What Affects Design? | Call Center

The ADA. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that can affect call center design. Most important, the ADA is civil rights legislation, not a building code. You can’t get around it by moving from one location to another. It’s also very vague, forcing you to go out of your way to respond to whatever circumstances present themselves.

Some states have building codes that require ramps, accessible restrooms and other accommodations for the handicapped. The ADA does not require you to have any of these things — but it does make it illegal to reject a qualified applicant because your facilities are not accessible to him or her.

That means that you have to plan ahead. You have three choices. You can put these facilities in at the beginning, when it’s going to be the cheapest and least disruptive. You can put them in when you find you need them, that is, when you hire someone who needs them. Or, you can ignore them completely, and face the lawsuit.

Sometimes teleservices firms find out too late that their choice of workstation doesn’t accommodate a wheelchair or a random floor plan makes it difficult for a blind TSR to get around. Good call center design recognizes the relationship between people and the physical constraints of the workplace.

Safe work environment. Human safety should be your first priority. Make sure everything is fire resistant, that the exits are appropriately open and marked, and that all fire safety regulations are followed. And that call center personnel are aware of fire safety procedures.

This is so basic to facilities design I shouldn’t have to mention it. But I will anyway.

The call center’s application. For order entry applications, for example, one expert recommends at least 35 square feet for each person’s workspace. But for customer service, you might need more, up to 45 square feet. That’s because service and support reps often have to refer to manuals, documents, and other peripheral materials that should be stored within easy reach.

You’ll also want to account for the number of people in groups or teams, and the position of supervisors and team leaders. You’re going to need room for meetings, for example. And you’re going to need semi-private call center stations that can be isolated during training or coaching sessions.

Corporate cultures may dictate particular placement, and that too should be recognized when planning the layout.

The relationship to other departments. Remember, once the center is active, you’re going to be watching the length of calls as a key component of costs and productivity. If call center agents are running up and down halls to another part of the building regularly, you didn’t plan well. If they need to be in constant contact with the fulfillment department, for example, work that out ahead of time.

If you can’t physically bring the two departments any closer, then explore some kind of automated networking solution that will tie people and systems together — that may alleviate some of the distance trouble.

What support systems do you need? Will you need a cafeteria? Consider long term plans and the company-wide flow of traffic. How many conference rooms will you need? Where is the copy room, the time clock? Will you have central or local filing?

All these questions must be answered in advance. But it’s critical that these questions be answered by call center management as well as by the architects and the company’s upper management.

Facilities & Design | Call Centers

The furnished environment your agents have to work in for four to eight hours a day affects their attitude more than whether the technology they are using shaves a few seconds off call duration. Their comfort, or discomfort, within that environment has an undeniable effect on the way they deal with customers. And of course, on turnover, which affects long term hiring and training costs.

But there’s more to call center design than picking out pretty colors and sleek workstations. The right call center furnishings can help the work get done faster and better. Employees are happier, they are out sick less, they sell more and serve your customers better. Here are some of the important factors that go into a successful design.

One thing I’m not going to get into here will be networking and cabling. This is a thorny issue, and one that changes as frequently as any other technology outlined in this book. Suffice it to say, make sure of these three things:

1. You choose workstation units that allow easy access to cabling and phone wires.

2. Your architect and design team are fully aware of the kind of voice and data networking that you want to install, and that they are sensitive to the peculiar needs of expensive telecom and computer equipment. (In other words, don’t put the ACD in a room next to the HVAC system or the cafeteria).

3. Whatever your wiring plant, make sure it’s upgradable without having to rip apart floors, walls and ceilings to do it.

It’s also been argued by some architects and designers that the physical layout of the call center can have a direct effect on a company’s profitability.

One study done in 1990 of 70 million square feet of office space found that the cost to build and maintain office facilities is only 15% of the total, with the remaining 85% going to salaries. The argument would then go that, if you focus the design so as to have as beneficial an effect as possible on the workforce that comprises that 85% outlay, you can make the business case to spend more up front on layout and design with the expectation of back-end savings. Substantial research has been completed that demonstrates the effect design can have on increased productivity of building occupants.

Times have changed. In the past you could say the chairs, the lighting and the design of the workstation were the most important elements of call center design. Those things are still important, but issues of health and safety are increasingly on people’s minds these days. Yes — even in call centers.

One architectural firm I spoke to ballparked the cost of fitting out office space for call center use as ranging from $22 to $38 per square foot. Assuming the average cost of $30 per square foot is borrowed at 9.5% for 10 years, an increase in the staff productivity of 15% will pay the debt service for the entire construction cost necessary to improve the space for call center use, they say.