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Easing Contact Center Payroll Pains: Navigating Through 7 Major Challenges

Easing Contact Center Payroll Pains: Navigating Through 7 Major Challenges

Discover payroll solutions in the customer service industry. Learn about compliance, record-keeping, technology, data security, and more.
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3 Call Center Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Running a call center can be tricky. You have to juggle a lot of different balls, all while ensuring that your employees are providing excellent customer service. It’s no wonder that so many call center managers feel overwhelmed! In this blog post, we’ll discuss three common call center challenges and provide some tips on how… Read More »

Running a call center can be tricky. You have to juggle a lot of different balls, all while ensuring that your employees are providing excellent customer service. It’s no wonder that so many call center managers feel overwhelmed! In this blog post, we’ll discuss three common call center challenges and provide some tips on how to overcome them.

1. Poor morale among call center employees.

It’s no secret that working in a call center can be tough. Employees are often required to work long hours and deal with angry customers. As a result, it’s not uncommon for call center employees to experience burnout or poor morale. If you’re seeing signs of discouragement among your employees, it’s important to take action. Otherwise, you risk losing good employees and damaging your company’s reputation.

One way to boost morale is by providing opportunities for professional development. Encourage your employees to attend conferences or webinars related to their job duties. You can also offer incentives for meeting sales goals or improving customer satisfaction scores. Another option is to implement an employee recognition program. A little appreciation can go a long way in boosting morale!

2. High turnover rates.

Another challenge that many call centers face is high turnover rates. This can be costly and disruptive to the team, so it’s important to find ways to reduce turnover. One way to do this is by offering competitive salaries and benefits packages. You should also focus on hiring individuals who are a good fit for the job and culture of your organization. Prioritizing employee retention from the start will help you retain your best employees longer.

3. Emergencies or natural disasters that affect operations

No matter how well you plan, there will always be things beyond your control—like weather emergencies or power outages—that can disrupt operations at your call center. The key is to have a plan in place for dealing with these situations so that you can minimize the impact on your business (and your customers). For example, you may want to consider investing in backup power generators or establishing a remote work policy for employees who live in areas affected by weather emergencies.

Conclusion

Running a call center comes with its fair share of challenges, but luckily there are ways to overcome them! By focusing on employee morale, reducing turnover rates, and preparing for emergencies, you can keep your call center running smoothly—no matter what challenges come your way.

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Debunking 3 Myths About Staffing Agencies

Staffing agencies play an important role in many businesses – they can help organizations save time and money while also finding the best candidates for open positions. However, there are still some misconceptions about how staffing agencies operate. In this blog post, we’ll debunk four of the most common myths about staffing agencies. Myth #1:… Read More »

Staffing agencies play an important role in many businesses – they can help organizations save time and money while also finding the best candidates for open positions. However, there are still some misconceptions about how staffing agencies operate. In this blog post, we’ll debunk four of the most common myths about staffing agencies.

Myth #1: Staffing Agencies are Expensive

Many business owners believe that working with a staffing agency is more expensive than recruiting candidates on their own. While it’s true that you will have to pay a fee to the staffing agency, this fee is typically offset by the savings you’ll realize in other areas. For example, you won’t have to spend as much time screening and interviewing candidates since the staffing agency will handle that for you. Additionally, the candidates provided by the staffing agency will be fully qualified for the position, which means you’re less likely to encounter issues down the road. In short, working with a staffing agency may cost you a bit upfront, but it will save you time and money in the long run.

Myth #2: Staffing Agencies Only Provide Low-Quality Employees

This myth is perpetuated by the fact that some companies do use staffing agencies to fill low-level positions. However, this does not mean that all staffing agencies only provide low-quality employees. In fact, many staffing agencies specialize in finding top talent for specific industries. So, if you’re looking for a highly skilled employee to fill a critical role in your company, working with a staffing agency is usually your best bet.

Myth #3: Staffing Agencies Don’t Care About Your Company’s Culture

When working with a staffing agency, it’s important to find one that shares your company’s values and is committed to finding candidates that will be a good fit for your organization. A good staffing agency will take the time to get to know your company culture and what type of candidate would be a good fit for your organization. The last thing you want is to bring in an employee who isn’t a good cultural fit and ends up causing problems down the road.

Conclusion

If you’re considering working with a staffing agency, keep these myths in mind so you can make an informed decision about whether or not it’s right for your company. If you’re looking for a reputable staffing agency to help your fill valuable roles in your contact center, Salem can help!

