4 ms·

> I've called customer service and have to wait 2-3 minutes for the agent to bring up some screen as they apologize and explain "our systems are really slow" I

> I've called customer service and have to wait 2-3 minutes for the agent to bring up some screen as they apologize and explain "our systems are really slow" I have a friend who works in a call center. They work 10 hour days with no breaks between calls (the queue is often 40-50 people deep). (They do get the federally-mandated breaks of course.) "Our systems are really slow" is 100% true, but is also probably a welcome break for the agent. So if you are the clever software engineer that goes in and removes the sleep(180s), that's probably great for a few hours until all the call center agents burn out and leave early and use their spare time to start organizing a union. (Of course, if you save 2 minutes a call with software, you can just give people a mandatory 1 minute break between calls and come out ahead -- a true win/win. But that would require that the software team and the call center management team coordinate, and I don't think that's ever happened once in the history of large companies. You'd be the first!)

wjnc 5y ago
Perhaps I’m totally going Euro but shouldn’t the MBA in charge at least try to measure employee happiness, churn and absence to try and measure if the work is fulfilling? I work at a large listed insurer and I know nobody shits on the hard work customer facing colleagues do. It’s hard work, with often old IT and usually customers outside of the fast track that have unique needs. Our senior management is motivated to help say once a year to keep a feeling for both customer and colleagues etc. I would split your point in two dimensions: 1. Software should support efficiency and speed. (We often fail at that.) 2. Tough jobs exist and it’s up to the employer to make them worthwhile and at the least prevent burn-out.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Often there's a lot of insight to be gained by reading what vendors and industry publications have to say on a topic. DDG suggests that this is a leading call centre industry publication. This is their article list: https://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/by-topic/ https://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/by-topic/ I've skimmed a couple of sections. There are a couple which look at workplace issues (career & self-improvement, workfroce management). Nothing jumps out immediately, but there might be some hints. Note that what you find in articles and practices on the ground ... may differ. Vendors advertising workforce-related systems and services (especially monitoring, tracking, recruiting, etc.), or legal / compliance organisations, could also give some possible insights. Overall, it's a low-wage, low-skill, but also low-hazard environment (no dangerous equipment, encounters, etc.). Much of it is outsourced to low-cost regions with many English speakers (Philippines, India, Mexican border towns, Florida, etc.). Alternative employment may be scarce, unemployment high. Change any of those dimensions and you might see conditions improve.

wjnc 5y ago

Perhaps I’m totally going Euro but shouldn’t the MBA in charge at least try to measure employee happiness, churn and absence to try and measure if the work is fulfilling? I work at a large listed insurer and I know nobody shits on the hard work customer facing colleagues do. It’s hard work, with often old IT and usually customers outside of the fast track that have unique needs. Our senior management is motivated to help say once a year to keep a feeling for both customer and colleagues etc. I would split your point in two dimensions: 1. Software should support efficiency and speed. (We often fail at that.) 2. Tough jobs exist and it’s up to the employer to make them worthwhile and at the least prevent burn-out.

dredmorbius 5y ago
Often there's a lot of insight to be gained by reading what vendors and industry publications have to say on a topic. DDG suggests that this is a leading call centre industry publication. This is their article list: https://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/by-topic/ https://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/by-topic/ I've skimmed a couple of sections. There are a couple which look at workplace issues (career & self-improvement, workfroce management). Nothing jumps out immediately, but there might be some hints. Note that what you find in articles and practices on the ground ... may differ. Vendors advertising workforce-related systems and services (especially monitoring, tracking, recruiting, etc.), or legal / compliance organisations, could also give some possible insights. Overall, it's a low-wage, low-skill, but also low-hazard environment (no dangerous equipment, encounters, etc.). Much of it is outsourced to low-cost regions with many English speakers (Philippines, India, Mexican border towns, Florida, etc.). Alternative employment may be scarce, unemployment high. Change any of those dimensions and you might see conditions improve.