, we are truly proud of, that will change the general
the routing scenario becomes infinitely more public's perceptions.
complex. If businesses are to be equally efficient
across a multi-channel environment, they need to
be able to apply this functionality across all forms
of media. In addition, some companies may want
to prioritise enquiries based on the medium of the
enquiry. For example you might decide that the
waiting time for a web chat request should be
three times longer than the queue holding time of
inbound voice traffic. Another possible
consideration is the need to integrate email and
web chat into the centre's 'call waiting' statistics,
which are often shared with agents via wallboard
displays and/or PCs in order to keep agents
informed about the number of calls waiting.

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Executive Summary
Methodology
The research was carried out by Benchmark
Research, amongst 228 agents in 33 call centres
across the UK, in vertical sectors such as financial
services and travel. The agents were either polled
over the phone or completed a paper
questionnaire. Fieldwork commenced in January
2004 and finished in February 2004.
Demographics
The research begins with questions to ascertain
basic demographics of call centre agents and
questions them on how long they have worked in
their current call centre. These questions uncover
that the majority of call centre workers are women
(62 per cent) and that people aged between 18 and
25 are more likely (39 per cent) than people aged
over 46 (11 per cent) to be a call centre agent.
This indicates that it is younger women, at the
start of their careers, who tend to see call centre
work as an attractive option.
The research also reveals that it is older call centre
agents who are more likely to stay in their jobs the
longest. 50 per cent of 36-45 year olds and 83 per
cent of 46+ year olds have been in their jobs for
more than two years. This indicates that call centre
work remains attractive and fulfilling for workers in
the later stages of their career.
Environment and facilities
The next section of the research is dedicated to
assessing the environment in which call centre
agents work. Encouragingly, 74 per cent of the
agents questioned feel they are provided with
excellent or very good working environments. Only
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26 per cent think the environment has little impact
or a negative effect on how they feel about their job.
In particular, 71 per cent of the agents stated that
it was the specific facilities they were provided
with which promoted the good atmosphere in
which they work. When quizzed about which
facilities the agents are provided with, the
following are most common:
z Internet access (43 per cent)
z A chill out area (38 per cent)
z Parking (38 per cent)
z Training rooms (33 per cent)
Bottom of the list are:
z Free tea and coffee (3 per cent)
z Kitchen facilities (2 per cent)
z A crèche (1 per cent).
Encouragingly, call centre managers are hitting the
nail on the head when it comes to providing the
facilities that agents actually deem important. The
agents select training rooms, chill out areas,
parking and Internet access as their four most
valued facilities, which matches what they are
being provided with in most cases.
By asking how the facilities actually make a
difference to the agents, the research finds that
the agents feel less stressed, can be more
organised and productive and proud of their jobs.
Interestingly when the research extended to the
working environment outside of the call centre and
the agents were asked whether they would find it
useful to be able to work flexibly from home, or
another location, nearly half the agents feel it
would be quite or very useful. This option would
be particularly attractive to the 36-45 year olds.
However, despite this fairly high desire to work
from home, only 18 per cent of the agents are
presented with this option.
Support, training and development
The second section of the research delves into how
empowered and supported call centre agents are
and how much training they receive to help them
do their jobs better. Just over half of the agents
are encouraged to use their own initiative with
another 40 per cent having some room to make
their own decisions. This indicates that a career as
a call centre agent is not rigid, but offers the
opportunity to be resourceful. In addition,
motivation is maintained with over 80 per cent of
agents believing they have sufficient or a lot of
management support.
When it comes to training, the research dispels the
myth that call centre work is an unskilled option,
and highlights call centre employers' commitment
to training their agents. The results show that four
out of ten agents receive more than one day of
training per month. Compare this to the national
percentage of only 14.3 per cent of workers who
received any job-related training during the
summer of 20031 and it's clear call centres are
providing competitive development opportunities
and an attractive career path.
Technology
Finally, the research looks at the more technical
aspects of the facilities provided to agents.
Specifically, it looks at how call centres are set up
to route incoming enquiries to the agents and what
information about the enquiry the agent receives.
Surprisingly, nearly 50 per cent of call centres do
not route the calls to agents based on their area of
expertise or knowledge.
Moreover, in those call centres that do try to route
calls to suitable agents, only four out of ten agents
find that calls are always routed accurately. That
means that a significant number of callers are
connected to agents who are not suitably qualified
to answer their enquiries. This highlights the case
for developing subject area specialists within call
centres and ensuring a policy and the technology is
in place to route incoming calls to the correct
agent.
In addition, only just over a third of agents are
provided with all the information about the
incoming caller. So, not only are calls not routed to
the best agent to resolve the caller's enquiry but,
when the caller does get through the agent is
unlikely to have the correct information about
them. This could have a severe impact on the level
of service the caller receives.
In summary, the research finds that whilst in some
cases technical facilities could be improved, most
of the call centres polled are providing excellent
working conditions, with a strong commitment to
support, training and development.
1
National statistics - Labour Market Trends, December 2003. This
statistic of working-age employees receiving job-related training
was taken over the summer of 2003.
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The Findings

