The Customer Service Professional Good Jobs Good Service

The Customer Service Professional: Good Jobs, Good Service & Sales Rosemary Batt Cornell University Ithaca, New York Presentation to the CWA Marketing Conference San Francisco, CA June 14, 2001 Strategic Segmentation

Central Question u What difference does the union make for call center workers? – Evidence from a national study of call centers in telecommunications services – Evidence from site visits, worker interviews & surveys ã Batt 2

Customer Service Professional Model Work System Skills, Training Work Design= Opportunity Pay, Benefits, Job Security ã Batt Workers Learning, Sharing Satisfaction with work Outcomes Service Sales 3

National Survey of 350 Call Centers u. Study participants o union & non-union companies o wireline, wireless, cable TV, Internet services o operators, residential, small bus. , large bus. o survey of call center managers o. Full Report: http: //www. cwaunion. org/workers/cable/telco_2000. pdf ã Batt 4

Union vs. Non-union Residential Call Centers u. How many customers per day does a typical CSR serve in a residential call center? ã Batt 5

Union vs. Non-union Residential Call Centers Skills and Training ã Batt 6

Union vs. Non-union Residential Call Centers Pay, Benefits, Security ã Batt 7

Union vs. Non-union Residential Call Centers Work Design = Opportunity Structure ã Batt 8

Work Design = Opportunity Structure Union Companies. . . u. Invest more in skills & training u. Pay 20% higher wages & benefits u. But… – Use more electronic-monitoring – Require workers to be on-line longer each day (adherence) – Require more use of scripts – Use problem-solving groups & teams less ã Batt 9

Work Design in Call Centers Sales Model Individual work Group work Individual Competition Group Cooperation High Sales ã Batt Customer Service Professional Model ? Service & Sales 10

For Workers. . . Sales vs. Professional Model Sales Model Professional Model u. Learn alone u. Hide “tricks of trade” u. Work harder u. Higher stress u. Divide workers u. Learn together u. Share “tricks” u. Work smarter u. Lower stress u. Unify workers “Star” Model “Solidarity” Model ã Batt 11

Customer Service Professional Model Work System Skills, Training Work Design= Opportunity Pay, Benefits, Job Security ã Batt Workers Learning, Sharing Satisfaction with work Outcomes Service Sales 12

Negotiating Points. . . Why the Service Professional Model? Research results u Residential call centers using the professional model had significantly lower quit rates, higher sales rates u Residential reps in group-based system had 17% higher monthly sales than those under traditional supervisors u Reps in group system learned how to use new technology faster u Reps in group system had higher customer satisfaction rates ã Batt 13

Negotiating Points. . . Why the Service Professional Model? u. Learning and problem solving are critical to service and sales – Products, service bundles are complex – Information is constantly changing u. Information systems can’t keep up u. People learn better together than alone u. Social interaction eases stress ã Batt 14

Conclusions to Date. . . u. Union call centers generally have – High skilled and experienced workforce – High relative pay, benefits, security u. Ongoing issue = work design for professionals – – Create opportunities to use skills, serve customers Create opportunities for learning, knowledge-sharing Create less stressful jobs Model residential centers after business centers ã Batt 15