The Heart of Hiring: How Values Shape Successful Contact Center Teams

In any customer service workplace, finding qualified candidates is only part of the challenge. The call center industry demands a different breed of employees who can thrive in this demanding environment.

While many people can handle basic tasks like accessing records or processing refunds, providing exceptional customer service requires employees who align with the organization’s core values.

Your company’s values aren’t just for show—they guide how your team works together and treats each other respectfully. Employees embracing these shared values create a more enjoyable work environment, lead to happier customers, and drive better results.

How Values Shape Successful Teams

Research shows that 58 percent of employees plan to leave their jobs next year because their employer doesn’t share their values.¹ If you don’t share your company values with candidates from the start, you risk hiring people who stay for a few months, realize a mismatch, and leave for a company that aligns better with their values.

However, positive outcomes follow when values resonate between employees and their workplace. For instance, 70 percent of employees are more likely to recommend their employer as a great workplace when they feel that the company’s mission, vision, and values align with theirs.²

When most employees see their workplace as the best, it signals organizational health and high satisfaction. This alignment fosters a positive environment conducive to peak performance and personal fulfillment.

Shared Beliefs, Successful Teams: Emphasizing Your Company’s Values

If you prioritize the importance of values when hiring contact customer service agents, your team can reap these benefits:

Build a More Cohesive and Aligned Company Culture

Building a strong culture in a contact center might sound simple, but it can be challenging. That’s why hiring the right people is important. You need employees who can help maintain and develop a positive culture. This is crucial in a contact center, where teamwork and customer interaction are key.

Sharing your contact center’s purpose and values during recruitment makes it more likely to attract candidates who align with your goals and values. For example, if your contact center values excellent customer service, teamwork, and continuous improvement, these values should be communicated to potential hires.

Attracting value-aligned candidates means bringing in people who believe in the same principles and are motivated to uphold them. This alignment helps create a cohesive team where everyone works towards common goals, leading to better teamwork and collaboration.

Increased Engagement, Satisfaction, and Productivity

In recent years, people working in contact centers have understood that because they spend so much time at work, it’s important to enjoy it. Those extra hours or last-minute calls feel better when they work for a company that values and appreciates them.

In short, it’s about working in a place where their values match the company’s values. Here’s how:

80 percent reported feeling more engaged when they worked for a company that shared their values.
86 percent of organizations that used value-based recruitment saw increased employee happiness.³

The more engaged and happier employees are, the better their work quality. When your contact center agents are productive, it leads to higher overall performance, customer satisfaction, and a more successful business.

Happy and engaged employees are more motivated, work more efficiently, and are more committed to achieving company goals, which drives the business toward greater success.

Attracting the Next Generation

Gen-Z is entering the workforce and making their presence felt. They are vocal about staying true to their values, beliefs, and ethics. This generation wants to work for companies that align with what they stand for and is not afraid to speak up about it.

For instance, research shows Gen Z won’t be convinced by a company’s product or service alone; they want to see alignment with their own values and principles. Moreover, 77 percent of Gen Z respondents stated it was vital to work for a company whose values aligned with their own.⁴

With a large portion of this generation prioritizing high ethical standards and values when considering job opportunities, companies must adapt their recruitment strategies. Ignoring or disregarding these values can result in difficulty in attracting and retaining Gen-Z candidates.

Integrating Values into the Hiring Process

Incorporating your values into your hiring process is crucial if you want your team to reflect that. Here’s how:

Identify What Matters

Start by defining the core values that drive your organization and contact center. These values should be tightly linked to your overall mission and directly applicable to the day-to-day work of your agents. Some examples could be:

Extraordinary customer service
Teamwork and mutual support
Continuous learning and improvement
Integrity in all interactions

Don’t just pick values that sound nice – think about the principles and behaviors you need from employees to succeed. Get specific about client satisfaction, collaboration, or ethical conduct in practice at your contact center.

