We live in a diverse society today. Building a call center that is as diverse as your customer base can improve many aspects of your business, including morale, creative thinking, teamwork and respect.
A commitment to diversity, however, requires successfully managing it. How are companies meeting the diverse needs of their employees today? Here are some ideas you can incorporate:
Letting employees work from home enables them to better accommodate their children’s bus schedules and school requirements. Or, telecommuting can assist a disabled or elderly worker. A virtual call center also allows companies to hire the best employees, regardless of geographic location, instead of being tethered to specific locations.
Many large organizations foster mentoring groups where people with a common culture, history or interests can bond, make friends and learn from each other. For instance, Nestle provides community outreach groups for African Americans, Latinos and women.
Know what your employees need. For instance, new moms who are starting back to work could benefit from talking to more experienced moms. Being aware of this need, you could work to bring these individuals together, providing a place for them to meet either physically or online. You can even bring in guest speakers. With virtual call center technology, your agents could check to see who else in their group is working when they are.
You don’t need expensive research to understand your employees’ needs. Build social communities around groups, ideas or common needs, then pose questions or comments. Use your virtual call center analytics tool to learn from the responses and conversations.
Keep track of how well you’re doing by including diversity metrics in your dashboard. Survey your employees to measure hard metrics such as tenure and number of promotions within a specific cohort, as well as soft metrics such as positive attitude and confidence in the company.
Embrace your employees’ diversity, and watch your business soar.
