Going through our abandon logs I have spotted what for us should never happen. A caller held for just over 9 minutes before hanging up. Now considering our average answer time is less than 30 seconds this is a bit off.

On investigating it appears that the caller entered the queue just as the office was closing. Therefore probably just slipped in. Now the question.

How do other people handle such calls.
1, Do you just drop the call after the lines close.
2. Do you play a message to say the office has closed whilst they are waiting and everybody has gone home.
3. Just let them hold.

I know the answer must be 2, but how do you phrase the message.

Coming from an outsourcer background the answer used to be 1.

"The office has closed thus no one is available to answer the call, please call back between the hours of xxx"

Harsh you might say but playing them a message to say 'the office closed whilst you were queueing' is the same as saying 'the office has closed please call back'. It matters not that I missed the boat, I still dont get served however polite you are about it and I wont be happy because of that.

If you cut them off at closing time and they call back only to hear the 'we are closed' at least you wont have a 9 minute anomollies on your logs. Whereas they might continue to hold in the vain hope that someone will pickup if you play 2.

Its important to draw the distinction here between say queueing at the Post Office and the doors are closed 15mins early to serve the last customers who have already entered the building - and this scenario.
1. We cant close our call centre 15mins early and
2. The customer hasnt entered the building, by being in the queue they are in effect queueing outside the building and the front door closes before they get inside.



Thats life.

Paul,

I don't know what switch / CCR you are using but Symposium
has the facility to do a phased shut down.

It effectivly keeps anyone in the queue there, but closes the line at a set
tme so you are not dropping calls.

Don't know if it's much use to you though.

HTH

DaveA

Can I also make a please for the staff who want and have a right to go home on time.

BBC Link

Call centre staff work 3.7hrs/week unpaid



Edited for Clickable link: DaveA 27/09/04

True but I come in at 6.8 :-)

Closed,

Whilst it's a valid point. Careful scheduling will prevent
staff having to do that.

DaveA

Dave,

I never yet met a scheduler who scheduled in a last minute call/calls at cut off that once answered took 15 minutes to solve. Thats what I'm getting at and thats what this query is about. Not the overall pattern of calls.

I never yet met a scheduler who scheduled in a last minute call/calls at cut off that once answered took 15 minutes to solve.

No I'm going to disagree.

Either staff get paid for the extra 1/4 hr OR
the schedule gets built so the shift finishes 1/4 hr after the
lines close. If the callflow is enough to have that kind of 'overhang' at the end
it's enough for anyone who knows the job to schedule it properly.

Just my 2p worth.

DaveA

Every centre I have worked in has done one or both of these things.

Should I assume you've worked at some centres at the dodgier end of the market?

Z

>>the schedule gets built so the shift finishes 1/4 hr after the
lines close.

Nice one, point taken. Its always a difficult area with agents and management do lean of staff to take these calls - however long they take.

>> Should I assume you've worked at some centres at the dodgier end of the market?

No that would be an unfounded assumption and very foolish - I've got experience of the reality versus the theory. I'm just supporting the facts that call centre staff work 3.7hrs per week unscheduled. Can anyone explain how this occurs or should I assume dodgy practice from management and schedulers?

>>>>> and thus

really??? are you sure???

It would also be unfounded and foolish to assume you are the only one who's got experience of reality versus theory.

I'm disinclined to get into a protracted and pointless hostile exchange with you on this, but perhaps you could tell us how the figure was arrived at, as no call centre agent I have ever met (and I used to be one) has worked on average 45 mins per day every day unpaid.

Why is there such outrage at the idea that a shift worker might occassionaly be asked to stay on 5 minutes extra. 3.7 hours per week unpaid? Most team leaders I have had work for me regularly put in extra hours each week in the office and take their 1-2-1 and report write ups home with them; and i never felt guilty as I put in on average a 45 - 60 hour week, with weekends if an implementation requires it, even though my contract states I work 35 hours per week.
In fact, I don't know any office staff who work a straight 35 hour week; and before its mentioned overtime is not paid above administrator grade in many companies.
Let's just get on with it and kick these dark satanic mills out to overseas BPO companies where people want to do the job!

I think we all agree that most people are willing to put a little extra time in when it is required.

From administrator level upwards it is usually expecetd. Agent level it is appreciated and should be communicated back.

My original question was about how people cope with calls arriving just as the centre closes and this has been answered nicely. Lets not get into a political argument about unpaid overtime, as I beleive that all of us here could have bigger better holidays if we got paid propely for the hours extra we worked.

Why is there such outrage at the idea that a shift worker might occassionaly be asked to stay on 5 minutes extra.

IMHO the Butchers, Bakers, Cooks figure is seriously on the low side.

It wasn't uncommon (well natural really) for me to work a 60hr+ week
as Head Chef / Kitchen Manager as we couldn't get the staff. Unpaid of course
as it was voluntary on my part one of the reasons I changed trades.

DaveA

I'm not outraged, I'm simply putting the facts and asking others to explain them. I cant. I dunno where they came from - read the link above for its source. I'm curious but not at all aggrieved by them.

Zoe, It was a deliberate jibe on your part. I'd much rather people waded in on this debate which seems to encapsulate dodgy practice much more as well as the wider outsourcing debate - although I note with interest your reluctance to avoid hostile and difficult issues.

http://www.callcentrevoice.com/topic.asp?forumid=1&threadid=4816&page=1&jump#15140

Please dont start gangin up on me. My stance is often challenging, yes, whats wrong with that? It stops complacency. I often stand up for call centre agents - and call to account those who generalise about them, proclaim how wonderful the call centre industry is and then in the same breath refer to agents and their behaviours as if they were a lower form of life. I challenge that attitude - many agents have degrees, families, and harrowing life stories- they were once you. There is an attitude amongst call centre management often prevalent on this site that now that we are management we are better than them.
Lastly I am the only person who frequently comments with experience, qualifications and expertise within training and HR - thats of some worth I hope.

Please dont start gangin up on me. My stance is often challenging,

OK :-)

Can we steer the thread back to the technical issue it started with rather than the HR issue it became though?

DaveA

I am lockin this thread as it now does not reflect the original question. I know threads often drift. I'll leave it to somebody else to open a new thread to carry on the discussion that has developed.