DOCUMENT 3 FOI-24/25-0120
Research Request – Contact Centre Guidelines
TAT TAPS : General information regarding contact centre operations eg. Brief guidelines, OHS, standards, working operations, scheduling, staff breaks, time on calls etc.
Date 28/08/2019
Requester Wendy s47F - pers
Researcher Sean s47F - personal priv
Contents
Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Health and Safety Considerations around Contact Centres ……………………………………………………… 1
Health and Safety …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Relevant to the TAPS project ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Other risks …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Mitigation Factors ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Metrics and KPIS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Agent specific metrics that may be useful ……………………………………………………………………………… 4
Reference List ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
OHS References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Metrics and KPIs References ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Summary
Health and Safety Considerations around Contact Centres
Primary identified concerns in call centres1 are in the majority consistent with broader computer based work / TAT operations.
Significant differences include the increased emphasis on the use of headsets, additional scheduling constraints and an increased requirement to vocalise communication.
Metrics and KPI’s for managing Call Centres
1 VTHC Occupational Health and Safety Unit, ‘Call Centres – The Problems’, https://www.ohsrep.org.au/call_centres_-_the_problems, accessed 06/09/2019
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Key metrics for management of call centres relate to both the performance of a call centre as a whole, and performance of individual agents. These metrics are collected from system infrastructure, agent and end user surveys, and organisational data calculations. Within the context of TAPS, this would include PANDA, The Taps Tool, and possibly other tools that would need to be developed for purpose.
Health and Safety
The reviewed literature identifies a relatively consistent set of risks across several sources.
Relevant to the TAPS project • Headset factors o Hygiene o correct positioning o fit o Acoustic shock)2,3
• Vocal fatigue o Strain / Injury o Potential Dysphonia
• Stress o Over monitoring for call centre metrics o Lack of consultation o Angry Callers o Repetitive work
Other risks
Other risks were identified, but are consistent with other TAT operations and should be addressed by existing considerations.
• Office Hygiene • Visual Strain from using a Computer • Shift work • Other general office/computer work risks
Mitigation Factors
2 Australian Services Union - Acoustic Shock Information Sheet, Accessed 06/09/2019 http://www.asu.asn.au/documents/doc download/213-acoustic-shock-information-sheet
3 Comcare - Call Centres: A Guide to Safe Work, July 2018 - https://www.comcare.gov.au/Forms an d Publications/publications/services/safety and prevention/safety and preven tion/call cent a guide to safe work
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Concerning the risks that most prominently relate to call centre work for TAPS, mitigation factors suggested include: • On boarding and periodic refresher training
o Headset Hygiene, usage and maintenance
o Acoustic shock awareness and management
o Hygiene, vocal rests and regular consumption of water • Regular rest periods
o No consistent guidelines are given, but examples/emphatic principles include
▪ 5 minutes per hour not speaking
▪ Regular and planned breaks, established in consultation with call handling agents
▪ Free access to toilets and water • Avoid hot desks and shared headsets where possible
o Ensure hygiene and ergonomic setup where hot-desking and shared headsets are necessary
Metrics and KPIS
There are no readily available published Australian standards or guides concerning metrics and KPI’s. Some material, such as the Australian Services Union (ASU) Call Centre Good Practice Guide, recommends reducing the use of active call monitoring to rely on customer satisfaction surveys.
6 sources were reviewed regarding general call centre performance monitoring and these metrics may be considered with regards to Business Intelligence Reporting / the metrics generated by the data analyst.
