November 2008

Creating a healthy and productive
call centre environment
These five steps can help reduce employee stress. By Rod Phillips

Today, employers are facing an uncertain economic environment, rising employee benefits costs, difficulties attracting and retaining top talent, and absenteeism issues. A recent research report conducted by the Shepell·fgi Research Group found that in some respects, the effects of these challenges are more prevalent in the call centre industry when compared to other industries in Canada and employers aren’t the only ones suffering.

“With half a million Canadians working in call centres – and that number increasing by 27 percent annually – it is imperative both to our economy and the population that this workforce be healthy and productive.”

Our report, “Employee Health and Well Being: Trends in the Call Centre Sector,” indicates that employees in call centres are also experiencing a specific set of job stressors.

• In particular, when compared to other industries nationally, call centre employees:
• Accessed their Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at a higher rate;
• Were far more likely to be under 30 years of age; and
• Were more likely to access their EAP for emotional and stress issues.

With half a million Canadians working in call centres – and that number increasing by 27 percent annually – it is imperative, both to our economy and the population, that this workforce be healthy and productive. Our research provides employers with insights about the unique needs of employees in specific roles (in this case, call centres) and our firm provides its own research-based, proactive, continuum of care model to help employers support their employees.

Recommendations
So, how can employers decrease absenteeism, turnover, and low engagement and build healthy and productive teams of call centre employees?

Here are five action areas:

1. Attraction, Recruitment & Selection Programs. In the first place, the call centre industry needs to attract employees with the right personal attributes for the job. Employers need to focus on personal attributes that promote productivity. Current and prospective employees are more likely to be high-performing if their personality traits include conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness. Employers can test to determine to what degree employment candidates are suited to this line of work and hire those who best fit the bill.
   
   
2. Training & Development. Providing development opportunities and more knowledge-based training regarding products and services can enable workers to be more independent and perform more as consultants. Training workers to deal with a wider variety of customer problems can also help alleviate some work related stressors identified by call centre employees. Since monitoring has been linked to higher levels of stress and depression among call centre workers, monitoring should be introduced as a development tool and not merely a performance measure. When performance criteria are clear, and feedback from monitoring is immediate, employee satisfaction and confidence can actually be accentuated.
   
   
3. Job Redesign. One recent study determined that call centre workers experience poorer overall health when any of these ten specific drivers are present:
   
   - When they work in telecommunications and/or IT business sectors.
   - When they work in larger call centres (more than 50 employees).
   - When they work on permanent contracts.
   - When they are expected to follow strict scripting.
   - When performance is measured either constantly or rarely.
   - When the employee has less interest in staying in the call centre industry.
   - When employees have a high workload.
   - When they are unclear about their work role.
   - When they cannot make full use of their skills.
   - When they have conflicting role demands.
   
   Call centre jobs have been associated with a large number of characteristics that have been linked to poor employee health and performance. Studies show that when an organization’s business model empowers employees by giving them more control and variety, minimal scripting, the opportunity for longer calls, wider use of skills and problem solving, and higher degrees of task interdependence, then employee satisfaction and sales growth increase, and there are fewer incidents of employee depression and turnover.
   
   
4. Employee Surveys. Employee surveys provide an opportunity for regular employee feedback and a monitoring system for organizations to identify and act on challenges, and recognize and develop organizational strengths. Managers can then use this feedback to enact positive changes. Involving employee representatives in survey design and implementation, and engaging them in collaborative action planning, are the best ways to ensure sustained change and organizational improvement initiatives are producing the desired effect.
5. Integrated Health & Productivity Management (IHPM). Most stressors and health issues are not generated in the workplace. Now, more than ever, employees are faced with challenges when balancing their work and home life. Employers can help by providing them with access to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), health risk appraisals, and health coaching. Together, these elements can be combined into an Integrated Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) program. IHPMs incorporate different approaches to health and productivity in a systematic manner in order to best identify and prevent problems.

Rod Phillips, is president and CEO of Shepell·fgi. Call centre employers looking to improve the health and wellbeing of their employees, and their bottom line, need to follow industry trends and understand the steps they can take to counter the challenges. For further information about Shepell·fgi or to review “Employee Health and Well Being: Trends in the Call Centre Sector,” please visit www.shepellfgi.com.