call centre minimum standards code

Call Centre Minimum Standards Code

Basic Rights for Call Centre Employees

Training and Development ………………………………. p. 2

Targets ………………………………. p. 2

Performance Assessment ………………………………. p. 2

Call Monitoring ………………………………. p. 3

Customer Service Resources ………………………………. p. 3

Work Organisation ………………………………. p. 3

Breaks ………………………………. p. 4

Breaks off the Phones ………………………………. p. 4

Workplace Environment ………………………………. p. 4

Minimum Salary Ranges ………………………………. p. 5

Higher Duties ………………………………. p. 5

Penalty Rates ………………………………. p. 5

Public Holidays ………………………………. p. 5

Part-time Employees ………………………………. p. 6

Casual Employees ………………………………. p. 6

Working from Home ………………………………. p. 6

Agency Employees ………………………………. p. 7

Leave ………………………………. p. 7

Parental Leave ………………………………. p. 7

Communication ………………………………. p. 8

Consultation ………………………………. p. 8

Dispute Resolution ………………………………. p. 8

Anti-Discrimination ………………………………. p. 9

Freedom of Association ………………………………. p. 9

Right of Access ………………………………. p. 9

Union Delegates ………………………………. p. 9

Superannuation ………………………………. p. 10

Severance Pay ………………………………. p. 10

Transmission of Business ………………………………. p. 10

Appendix 1: Salary Ranges ………………………………. p. 11

Appendix 2: Classification Descriptors ………………………………. p. 12

Appendix 3: Principles of this Code ………………………………. p. 14


1


A Career Path

Training and Development

Adequate training time should be provided to all employees. Training should be aimed at developing skills for meaningful jobs and quality customer service.

At least part of the training should be to facilitate career advancement in the call centre industry and as far as is practicable, be portable and recognised across the call centre industry. Training packages should be linked to key industry competency standards, assessment and qualifications.

Special effort should be made to facilitate e-commerce related training in the next two years or sooner if the call centre intends to expand e-commerce functions.

On Target

Targets

Employees should have the opportunity to participate fully in the setting of achievable targets.

Targets should be linked to the quality of customer service not just number of calls taken and time allocated to each call.

Changes to targets should be by consultation and agreement with employees.

Performance Assessment

Performance assessment criteria should be developed in consultation with employees and be based on the development of employee skills.

Performance assessment criteria should be flexible enough to cater for customer service requirements balanced with efficiency or consistency requirements.

The performance review process needs to embody fair procedures and review options.



Monitoring

Call Monitoring2

Call monitoring can be used as a coaching and development tool.

Call monitoring should not be an indicator of employee performance assessment, unless otherwise agreed between employees, their union and the call centre.

The development of the process and outcomes of call monitoring should involve a cooperative and collaborative approach between employees and call centre management.

Employees should be given reasonable notice if their calls are being monitored and over what period of time.

Call monitoring must include a feedback process.

Recording of calls should not occur without agreement between employees, their union and the call centre.

Getting the Job Done

Customer Service ResourcesEmployees should be provided with adequate technological and informational resources in order to, as far as is practicable, resolve a customer’s concern in the one call.

Work OrganisationEmployees should be provided with enough flexibility in their routine so that they can follow up customer service issues adequately. Employees will be able to negotiate appropriate flexibility guidelines with management which follow the principles of quality customer service and employee job satisfaction appropriately balanced with efficiency issues.



Give Me A Break!

BreaksEmployees will be entitled to a meal break no more than five hours into a shift. Other breaks as appropriate during an ordinary shift should be available, as far as is practicable, in the median times before and after the meal break.

Breaks off the Phones

3

The intensification of work in call centres requires that regular rest breaks away from the telephone are essential to protect the health of employees and to sustain high productivity.

Work should be organised so that call centre employees will not operate phones for at least 5 minutes of each hour.

Workplace

Workplace Environment

Employees should be provided with the opportunity to take eye, ear and voice tests provided by the employer.

