Call Center Employment Trends Set The Level For The Next Generation Of Call Center Professionals
Call center management is a changing element in the marketplace of today, and employment trends and new developments offer an interesting insight into the shifting world of call center employment. As new centers emerge that offer employees higher salaries and advanced educational opportunities, coupled with the increasingly attractive opportunity to work from home, employment at call centers could become the career of the future.
Traditionally, call center employment has been seen as a transitional job. Students and other temporary workers often accept this employment, which is often seen as undesirable by highly skilled workers. The long hours and disagreeable night shifts, the low pay, and the seemingly endless repetition of the job make call center employment rank at the bottom of the most desirable jobs list.
In fact, in the state of Florida, eight out of every 100 workers is employed at a call center. One trend-setting company in the state recently drew attention to itself when it announced the opening of a new call center. It was not only that the company promised to provide 1,200 jobs within four short years, but that the education level required to work there was unprecedented in the call center workforce. This company requires a college degree, and at $50,000 a year, they offers the salary to match. They are seeking highly skilled, professional workers to employ their center and expect this investment in their staff to pay off.
This movement, however, is not widespread. Call center employment opportunities in other parts of the world lack the glamour, and the wages. In fact, most workers only need a high school diploma, and their salaries are in the low- to mid-$20,000s. Regardless of the more demanding skill sets being required by many call centers, leadership has yet to recognize the value in educating, and compensating their employees. Moving forward, and as the industry matures, call center employment will likely see a mix of more traditional low-end call-center jobs along with higher-wage posts. In addition to the upward movement in skill level and earned salary, there is a new and steadily growing practice that allows call center operators to work from home. Instead of traditional call center employment where all agents were stationed in centralized call centers, employees have the option, and the benefit of working from their bedroom. Experts in the call center industry estimate that there are close to 140,000 agents who work from home. These home-bound call center employees field sales calls, handle customer complaints and answer client questions and demands. These experts predict the number of home agents will more than double to 330,000 nationwide by the year 2010. As these up-trends continue to erase the negative image of a career in call center employment, it is likely we will see an influx in highly educated and well trained call center staff. With this movement, there will be an increase in employee and customer satisfaction, better management techniques, and an overall elevation of industry standards.
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