Incentives in Contact Centres for a Happy, Healthy Staff

Incentives have always been crucial in contact centres, and focusing on the well being of employees clearly pays off. To find out more visit http://callcenterpurgatory.blogspot.co.uk/

Incentives are built into the fabric of successful contact centres. When it comes to sales and telemarketing, a happy, healthy staff can make that crucial difference. And one organisation that understands the importance of incentives is Garlands. Garlands has four prestigious contact centre locations in the UK as a leading provider of outsourced customer contact services via phone, email and the Web. Garlands works for a number of UK blue chip companies.

Incentives – The Secret of Success

Garlands has four contact centre locations - Hartlepool Marina, Middlesbrough, Stockton and South Shields, and the company is planning to open a fifth site in South Africa. These call centres create a call handling capacity of 36 million every year. And with annual sales reaching £48.6m a year (as of Oct 2007), incentives are the secret of their success. It's a staggeringly successful contact services company, employing 3,000 people in the North East. And Garlands put their success down to their philosophy which revolves around employee incentives, including:

l  The importance of stimulation and development for employees, as well as respect for all staff

l  To ensure employees perform at their best by supporting them with the best technologies

l  As well as personal incentives, Garlands create motivational environments that promote teamwork

l  To deliver exceptional customer service

The companies who use Garlands' contact centres can be assured these core values offer them quality and value. And Garlands realise that incentives for staff and investing in staff is central for the success of any contact centre. In the Spring of 2008, the company launched a Healthy Living campaign. And the move has proved a big hit with staff. Healthier employees are happier, capable and motivated. The campaign therefore focused on helping to prevent chronic disease by encouraging staff to:

l  Cut down and quit smoking

l  Increase or incorporate exercise into their lives

l  Adopt healthier diets

l  Reduce or have increased awareness of alcohol consumption

l  Recognise and manage stress

The Incentives of Healthy Living for Contact Centre Staff

The incentives of healthy living are clear: to achieve a slimmer, more attractive figure, to be physically fit and healthy, and to live a longer life, maximising quality of life. Garlands promoted the Healthy Living campaign with effective internal communications such as using posters, e-mail and the intranet, and through GaGa (the company's own radio station). As well as diet, smoking cessation and alcohol awareness, the company also highlighted safety in the sun and sexual health to its contact centre employees. Partnerships with local health providers has also meant the contact centre staff had plenty of incentives to opt into the Healthy Living campaign, offering free sexual health advice clinics, sports development programmes, health checks at local gyms and alcohol awareness clinics.