Call centres should also commit to improving the workplace environment through:

appropriate ergonomic design of furniture and headsets

noise volume reduction

stress relief measures

appropriate call volume targets

appropriate work organisation

Call centres should establish occupational health and safety committees in consultation with their employees and union.


4


The Money Factor!

Minimum Salary Ranges

The minimum salary ranges attached in Appendix 1, give some guidance to base salary ranges in the market. These ranges have been guided by various market rate surveys for 2000-2001. However, it is important to acknowledge that these surveys are not necessarily an accurate reflection of the actual range of salaries in the industry. Particular industries will have higher minimum salary ranges than those reflected in Appendix 1. Employees should be paid at least the minimum market rates in their sector of the industry, taking into account the relative complexities and responsibilities of the roles. It is important to note that the ranges listed in Appendix 1 are minimum rates – many call centres pay well above these rates. The minimum rates in Appendix 1 should not be regarded as recommended salaries, rather as a general guide to appropriate minimum rates of pay.

Higher Duties

Employees should be remunerated for work performed at a higher level for more than one shift.

Paying The Penalty

Penalty Rates

Employees who work outside the span of ordinary hours should be compensated with appropriate penalty, shift loadings or overtime. Such compensation may be taken as time off in lieu by prior agreement.

Public Holidays

All permanent employees will be entitled to national or relevant state public holidays and employees who work public holidays shall be compensated with appropriate penalty loadings.


5


Flexibility Or Not!

Part Time Employees

In recognition of their special needs, part time employees should have clearly defined, regular hours of work and minimum engagement periods. Part time employees should be consulted over any changes to hours.

Part time employees will be provided with pro rata entitlements and equal employment opportunities within the call centre.

Casual Employees

A casual is an employee of the call centre whose employment has an uncertain pattern of hours or days over an uncertain period. A casual employee is engaged on an hourly basis with an expectation of an irregular and/or uncertain daily hire basis.

Casual employees should be paid the same rate as permanent employees, with a loading of 25% applicable in lieu of annual leave, personal leave, and public holidays.

On each occasion, a part-time or casual employee is required to attend work he or she will be entitled to a minimum payment for two hours work.

A casual employee should be offered primary choice to become a permanent employee subject to the availability of ongoing work.

Long-term casuals can accrue certain rights.

Working from Home

If a call centre is considering the viability of employees working from home, management should consult with employees and their union prior to implementing any trial or proposal.



6

Rights for Agency Staff

Agency Employees

Agency employees should not be used to replace permanent positions, unless their employment is for the purposes of:

the completion of a specified task or project;

to relieve a vacant position arising from an employee taking leave;

for the temporary provision of specialist skills that are not available within the organisation for a specified period of time;

to fill short term vacancies resulting from the resignation of a permanent employee;

to supplement the workforce during peak work loads.

Agency employees should be paid at least the same rate as company employees performing similar duties or who are in the same job classification.

Agency employees should be entitled to attend any employee meetings including team meetings, company briefings and union meetings.

Agency employees may, after six months employment, be entitled to certain benefits.

Work, Time, Life

Leave

Employees should be provided with appropriate:- annual leave- sick leave- personal leave (including carers and bereavement leave)- unpaid leave

Parental Leave

Employees are entitled to maternity, paternity leave, adoption leave and to work part-time in connection with the birth or adoption of a child.


7


Having A Say

Communication

All team members should be given the opportunity to meet as a team on a regular basis.

Employees should be given adequate time to familiarise themselves with policy updates.

Employees should have access to a notice board, e-mail or other communication facility to be established in each workplace, to facilitate communication between employees and/or their employee representatives regarding matters arising at work.

Consultation

A guiding principle for communication is the acknowledgment that employees’ experience and ideas add value to the quality of service the call centre can deliver.

Whilst reserving the right to make final judgement, management should consult with employees prior to the implementation of changes in company policy and product development.

The Solution To Your Problems!

