Addressing Contact Centre stereotypes one at the time

The Inspiration….

As today is `International Women’s Day’, it brings about the whole thought of women surpassing their stereotypical roles in both society and the workplace. In turn, this sparked the idea of stereotypes within the workplace. One stereotype associated with the workplace is that males hold most managerial roles. Thankfully, the Contact Centre industry enables this stereotype to be defeated. For example, women comprise 80% of the management board positions in our Contact Centre. However, there are many more Contact Centre stereotypes which exist.

Typical Contact Centre stereotypes:

The English Oxford Dictionary defines a stereotype as “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing”. The Contact Centre is subject to many stereotypes which in turn often makes it an non-idealistic career path for many. Such stereotypes include:

1. Low paying job
2. High staff turnover
3. The work is dull
4.  It’s a Dead-end Job

Let’s take a closer look at these stereotypes and ways which we overcome them at Arema Connect.

Stereotype #1: Low paying job

Pay is the driving force for many when choosing a career path. Some get the impression that Contact Centre agents have poor pay. In turn, with little room for opportunity for a salary increase. However this is not necessarily always the case. 

• The average salary in the industry is between €19k to €24k.  Key Considerations and Trends for the future of Call Centres
• At Arema Connect, each employee is appraised after 6 months.  Salary is reviewed in an ongoing basis throughout their employment with us.
• Increased performance allows for an increase in salary. This is extremely favorable for the employee as it becomes reward and recognition driven.

Stereotype #2: High staff turnover

Staff turnover can reflect on the business in a positive or negative manner.

• The industry incurs an extremely high staff turnover, typically at a rate of 22%. This still proves to be one of the main problems in the Contact Centre industry.
• We can proudly say our staff turnover is extremely low at just 8%. This is greatly due to our extremely positive working environment and opportunities to progress. And it offers our employees the ability to develop their customer relations and administrative skills.

Stereotype #3: The work is dull:

At a recent talk, we presented at the Department of Social Protection for job seekers, it was highlighted to us in the Q&A session that many believed the work was boring. Here at Arema Connect, we beg to differ. Each interaction with the customer is different. We offer our employees a variety of work across their given roles on a variety of platforms. Dealing with over 100 clients allows our employees to experience a variety of tasks. In turn, this allows for increased employee engagement and satisfaction.

Good Internal relations = Good Customer Experience

 

Stereotype #4: It’s a Dead-end Job:

Many believe that being a Contact Center agent is a dead end job. However, our top management team prove this statement to be very wrong.

• Four of our top management team started as agents and worked their way up.
• On average our management team have been with us for 10 years.
• Many of our agents hold Key Account Manager roles giving them additional responsibility and tasks to fulfill. We put a strong emphasis on growth and development.

In conclusion…….

We take a proactive approach to overcoming stereotypes. In turn, this makes our workplace positive and favorable for our employees. In conclusion, almost every industry is faced with stereotypes. The true test is how an organization overcomes them.

If you want to work with us… send your cv to humanresources@aremaconnect.com.

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