It’s a busy day for the women at the bank’s call center.
The phone rings, the headset blinks to life, and there’s a male voice on the other line. The conversation starts professionally with the caller introducing himself and asking for the agent’s name.
… and then, the conversation veers into uncomfortable territory.
The agent realizes that she recognizes the voice at the other end.
It’s the first call today, but the fifth call this week, and certainly not the last one.
Across contact centers, the story echoes. Agents, predominantly women, in customer support roles, often find themselves at the receiving end of unwarranted abuse and harassment. The problem is clear: a concerning trend of harassment calls meticulously aimed at female contact center agents.
The method employed by these harassers is both annoying and audacious. They meticulously gather information about the work schedules and shifts of women workers in the call center. Armed with this knowledge, they place repeated calls during these specific periods, relentlessly aiming to connect with a female agent.
The goal is clear—to engage, demean, and harass these women.
It’s almost become a way of life – calls from different men, every other day. But it doesn’t get any easier.
As contact center agents, these female agents are constrained by professional decorum. But the impact is evident — their workflow is disrupted, their composure tested.
In a world where agents juggle conversations and customer queries, this issue strikes at the heart of employee well-being and productivity.
The Impact of Call Center Harassment on Agents, Productivity, and Business
The consequences of this targeted abuse are hard to ignore.
The most obvious is the impact on the mental health and morale of these employees. The persistent fear and anxiety brought on by these abusive calls can create a hostile work environment, causing emotional distress for the targeted agents.
But there’s more.
- Agent productivity issues: Each call placed by the offender represents a disruption—a distraction that pulls the agent away from their assigned tasks. This constant interruption can severely hamper their ability to engage effectively with customers, ultimately affecting the quality of service provided.
- Reduced customer empathy: Persistently facing such harassment can gradually erode the empathy that agents naturally extend to callers. Past negative experiences can cause agents to become desensitized, affecting their ability to provide the compassionate and understanding service that call centers strive to deliver.
- Direct impact on quality of customer service: As a direct consequence of enduring these harassing calls, the affected agents may exhibit slower response times or handle incoming calls with frustration. This not only impacts the agents’ efficiency but also casts a shadow on the overall customer experience (CX). The agents might inadvertently make errors, leading to inaccuracies in information provided to callers, further exacerbating the problem.
- High attrition and employee turnover: Another severe consequence is the potential for high attrition rates among the targeted agents. The toll of enduring continuous abuse during work hours can push them to seek alternative employment opportunities, leaving call centers grappling with a turnover crisis. The cost of hiring, training, and onboarding new agents cannot be understated—it presents a financial burden that compounds the challenges posed by this insidious issue.
Solving the Unwanted Inbound Calls Problem for Contact Centers
Call centers need to not only focus on delivering exceptional customer service but also create a safe and supportive environment for their agents. They need to find a way to balance the safety and well-being of their employees while ensuring that the quality of service remains uncompromised.
Companies must establish channels for employees to report incidents of abuse and harassment is crucial while also offering psychological support and counseling services for those affected.
But it’s important to realize that counseling can only do so much.
But there is a better way to nip the problem in the bud.
- Targeted Routing of Suspicious Calls: Implementing intelligent call routing systems can redirect potentially abusive calls to a specialized team trained to handle such situations, sparing frontline agents from unnecessary distress.
- Call Screening Technology: Investing in advanced call screening technology can help identify and filter out abusive calls before they reach the agents. This not only reduces the emotional toll but also minimizes disruptions. For instance, you could set up centralized blocklists with the numbers of known harassers.
Making Contact Centers Safer and Productive with Assertion® SecureVoice™
The unsettling trend of targeted abuse on inbound calls highlights a disturbing need for more visibility into – and control over – your enterprise’s voice traffic.
With Assertion® SecureVoice™, companies have complete visibility and control over every call coming into their VoIP environment. This means that you can
• Block known malicious callers even before they reach agents
• Route suspicious calls to trained and dedicated agents
• Analyze trends in calling behavior to better manage agent time and schedules
• Closely and centrally monitor harassment calls for further action
But the improved quality of incoming calls is just a small part of what Assertion® SecureVoice™ is designed for. It can help you improve the efficiency and compliance of your voice operations with
• Optimized call pacing for improved business results
• Ensure responsible outreach as per TRAI mandates
• Centralized call blocking for suspicious incoming and outgoing calls
• Operational insights such as traffic analysis to detect dips in call volumes
• Security insights into targeted attack activity on your contact center, and more
By leveraging the power of AI and implementing intelligent algorithms to analyze call patterns, durations, and behavior, there’s a lot you can do to secure your agents, data, and business – while doing better business.
Talk to us to know how Assertion® SecureVoice™ can help improve the efficiency, productivity, and security of your VoIP setup.