Dispute Resolution

A procedure for resolving workplace disputes will be implemented in a way which recognises:

- A fair and non-discriminatory process;

- The right of employees to have access to union representation;

- Maintenance of the status quo pending resolution of the dispute; and

- A co-operative effort to resolving workplace disputes efficiently.


8


Working Rights, Union Rights

Anti-Discrimination

Call Centres should respect and value the diversity of the workforce by helping to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

Freedom of Association

All employees shall be free to be part of a union in their workplace. In so doing, they are entitled to negotiate as a collective with call centre management. Call centre management should respect this right and not hinder the activities of the union in their workplace.

Right of AccessAn authorised union representative shall be permitted access to call centre employees for the purpose of legitimate union business on condition that there is no undue interference with work on the premises.

Union DelegatesUnion Delegates should have:

The right to formal recognition by the employer that endorsed union delegates speak and bargain on behalf of union members in the workplace;

The right to consultation, and access to reasonable information about the workplace and the business;

The right to reasonable paid time during normal working hours to consult with and represent union members;

The right to reasonable paid time off to attend accredited union education and / or to work with the union;

The right to address new employees about the benefits of union membership at the time that they enter employment;

The right to reasonable access to telephone, facsimile, post, photocopying, internet and e-mail facilities for the purpose of carrying out work as a delegate and consulting with workplace colleagues and the union.


9


Moving On

Superannuation

The Employer shall contribute, to a superannuation fund on behalf of each eligible employee, such superannuation contributions as required to comply with the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 as amended from time to time.

Severance Pay

Where an employer has made a definite decision that they no longer wish the job the employee has been doing be done by anyone, and this is not due to the ordinary and customary turnover of labour, and that decision leads to the termination of employment of the employee, the employee will be entitled to at least the minimum Federal Termination, Change and Redundancy provisions.

Transmission of Business

Out-sourcing of a call centre business function to a contract call centre should not be a strategy to undercut the wages and conditions of permanent employees of the call centre.

The industrial instrument relevant to employees of the out-sourcing call centre will be applicable to the employees of the contract call centre unless otherwise agreed by the parties to the industrial agreement.


10


APPENDIX 1

Salary Ranges

Level Indicative Job titles Range*Level 1 Customer Service Basic 27,500 – 36,000

Telemarketer Basic 32,000 – 39,500Help Desk Basic 32,500 – 39,500

Level 2 Customer Service Intermediate 30,500 – 38,000Telemarketer Intermediate 34,000 – 42,000

Level 3 Customer Service Advanced 35,000 - 40, 000Telemarketer Advanced 37,500 – 45,500Help Desk Advanced 37,000 – 45,000

Level 4 Team Leader: Customer Service 35,500 – 48,000Team Leader: Telesales 39,000 – 49,500Scheduling & Rostering Specialist 38,500 – 49,000

Level 5 Supervisor: Customer Service 36,500 – 49,500Supervisor: Telesales 37,500 – 50,000Campaign Co-ordinator/ Sales Support 40,000 – 54,000Training Officer 39,500 – 48,500Customer Relations Specialist 38,500 – 47,500Quality Specialist/ Workforce Analyst 38,500 – 45,000

Level 6 Contact Centre Manager 50,000- 150,000

* Based on market salary surveys for 2000-2001. These salary ranges are often based on a relatively small sample of call centres, and thus do not reflect the actual range of salaries in the call centre industry. Particular sectors of the industry may have substantially higher salary ranges than indicated by the salary survey data.

It is the view of the ACTU Call Centre Unions Group that the industry standard for the particular sector of the industry should be the guideline. The salary ranges quoted above are appropriate for a general snapshot of the call centre industry as a whole and should be regarded as a guideline for minimum base rates only.


11


APPENDIX 2

Classification Descriptors

Employee Level Job Descriptors

Level 1 General description for entry level Call Centre worker engaged in customer service or sales through the application of basic procedures and policies and clear guidelines, within clearly defined limits of authority.