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5 Characteristics of a Great Staffing Partner

Staffing partners can be a huge asset to any company. They help companies find talented people to fill short-term and long-term roles so that businesses can thrive. They help job seekers find jobs that suit their skills and provide a bridge to permanent employment. But on the other hand, a mismatched staffing partner can lead… Read More »

Staffing partners can be a huge asset to any company. They help companies find talented people to fill short-term and long-term roles so that businesses can thrive. They help job seekers find jobs that suit their skills and provide a bridge to permanent employment.

But on the other hand, a mismatched staffing partner can lead to poor communication, disconnected staff, onboarding delays, high turnover rates, and ultimately higher workforce costs.

To avoid these situations, it’s important to understand the characteristics of a great staffing partner.

 

Customized Solutions

When looking for a staffing partner, you should determine if they offer customized solutions. Staffing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Find a partner that understands your specific market and open positions and can help you achieve your goals.

To really create a customized solution, your staffing partner should:

  • Understand the needs of each position
  • Incorporate your organization’s culture into the search process
  • Develop custom solutions based on unique needs and requirements

We know you’re looking for candidates who can get the job done, make an impact, and fit seamlessly into your organization. Results like these can only come from a partner that takes a hands-on, personalized approach to meeting your needs.

 

Low Turnover

Due to instability in the job market, turnover rates are soaring, and it’s a problem for companies operating within any industry. Turnover is obviously bad for business as it impacts your budget and impedes your workflow. Find a staffing partner who can provide turnover rates and demonstrates the importance of building close relationships with their employees, including properly preparing them for the job.

 

Action-Driving Insights

It is so important to connect with a staffing partner that knows how to analyze data and can provide action plans based on that data. As an employer, you need to know how you stack up against the competition and be aware of things like your location-specific labor market. Your staffing partner should be able to provide you with all these insights and more and can put a process in place for staffing accordingly.

 

Continuous Improvement

The most critical attribute for a great staffing partner is the ability to listen and learn. We cannot stress enough the importance of continuous improvement and having a proven methodology for success. One way to ensure continuous improvement is through regular client review sessions. These sessions give us a chance to review performance, explore opportunities to improve, and share emerging market insights to refine and strengthen our relationship with our clients.

At Salem, we’re proud of the relationships we’ve built with our clients and talent. We know that success depends on strong partnerships and service.

If this sounds like the kind of partnership you’re looking for, contact Salem today.

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3 Ways to Help Your Remote Customer Service Team Thrive

Let’s face it: remote work is here to stay. Remote work brings a sense of autonomy, flexibility, and ownership and can be incredibly empowering to employees. Here are 3 key insights for helping your customer service team adapt and thrive in a fully remote work environment.   Use technology to your advantage At times, technology… Read More »

Let’s face it: remote work is here to stay. Remote work brings a sense of autonomy, flexibility, and ownership and can be incredibly empowering to employees.

Here are 3 key insights for helping your customer service team adapt and thrive in a fully remote work environment.

 

  1. Use technology to your advantage

At times, technology can be the biggest challenge of working remotely. Getting a remote employee set up at home brings additional challenges and requires additional effort by the employee and manager. Make sure that your employees are equipped with the technology needed to perform at their highest level. This includes things like monitors, laptops, phones, headsets, and any software they might need.

If the technology aspect sounds like a daunting task, it may help to find an outsourced staffing firm to help with things like onboarding and technology.

With tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Teams, email, and more, there are a variety of different ways for your team to communicate. But sometimes, without face-to-face interaction, employees can feel cut off from their peers. We recommend setting up channels for your team to communicate through, utilizing the technology you already have.

 

  1. Keep communication open

As a manager, it can be extremely hard to manage a remote team. You don’t want to micromanage your agents, but you also want to make sure they’re staying on top of incoming inquiries, answering questions correctly, and representing your company well in each interaction.

We recommend checking in once a day with your agents to see how they’re feeling about work and the interactions they had that day. This allows you to ensure that they’re doing a great job and also gives the employee a chance to discuss their current situation and workload.

By implementing an open and honest channel for feedback, you’ll help your teammates feel a sense of community while working remotely.

 

  1. Recognize your team

When you’re in the office, it’s a lot easier to recognize and reward your team members. Whether it’s an in-person shout out during a team meeting or a casual conversation in the breakroom, these are important moments that shouldn’t be lost while transitioning to remote work.

While in a remote environment, we encourage you to create a communication channel that is specifically for acknowledgement. This is a great way for your team members to share kudos quickly and easily with their fellow employees and managers can work together to improve morale.

Conclusion

As more and more businesses continue to work fully remote, it’s important to keep the health and happiness of your employees top of mind. By focusing on helping your agents adapt and thrive in a remote environment, you guarantee a delightful customer experience on each of their calls.

At Salem, we are experts in staffing remote customer service positions. Do you need help staffing remote employees for your contact center? Let us know!