Centre Wide metrics that may be useful
• Cost per Call - Operational cost divided by number of calls taken. Ideally considered in light of Conversion Funnel Progression. • Conversion Funnel Progression – An industry term to discuss how often a call results in a benefit to the organisation. For example, how often a sales call makes a sale. In the taps context, this may reflect the number of delegate decisions made without the availability of TAPS, or the average time to make a delegate decision that requires TAT consultation. This metric would require assistance from PANDA / BI developers to calculate but may provide strong economic justification around TAPS staffing. • Chanel Mix - % of calls handled by non-telephone medium, IE if the TAPS service opened to queries on Yammer or by Skype. Allowing channel mix would increase accessibility to hearing impaired staff • Agent Turnover rate – Rate at which agents seek other roles as a gauge to agent satisfaction • First call Resolution (percentage of callers who have to call back about the same issue) • Customer Satisfaction (after call survey)
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Agent specific metrics that may be useful • Average speed of Answer (time between ringing start and agent pick up) • First call Resolution (percentage of callers who have to call back about the same issue) • Customer Satisfaction (after call survey) • Adherence to Schedule (percentage of an agents time in a shift on a call or available to take a call) • Call Emotion – Agent survey rating quality of calls in after call survey for trend/outlier analysis • Agent Absenteeism - Number of days per year where an agent is not available to take scheduled calls. Average absenteeism rate can provide insight into scheduling risk or in identifying resources who may be more appropriately utilised in other tasks
Reference List
OHS References
http://www.asu.asn.au/documents/doc Australian Services Union - Acoustic Shock download/213-acoustic-shock-information- 1 Information Sheet, Accessed 06/09/2019 sheet http://www.asu.asn.au/documents/doc Australian Services Union - Call Centre Good download/207-good-practice-guide-for- 2 Practice Guide, Accessed 06/09/2019 occupational-health-safety-in-call-centres https://www.comcare.gov.au/Forms an d Publications/publications/services/saf Comcare - Call Centres: A Guide to Safe ety and prevention/safety and preven 3 Work, July 2018 tion/call cent a guide to safe work Commerce Western Australia – Code of http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites Practice Occupational Safety and Health in /default/files/atoms/files/ 4 Call Centres, Accessed 06/09/2019 code call centre 0.pdf Doellgast, V., and Sezer, L., ‘Global Union - http://mail.union- Making the Right call: Redesigning call network.org/Blogs/ccam.nsf/dx/CCAMr centres from the bottom up’, Accessed eportEN.pdf/$file/CCAMreportEN.pdf 5 06/09/2019 Hazlett, D., Moorhead, A., Duffy, O., ‘Working Voices: An epidemiological study https://www.iosh.com/resources-and- of occupational voice demands and their research/resources/working-voices-an- impact on the call centre industry’, epidemiological-study-occupational-voice- 6 University of Ulster 2012 demands/ Victoria State Government - Victorian Government Call Centre Code, Accessed https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian- 7 06/09/2019 government-call-centre-code Victoria State Government - Victorian Government Call Centre Policy, Accessed https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian- 8 06/09/2019 government-call-centre-policy VTHC Occupational Health and Safety Unit, https://www.ohsrep.org.au/breaks ‘Breaks for Computer/VDU users?’, for computer vdu users 9 accessed 06/09/2019 kze9ju6nhy8r08umyifehw
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VTHC Occupational Health and Safety Unit, ‘Call Centres - More Information’, accessed https://www.ohsrep.org.au/call centres - 10 06/09/2019 more information Metrics and KPIs References Geraghty, S., ‘12 call centre KPI’s to track for https://www.talkdesk.com/blog/12-call- 11 customer success’, published 13/04/2017 center-kpis-to-track-for-success/ HR Management for CX, ‘The 10 Best Metrics to Measure Call Center Agent https://blog.playvox.com/metrics-to-measure- 12 Productivity’, published 29/08/2019 call-center-agent-productivity ICMI, ‘7 Metrics to Watch for Call Center https://www.icmi.com/resources/2011/seven- 13 Success’, Published 16/02/2019 metrics-to-watch-for-call-center-success Paton, T., ‘27 Awesome Call Centre Metrics | Industry Standard KPIs’, published https://www.contactspace.com/blog/call- 14 13/09/2018 centre-metrics Sahai, S., ‘The definitive List of 27 Call Center Metrics and KPIs’, accessed https://www.pointillist.com/blog/27-call- 15 06/09/2019 center-metrics-kpis/ https://searchcustomerexper Tech Target Essential Guide, ‘A guide to call ience.techtarget.com/essentialguide/A-guide- 16 center metrics’, published 12/2013 to-call-center-metrics
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