Since the call center industry is heavily based on client interaction over the phone, managers must be aware of their employees’ performance. Productivity and quality communication are two main goals of any call center; however, you cannot achieve them without the proper employee care and guidance.

As Nancy R. Lockwood from the Society for Human Resource Management states, “Employee engagement has emerged as a critical driver of business success in today’s competitive marketplace. Further, employee engagement can be a deciding factor in an organization’s success. Engaged employees work harder, are more loyal and are more likely to go the ‘extra mile’ for the corporation.”

Research shows that engaged employees generate 43% more revenue than disengaged workers. How is your call center management team actively engaging your workforce? Take note that employees can be “engaged” in a number of things; work matters, issues at home, social media websites, gossip among co-workers. The goal here is to activate focused engagement on your work objectives. Focused engagement ultimately leads to productivity and profitability.

To foster focused engagement among call center agents, first you must redefine the workplace. Create a workplace environment that allows for engagement with the job and others while also focusing employees on a certain set of goals.

Engage. Call center agents are the face of the company. They need to be articulate, competent, and understanding of client needs at all times. Achieving this starts with workplace communication. Employees need to recognize the vision of the call center and the necessary steps to achieve this vision. Once they do this, they will feel engaged with clients rather than robotically going through the motions.

Encourage. Reach out to your workforce – recognize a job well done, give feedback, accept their insights. Vocally communicate with them by making rounds in the office instead of sending an email. Showing your agents that you appreciate their ideas, opinions, and suggestions make them feel like part of the team. A word of encouragement can go a long way, especially if the job itself is monotonous or repetitive.

Involve. Simply put, the more personal interaction you have with employees, the more engaged and involved they will want to be. Management that spends a large amount of time directly communicating with their teams increase focus and engagement on business goals. By asking for opinions or giving special opportunities for participation, call center agents will feel respected and empowered. Involvement in organization matters and activities will ultimately improve performance.

Combining these three efforts on a regular basis will set your workforce’s eyes on the goals. Improving the workplace environment can result in increased profitability and productivity with open channels of communication.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications. Alert Communications provides 24/7 call answering support.