Customer Service - Basic

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem solving to a lesser degree. At this level, service delivery is provided through the application of basic procedures and policies and involves higher volumes of transactions, normally of shorter duration. It may involve data entry and modification of database/customer records (e.g. recording inbound customer details for loyalty programmes/operator assisted information services). At this level, incumbents work within clearly defined limits of authority.

Telemarketer- Basic

This level requires the incumbent to work with ‘pre-warmed’ prospects to close sales and capture customer data (e.g. loyalty campaign), tempt customers to switch services or gain their participation for a specified period of time to participate in a voluntary activity (e.g. market research interview or “churns”). Staff at this level are provided with a complete prospect list/data source and work with defined scripts.

Reservation Agent - Basic

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem solving/resolution. At this level, service delivery is provided through the application of basic procedures and policies and involves higher volumes of transactions, normally of shorter duration. As such, the role would normally be focused on simply answering booking inquiries for price details and timings or entering bookings on a database. At this level, some degree of specialised knowledge may be applied during service delivery, but this is likely to be through established guidelines, manuals policies or terms and conditions. At this level, incumbents work within clearly defined limits of authority. Bookings sales or conversion targets may be present, but the emphasis is on process efficiency. There may be more emphasis on sales targets or conversion rates from Enquirer to bookings, thus requiring a consultative sales approach.

Level 2 This level requires the incumbents to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution. At this level, some degree of specialised knowledge is applied during service delivery, but this is likely to be through established guidelines, manuals, policies or terms and conditions. Incumbents act with a higher degree of freedom. Products and services are clearly defined.

Customer Service - Intermediate

This level requires the incumbents to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution. At this level, some degree of specialised knowledge is applied during service delivery, but this is likely to be through established guidelines, manuals, policies or terms and conditions (e.g. assisting customers to operate basic equipment/software packages, help desk, complete financial transactions). At this level, there is a higher incidence of dealing with the general public and incumbents act with a moderate degree of freedom.

Telemarketer - Intermediate

This level requires the incumbent to work with identified prospects, either through inbound or outbound activity. However, these prospects may or may not be ‘warmed’. Sales are gained through consultative techniques. This level may also include staff who work with field sales staff to make appointments for sales meetings. Products and services are clearly defined (e.g. tangible products or financial services).

Help Desk - Basic

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution. This role will involve specialised knowledge of one or more software packages at the user, non technical level. It may involve assistance with the use of applications such as word processing, database or spreadsheet, or basic fault correction on hardware systems (i.e. within the scope of user documentation).

Reservation Agent - Advanced

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and complex problem resolution. At this level, a high degree of specialised knowledge is applied during service delivery. It may involve complex arrangements for interconnections of services or itineraries or have an account management focus. Incumbents act with a higher degree of freedom and are more likely to be operating in a sales focussed environment.

* Based on the Hallis Contact Centre Staff Salary Survey 2000-2001


12


Level 3 This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution at a more advanced or technical level. It involves the selling of complex or intangible products or services. At this level, there is a higher incidence of business-to-business service and high-cost consequences of actions. Incumbents act with a higher degree of freedom.

Customer Service - Advanced

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution. At this level, a high degree of specialised knowledge is applied during service delivery (e.g. problem resolution on the help desk of a proprietary software application/analysis of business financial information) or application of complex procedures and policies is facilitated (e.g. application of import/export regulations/legal considerations). At this level, there is a higher incidence of business-to-business service delivery and a high-cost consequence of actions. Incumbents act with a higher degree of freedom.

Telemarketer - Advanced

This level requires the incumbent to identify sales prospects through research efforts and to develop sales through prospecting and closing over the telephone. It involves the selling of complex or intangible products or services (e.g. information technology or professional services) and may require a level of account management and after-sales service.

Help Desk - Advanced

This level requires the incumbent to meet customer needs through consultation, support and problem resolution at a more advanced or technical level. It will involve specialised technical knowledge of one or more software programming languages or hardware systems at a semi-technical or technical level. It may involve assistance with the use of proprietary applications or advanced fault correction on hardware systems.