Communicate Values During Recruitment

Values shouldn’t be an afterthought—make them a core part of your recruitment process from the very beginning. Don’t just mention them briefly in job listings; drive them home during interviews.

Use the interview to depict your contact center’s culture and what attitudes and behaviors you expect from employees. Give concrete examples of how your values play out, like:

“Our value of extraordinary service means going the extra mile on every call to resolve the customer’s issue.”
“Teamwork is huge here – we expect agents to jump in and support each other during peak periods.”

This allows candidates to self-select based on whether your values resonate with them. The goal is to avoid mismatches and hire people who can be a great cultural fit.

Behavioral Interview Questions

This will help assess if candidates have demonstrated these values in their past experiences. Ask questions like:

“Tell me about when you went above and beyond to satisfy an upset customer. What did you do?”
“Describe a situation where you had to collaborate closely with coworkers to meet a tight deadline or resolve a complex issue.”
“Has there been a time when you had to choose between doing what was right versus taking the easier way out? How did you handle it?”

Listening for specific anecdotes and details is far more revealing than hypothetical questions. It allows you to assess whether candidates have truly lived your values in action before.

Cultural Fit Assessments

Consider incorporating assessments or exercises that evaluate cultural fit. These can provide deeper insights into a candidate’s values aligning with your team’s.

You can also use this interview score CARD to assess each candidate, considering their fit with your company culture. The cultural evaluation on the scorecard is just as important as assessing a candidate’s skills and other qualifications.

Culture

Does the candidate align with our values and fit our culture?
Would adding this person to our team disrupt our culture negatively?

Ability

Do they have the emotional, time, intellectual, and educational capacities for this role?
Are they mentally and physically available to fulfill this role?

Role

Can they clearly explain the role and its expectations?
Did anything they said during the interview suggest they might not meet the specific requirements for this role?

Desire

Are they genuinely interested in working in this role? (Make sure they’re not just seeking an entry point.)
Are they enthusiastic about this specific role, or are they simply looking for another paycheck?

Onboarding and Training

Reinforce your values during onboarding and training. Provide scenarios and role-playing exercises that help new hires understand how to apply these values in their daily work.

For example, provide scenarios and role-playing exercises illustrating applying these values when interacting with customers. Encourage them to demonstrate empathy, problem-solving skills, and a commitment to providing excellent service that aligns with the company’s customer satisfaction and teamwork values.

AT SALEM SOLUTIONS, WE PRIORITIZE BOTH OUR CLIENTS AND CANDIDATES

We prioritize your needs and the needs of the candidates we work with. That’s why, at Salem Solutions, we understand that finding the right fit for your contact center team goes beyond filling a position. It’s about creating a harmonious workplace where every member contributes to the team’s success.

We are dedicated to understanding your company’s values and culture, so we’ll ensure that every candidate we present aligns seamlessly with your vision. Reach out to us today, and let’s start building a team that reflects the heart and soul of your organization.

References

Mahalia Mayne. “Nearly Two-Thirds of Staff Will Quit If Employer Doesn’t Share Their Values, Study Finds.” People Management, 21 Oct. 2022, www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1802832/nearly-two-thirds-staff-will-quit-employer-doesnt-share-values-study-finds.
Qualtrics. “Employees Who Feel Aligned with Company Values Are More Likely to Stay.” Qualtrics, 25 Apr. 2022, www.qualtrics.com/blog/company-values-employee-retention/.
Calvert, Deb. “The Role of Company Values in Retention and Employee Engagement.” PeopleFirstPS Blog, blog.peoplefirstps.com/connect2lead/the-role-of-company-values-in-retention-and-employee-engagement.
“Gen Z in the Workplace: How Should Companies Adapt?” Imagine. Johns Hopkins University, 18 Apr. 2023, imagine.jhu.edu/blog/2023/04/18/gen-z-in-the-workplace-how-should-companies-adapt/.