Staff crisis hits UK call centres

The UK call centre industry - which is by far the largest in Europe - is entering a period of crisis, according to research from the L&R Group, the consulting arm of Sitel.
An L&R survey found 83 per cent of board directors think recruiting skilled staff has become a major problem, with 92 per cent of directors expecting the situation to worsen over the next five years.
Simon Roncoroni, European managing director of the L&R Group, said: "Customers already have high expectations of the quality of service they receive over the telephone, and as new technology starts to automate some of our simpler transactions, people will become the premium asset, handling more complex calls. This has huge implications for the quality of staff we recruit to talk to our customers."
The main problem facing the industry is that most call centre projects are driven by cost and not quality, according to L&R. Around three-quarters of those who took part in the survey said projects won't get board-level approval unless they are seen to cut costs. This leaves little room for staff training and development, according to the call centre managers interviewed.
But Simon McBeth, customer service manager at Hilti, a construction company, and a call centre manager, said: "That kind of approach is incredibly short-sighted. It all comes down to planning, and calculating what levels of staff you need to allow for ongoing training, etc."
McBeth admitted firms are always going to try to squeeze more value out of already profitable call centres, but added: "There aren't enough senior managers in business that have call centre, or even customer service, experience."
L&R's findings are in line with this view. The survey shows 91 per cent of call centre managers are frustrated with senior management's lack of understanding.