Level 4 Nothing general about these descriptions

Team Leader This is the first level of supervision and requires incumbents to lead staff in the achievement of their customer contact goals (e.g. sales, service level, collections targets) and may involve planning, organising and controlling team activities.

Scheduling & Rostering Specialist

This role is principally aimed at maintaining work and roster systems to ensure service targets are met based on forecasted information provided by historical data or IT systems. It may involve basic calculations and liaison with team leaders or supervisors, or assisting the operation of specialist equipment (such as predictive diallers). Higher levels of expertise and analysis are provided by Quality/Workforce analysts.

Level 5 The role requires incumbents to lead staff in the achievement of goals and will involve planning, organising and controlling team activities to meet organisational goals This level provides an intermediate level of supervision reporting to the call centre manager. This role is a specialised customer contact officer, responsible for dealing with complex, escalated problems that involve systemic or multi-functional factors. This is distinct from the normal escalation process.

Supervisor This role may be present in some larger or multi-functional call centres and normally provides an intermediate level of supervision reporting to the call centre manager. The role requires incumbents to lead staff in the achievement of goals and will involve planning, organising and controlling team activities to meet organisational goals. Additional responsibilities may include some elements of specialist support or assistance with organisational outcomes to support senior management. This role may equate to an “Operations Manager” in some organisations.

Campaign Co-ordinator/ Sales Support

This role involves broad ranging co-ordination of customer contact activity in a project or campaign based environment, or through an account management process. They may be involved in training staff on product or service lines particular to a launch or marketing drive, without actually being formally designated as “Trainers” (see Training Officer below). They may work across other departments with franchisees, agents, service providers or other third parties to get feedback, provide guidance or disseminate information.

Training Officer This role is principally involved with the design, development and delivery of call centre specific training. It may include broad based introductory or specific product or technical training on the use of systems. The role will involve development of training materials, basic administration of trainees and assistance with implementing programme changes.

Customer Relations Specialist

This role is a specialised customer contact officer, responsible for dealing with complex, escalated problems that involve systemic or multi-functional factors. This is distinct from the normal escalation process and may involve detailed correspondence, claimant handling or dispute resolution.

Quality Specialist/Workforce Analyst

This role deals with those who gather MIS data at a more advanced level and will involve a higher level of analysis of the data from the PABX, ACD or CTI based systems. It may involve assisting supervisors with coaching, developing and recommending improved systems of work in the call centre, or supervision of support staff. The role is broader in scope than scheduling and rostering specialist and will involve a higher level of problem solving and accountability.

Level 6Call Centre Manager

This is the senior grade of management in the call centre. It may involve responsibility for multi-functional units or larger groups of single function staff. There will normally be some line of supervision between the customer contact staff and the manager. The role requires incumbents to plan over the longer term, lead staff in the achievement of goals and will involve organising and controlling team leaders’ and specialists’ activities to meet organisational goals. They will normally be responsible for budgeted profit, sales, service or cost control targets, and several measures of organisational performance.


13


APPENDIX 3

Principles of this Minimum Standards Code

This Minimum Standards Code supports a work environment that encourages:

A commitment to quality customer service;

Trained, competent staff who are appropriately rewarded for their skills and effort; and

Reduced staff turnover in call centres.

The adherence of the majority of call centres to this Code will assist in regulating the industry and promote stability, professionalism and a solid platform for the growth of the industry in Australia.

The Minimum Standards Code should be recognised as a set of principles regarding minimum rates and conditions for the call centre industry.

This Code cannot, nor is it intended to, cover the range of conditions which have been developed to meet the particular needs of individual workplaces.

The Code is to be used as a guide to the minimum acceptable conditions for the industry. It is not intended to substitute standards contained in awards or agreements, which are likely to be superior in a range of areas.

Call centres are encouraged to develop enterprise agreements to facilitate specific arrangements appropriate to the call centre operations over and above these minimum standards.


14

call centre minimum standards code

Documents