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How to Reduce Employee Turnover in Customer Service

  In our experience, no matter how strong a customer service operation is, turnover is inevitable. But it is possible to find success by keeping your team effective and engaged, while retaining as many top performers as possible. What can you do to retain current employees? Keep reading for a few ideas on how to… Read More »

 

In our experience, no matter how strong a customer service operation is, turnover is inevitable. But it is possible to find success by keeping your team effective and engaged, while retaining as many top performers as possible.

What can you do to retain current employees? Keep reading for a few ideas on how to maintain current staffing levels and reduce customer service turnover rates.

 

  1. Hire the right people

The first step is the evaluate your current team to see the traits of your top performers. Inventory the skills you need versus what you currently have to identify the gap. Hiring people who are “over-qualified” for lower-level roles may be a double-edged sword, as they may be more likely to jump ship quickly.

Be clear about the job description and expectations of the job. You don’t want your candidate to feel overwhelmed or disappointed once they begin.

 

  1. Provide ongoing training and professional development

If you haven’t created a regular training schedule for your employees, it’s time to get on board. Not only will your customers reap the benefits of amazing customer service, but there are several reasons why training can help reduce call center turnover.

With proper training, agents will feel more competent and are less likely to quit. Ongoing training develops your team professional and personally, making them feel more fulfilled at work.

It’s also important to implement programs that allow people to grow within their roles. Good contact centers will have a career progression plan even for employees at the lowest level.

 

  1. Listen to your employees

Gather feedback on a regular basis to learn exact what problems and challenges your customer service employees are experience. When you show interest in their concerns, it helps strengthen the relationship between employees, supervisors, and managers.

We recommend using a tool like SurveyMonkey or Jotform to create an Employee Satisfaction survey that you send quarterly to guage employee engagement levels. These type of platforms make it easy to analyze the results and create an action plan moving forward.

 

Conclusion

It may take time to implement these strategies, depending on the size of your organization and resources. While you are working toward making improvements, make sure to openly communicate with your employees. If they know there are changes in process that might benefit them, they are more than likely to stick around rather than actively seek new employment.

Once you’ve mastered some of these strategies, you’ll find it easier to improve your operation, retain your best team members and maintain a healthy level of turnover in your call center operation.

If you need help finding the right candidates for your open positions, give Salem Solutions a call!

 

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How to Onboard New Employees for Quicker Integration

Did you know that great employee onboarding can improve employee retention by 82%? Talent scarcity and high turnover are among the biggest challenges organizations will face in 2022 and beyond – so it’s important to engage and retain employees from day one. A strong employee onboarding process can help you accomplish that, while also helping… Read More »

Did you know that great employee onboarding can improve employee retention by 82%? Talent scarcity and high turnover are among the biggest challenges organizations will face in 2022 and beyond – so it’s important to engage and retain employees from day one. A strong employee onboarding process can help you accomplish that, while also helping new hires ramp up faster.  

Here are some tips you can use to welcome your new employee to the team.  

Set them up for success before the first day 

Onboarding should not begin on a new employee’s first day but instead on the day they are hired. If possible, send the employee any paperwork that needs to be signed along with the employee handbook and any pertinent information about their first day, including parking and employee portals.  

Before the employee arrives on their first day, their office space should be set up including a computer and the necessary software to do their job. If it’s a remote hire, ensure that the new employee has all the technology required at their home. When the employee arrives on their first day, they should feel valued, welcome and set up for success!  

Outline the first 90 days  

It’s important to be clear and concise about your expectations for the first 90 days. Nothing is worse than feeling like a fish out of water because of a lack of direction and organization. Prior to the employee’s first day, you should create a schedule of what your new hire should be learning, observing, and doing each day.  

During the first month of onboarding, we recommend meeting with the new hire at the end of each day to track their progress, answer questions, and provide further guidance.  

This is also a great time to set expectations. As part of the onboarding process, we recommend clearly laying out expectations, including setting key performance indicators (KPIs).  

Build relationships and encourage communication 

The best way to bridge the gap between your new hire feeling like an outsider to feeling part of the team is by helping build relationships and by encouraging communications.  

On their first day, introduce them to coworkers, supervisors, and other departments that they will need to work with regularly.  

During their first week, we recommend scheduling a new employee lunch with the new hire and their team. During this lunch, try and play an ice-breaker game like Two Truths and a Lie. Games like this are a great way for teammates to get to know each other and the newcomer involved.  

Onboarding is an incredibly important component of the hiring process. Not only does an effective onboarding process help with retention, but it can help a new employee adjust to the corporate culture and feel more comfortable and integrated in their new position.  

Need some help with onboarding? At Salem, we know how to find the right candidates, and how to help employers keep them. Let’s talk!  

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