[Q1] Can you tell me your age group? [Q3] Which of the following best describes your general feelings towards the
working environment in your office, that is, the ambience of your
18-25 yrs
workplace and the facilities you have?
26-35 yrs

36-45 yrs The excellent office environment makes the

working experience thoroughly enjoyable
46+ yrs
The office environment is not very good and
this affects your feelings about work

The office environment is OK, but has little

impact on your feelings about work

The office environment is very good and

helps you to enjoy your work better
Base: All respondents

The majority of call centre agents questioned are aged between 18 and 25 years old. The research
indicates that people who work in call centres are least likely to be aged 46 and over (11%), whilst those Base: All respondents

aged between 18 and 25 are the more likely (39%). Of the agents questioned, over half (55%) feel that the working environment in their call centre is very
good and helps them enjoy their work better, while another 19% feel it makes their job thoroughly
enjoyable. A fifth of the agents questioned think their office environment is okay and only 6% feel it is not
very good and this affects the way they feel about work.

[Q2] How long have you worked at your current call centre? [Q4a] What facilities does your employer provide you with?

120
18-25 yrs Internet access
Chill out area
100 26-35 yrs Parking
Training rooms
80 36-45 yrs Subsidised canteen
Access to shops
60 46+ yrs Canteen/Restaurant
Break room
40 Gym
Vending machine
20 Smoking room
Free tea and coffee
0 Email
Less than 3 to 6 6 mths 1 to 2 2 years
3 mths mths to 1 yr years plus 0 20 40 60 80 100
Base: All respondents Base: All respondents

The research finds that older call centre workers are more likely to stay in their jobs for longer. 50% of 36- Question 4a indicates that facilities such as training rooms, Internet access, chill out areas and parking are
45 year olds and 83% of 46+ year olds have been in their current jobs for more that two years. It also more common in call centres than facilities such as free tea and coffee or a gym.
shows that nearly half (49%) of the agents questioned had been in their current job for two years or more.
This indicates that call centre work is seen as a long-term career, not just a temporary option.

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[Q4b] Of the facilities you have at your workplace, which ones do you enjoy [Q6] Which of these would you say best describes the degree to which you
most or are the most important to you? can use personal initiative in your call centre?
You are encouraged to gain skills and to use
Internet access them to show initiative
Chill out area
Parking You have to refer to a supervisor for anything
Training rooms other than a standard response
Subsidised canteen
Access to shops Responses are standardised but you are allowed
Canteen/Restaurant some room for personal initiative
Break room
Gym
Vending machine Don't know
Smoking room
Free tea and coffee
Email
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Base: All respondents Base: All respondents

Question 4b reveals the facilities agents rate as the most important, such as training rooms and parking Over half of the agents (53%) are encouraged to gain skills to show initiative and make their own
and when compared to question 4a it is clear that these are the facilities already being provided by the decisions. Another 40% have room to use their personal initiative, combined with some standardised
call centres. This indicates that call centres are providing facilities for their workforce that are in line with responses. Only 7% have to refer to a supervisor for anything other than a standard response.
what employees want and require.

[Q5] Think about the facilities that you said you particularly enjoy or are [Q7] Which of these best describes the level of management support?
particularly important to you. In which of these specific ways do they
make a difference to you? Your manager proactively gives you a lot of support

Your manager gives you sufficient support when you ask for it

Helps relaxation
Promotes good environment Your manager sometimes ignores you and you are
insufficiently supported
Inconvenient not to have
Stops stress
It is intrusive - you are over managed
Promotes happiness
Aids organisation/productivity
Feel cared for
Aids concentration
Feel proud Base: All respondents
Look forward to work
Couldn't work without it The research reveals that 44% of agents are proactively given a lot of support by their managers, with
0 50 100 150 200
Base: All respondents another 42% given sufficient support when they need it. Insufficient support is given to 13% of agents,
whilst 1% feel they are overly managed.
The research indicates that 73% of agents feel that the facilities help them relax and 71% feel they
promote a good working environment. In addition, the facilities help them to be more productive and
organised (60%), stop them getting stressed (64%) and help them feel proud of their jobs (53%).

