Tales From The Cube

Finding a job in a call centre today can and does sometimes seem like sifting through sludge. There are a lot of centres that are pretty looking on the outside, but on the inside they are garbage dumps.

In this episode I offer a comprehensive set of tips that should help you find a good place to work at. A centre that is balanced, collaborative, and well managed. There are many who fake being great places to work for, but with the proper set of tools and mindset you can find a gem amongst the ones that offer nothing more than trap doors into a cube nightmare.

In this episode I speak to the impacts of Indians who are working as frontline and managerial staff in call centres.

The image, stereotypes, and their business style all have impacts on the industry, and managers, staff, and customers need to address the elephant in the room. That elephant is the presence of them and other immigrants in our workspace and how we build communities where they are included while still making sure our ideal of what work should look like is upheld.

Sometimes that includes having the awkward conversations about culture. But overall, leaders in centres need to develop and use plans that include training to tackle diversity while explaining why our standard of collaborative rather than a top-down management style is a better model.

There are a lot of call centres that handle an unusual assortment of calls. These range from things like whoopee cushions to specialized services for the hearing impaired. This short episode takes a dip into this topic; there is not a lot of in-depth insight here. It's more of a (Did you know?) topic.

Enjoy, and let me know if you have

In this episode I cover two topics. Cookie-cutter call centres and temporary workers.

There is a significant rise in the number of temp workers working in call centres and many call centres use a cookie-cutter model. Both are not wrong in of themselves. However, there are some risks along with the benefits. In this episode these are explored.

This episode is about scheduling models, how they work, and what types of call centres and agents might benefit from their implementation.

Have you ever had to do a happy dance before your shift, attended weird meetings where you had to do chants, or gotten a chocolate bar for hitting a target?

Some call centres are managed very well, and others are managed in bizarre ways, with managers asking staff to do stupid things and adhere to rules that do not make any sense. This is the topic for todays episode.

I have had to do some very dumb things, like attend a meeting where a manager stood on a desk and yelled, What horse are you riding on? I have been forced to stand for an hour or so because we failed as a team to make a sales quota. Yes, I have been given trivial gifts like a chocolate bar for making a set number of sales. So trust me when I say these and other things mentioned in the episode are true. So let's dive in and learn what not to do when managing staff in a centre. This is EP25006, Bizarre Manager Tactics.

Having fun at work is normal. In any workplace but, in call centres especially, having fun on the job is a healthy exercise.

In this episode, I go over some ideas about having fun on the job and how doing so is a positive step to help build teamwork, and positively impact the workspace.

This episode explores the challenges facing operators of call centres worldwide regarding tariffs.

The last in the series, this episode briefly explores renting space and building a call centre or buying space and building from the ground up.

I sourced much of the material for these episodes from the following articles.

Nextiva Cost of building a center https://www.nextiva.com/blog/call-center-cost.html

Starter Story How Much Does It Cost to Rent Office Space For My Business? USA costs are covered here. https://www.starterstory.com/office-space-costs

And Time Doctor has an article about starting a virtual center.

https://www.timedoctor.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-start-a-virtual-call-center-business/#:~:text=Starting%20a%20virtual%20call%20center,software%20fees%20is%20per%20user

Thanks for listening see you in the next episode.

Part 2 of the series, Starting a Call Centre. This talk is about starting a virtual call centre. The things needed to set one up and what a person would face building out such a centre.