The Existing Center | Call Centers

Those ideas are fine, if you’re building a center from the ground up. But what if, as is more likely, you’re rehabbing a center that’s been around for a while, or outfitting an expansion of a center?

Luckily, there are still plenty of facilities factors under your control.

Lighting. Indirect lighting is the best if you can afford it, if not you should use florescent pink tubes and parabolic lenses. These lenses diffuse light straight down to eliminate glare. Full spectrum fluorescent tubes are available from some manufacturers that give a natural sunlight-like illumination.

Full-spectrum lighting is color balanced so there’s no yellow tint and less glare than with florescent lighting. The tubes fit into existing fluorescent fixtures.

Noise. Nothing is noisier than a roomful of people all talking at once. It’s hard on the employees, and it makes callers think they’re calling a roomful of people. There’s nothing so unprofessional as a call center that sounds like a.... call center.

If you want both the caller and the rep to feel more comfortable, try acoustic wall paneling, and if funds allow, white noise machines to diffuse noise. Using sound-absorbing foam or tiles on the ceiling, walls and other soft surfaces, and carpeting, keeps the sound from bouncing around. Plants are also good for the air and absorbing acoustics, but that’s a minor fix at best.

What some centers use are the same kind of foam tiling found in recording studios, though this can give a closed-in look to the place. In a cubicle environment (which most call centers are), talk to the manufacturers of the workstation units themselves about what kind of acoustical absorption properties they build into the wall coverings.

And of course, noise-canceling microphones in the headsets will help keep the apparent volume down, though that’s not strictly speaking a facilities question.

Seating. Your full-time agents spend at least seven hours a day at their cubicles sitting. The chairs you choose mean a lot. A chair affects posture, circulation and pressure on the spine.

I recommend chairs with height-adjustable armrests, split backs that hug your back (to relieve pressure on the spinal column), a moveable seat and an adjustable back angle.

I’m not saying you have to go out and buy everyone a $1,000 Herman Miller chair, but don’t put your agents in a $39 OfficeMax special, either. That’s putting you on the fast train to a high turnover rate.

Monitors. The top of the screen should be at eye height or slightly below and about 18 to 24 inches from the eyes (30 inches if you are concerned with electromagnetic radiation and your monitor is unshielded). The monitor should swivel to help reduce reflections. Once again, this is a small thing, with a really minimal added cost. But buy them the biggest monitor you can, especially if they’re going to be looking at a screen that pops a lot of critical customer information into a lot of tiny windows. The larger the monitor, the larger you can make the type in all those tiny windows. Seventeen inches ought to be the minimum.

Wall height.High walls between employees reduce noise, but they also cut agents off from one another and reduce collaboration. Sometimes the best way to deal with a call is to lean over the partition and ask another agent.

In the past, it was also important that agents be able to see a centrally hung readerboard. Now, with scrolling screen tickers full of ACD info, you’re not so dependent on that, so you can consider not only higher walls but a less formal cluster organization of the cubicles. One generally accepted height is 42 inches. That gives a certain amount of privacy without shutting the agents off from what’s around them.

Agent input. Agents ought to have some say in how call centers are designed. They’re not the only ones who benefit when you give them input — managers and supervisors get happier, more productive employees and fewer compensation claims.

Today, more and more call centers are collecting input from their employees before buying workstations, for the simple reason that they want to keep those employees as long as possible. Because call center agents must perform repetitive phone and keyboard tasks and spend all day (excluding breaks and lunch) at their desks, using ergonomic equipment is crucial. You’ll get happier, healthier and more productive employees. In the long run you’ll save a bundle in time and money since you’ll have lower turnover and better morale.

Considering there are more employees suing now than ever before for repetitive stress injuries (reported incidents of RSIs are higher than ever, accounting for 60% of all occupational illnesses) there’s no better time to offer courses in prevention and/or re-evaluate your center’s set-up.

The workstations. There are a lot of options in buying and coordinating the placement of the actual seats where agents will do their work. I’m not talking just about cubicles here; call center workspaces are carefully designed and constructed for the particular needs of this industry by a number of specialty companies.

This kind of thing is often overlooked, or put aside as managers think more about the critical (and expensive) technology and hardware they need. It’s easy to forget that labor is the single biggest ongoing expense in a call center. Intelligent workstation design is an easy way to reduce costs over the long term by keeping turnover low and employees happy. The type of workstations you choose can facilitate team building or discourage it.

There are three types of workstations: the cluster, a pinwheel like setup with four to six work areas sprouting from the core in the middle; the rectilinear, a traditional panel system with four wall panels at each station set up in rows; and the modular or free-standing workstation.

One vendor says that cluster workstations are beneficial to companies, like large catalog or insurance companies, which need to put many telephone- and computer-intensive workers in the same room. That’s because clusters let you fit more people into less space, but the people don’t feel cramped.

In fact, the cluster arrangement lets you save 10% to 25% of your floorspace and doesn’t give you that mousetrap/maze effect that rectilinear workstations sometimes create.

The gentler floor plan makes it easier for people to walk through the call center and between groups, fostering teamwork.

One downside to the circular workstation arrangement is that the partitions between stations are sometimes too high, making communication between agents on the telephone difficult. With the cluster it’s easier to talk between workstations, but hard for people to come in.

Rectilinear, or panel, workstations are a good choice for centers that need more space for each agent or that need more flexibility in panel and desk heights. The design of a center around these stations is more forgiving, and easier to change as conditions change. The work surface can be moved between notches in the side panel to accommodate wheelchair-bound agents or agents of different heights. Rectilinear workstations are popular choices for engineers, managers, people who need extra room for storage cabinets and anyone who has conferences with co-workers. You also find this the preferred style in technical support centers, where the reps have to refer to a lot of external materials — binders, reference manuals, and so forth. The type of workstation you choose should complement your company’s team-building style.

• When evaluating workstations:

• Look for a style that’s easy to install and reconfigure. Look for something that doesn’t have too many parts and pieces, but where you can add overhead shelves and in/out boxes.

• Make sure the equipment can be connected within a panel, rather than to a box that sits on top of a desk.

• Buy through a local dealer so you’ll have nearby on-going support. And a dealer can help with things like placement of workgroups for departments who need to communicate regularly.

• Look at it as a strategic investment. Chances are, you’ll have it for the next ten years, so you don’t just want to look at price. It should be pleasant and functional.

• Get panels with metal frames because they’re more durable than wooden ones. Also, get fabric panels that can be re-covered if damaged. And again, examine the acoustical properties of those panels.