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[Q8] How much training and coaching do you get each month, on average? [Q10] How often are the calls routed to you actually appropriate to your
expertise and experience?
Less than 1 day

1-2 days Always

3-4 days
Mostly
5-6 days

7-8 days Often not

9-10 days
Mostly not
None
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Base: All respondents
Base: All respondents whose call centres forward calls
A quarter of agents receive between 1 and 2 days training or coaching per month. Another 11% receive 3 on the basis of their particular area of knowledge
to 4 days per month. Just under half of the agents (46%) get under 1 day per month, whilst 14% don't Of those agents who receive calls based on their expertise and experience, only 40% of the agents always
receive any. receive calls that are appropriate to them. 50% of the agents get appropriate calls most of the time, whilst
6% quite often don't and 4% mostly don't receive appropriate calls.

[Q9] Does your call centre forward calls to you on the basis of your particular [Q11] Does the system automatically give you all the customer information you
area of knowledge or level of experience? need when you first take a call, that is: account details, recent
transactions and so on?
Yes

No
Always

Mostly

Often not

Mostly not

Base: All respondents Not relevant

55% of the agents polled are forwarded calls on the basis of their experience, 45% are not. Base: All respondents

Just over a third (35%) of agents are always provided with the information they need about the customer
when they take their call. A quarter of agents mostly receive this information and 2% mostly do not, whilst
for 37% of agents this is not relevant.

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Datapoint's top tips for running an
effective call centre
[1] Develop a trusting environment
Effective call centres demand regular
performance management - this must be
within a trusting environment, where agents
feel comfortable. A culture of empowerment
ensures agents feel they make a difference to
overall performance and aren't threatened
[2] Are you a competitive employer?
Check you are a competitive employer - keep
up to date benchmarks of salary, package,
benefits and facilities compared to other call
centres in your area
[3] Provide flexible shift patterns
Make it easy for agents to work at the call
centre - create flexible shift patterns, lay on
transport to and from the centre or offer the
chance to work from home
[4] Replicate best practice from other sites
Highlight other sites where the operations
work well - pointing to something that already
works give agents something to base their
efforts on. This could be other call centres
within your organisation or local non-
competing centres
[5] Mentor new agents
Run a buddy system for new agents with
longer serving agents to ensure they are
coached and up to speed quickly when they
join
Datapoint constantly strives to build call centres that work effectively at a commercial, operational and
technical level. For more information on how Datapoint can help you extract value from your call centre
please visit www.datapoint.com or call 0870 197 8900.
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12:55 Page 16
[6] Find out what your agents want
Run an annual employee survey so you know
what facilities and working arrangements
agents want and need. Customise your
facilities and services accordingly
[7] Keep agents performing to the highest
levels
Ensure they are pushed and developed in
existing and new areas with both face-to-face
training and elearning leading to internal
qualifications or promotion. Also support
agents in training for external qualifications
such as NVQs
[8] Make your call centre comfortable to work in
Suitable lighting, correct acoustics,
comfortable seating, and air conditioning are
key. Also, make sure that agents have good
personal space and avoid back pain by
arranging their work spaces correctly
[9] Regularly brief agents on company news
These briefings will give agents a link
between their role and the progress of the
company as a whole. Also, it will ensure they
adhere to brand values and culture
[10] Don't underestimate the power of
recognition
Incentivise agents with long service awards
and recognise other forms of success with
rewards for individual campaigns and
achievements and team work.
Datapoint is expert in extracting value from call
centres by making them work commercially,
operationally and technically. The company is
known for its honest and straightforward approach
towards protecting current and future investment
in call centres. Datapoint has 20 years' experience
in call centres and during this time it has pioneered
a number of firsts: the first telephone bank, (First
Direct), the first expert agent selection system, and
the first CTI enabled dialler (BT). Customers
include: BT, Home Service (GB) Ltd, Lafarge, The
MCPS-PRS Alliance, The Reality Group and Royal &
SunAlliance. For more information please visit the
company website: http://www.datapoint.com.
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages
communications networks for more than 1 million
businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of
the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large
to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and
reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems
and communications software applications and
services.
Driving the convergence of voice and data
communications with business applications - and
distinguished by comprehensive worldwide
services -Avaya helps customers leverage existing
and new networks to achieve superior business
results. For more information visit the Avaya
website: www.avaya.com.
About Datapoint & Avaya
Datapoint is one of Avaya’s longest standing
business partners and currently holds Gold
Certification with Avaya. The partnership has seen
the two organisations work together on innovative
call centre projects for many blue chip
organisations.
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