The Police 111 contact centres have recently got bad press over a few rotten eggs. As we all know, a small minority of contact centre often staff cause the most grief and give the industry a bad rap.
The media report talks about four Police contact centre staff getting disciplined in the last 18 months. If we compare that with other centres, I do not believe it is extremely high. But of course because it is a public service, which is very important for the safety of New Zealanders, the Police contact centre is under constant scrutiny.
Negative reports are very frustrating however and I feel for the managers at the 111 contact centre. A few staff are giving people ammunition to judge this important service without knowing the frustrations of managing a large contact centre.
If only we had full-proof recruitment processes that never get it wrong, which is sadly just a dream. Nobody can get recruitment right 100% of the time. I believe in the one out of 10 theory. If you recruit 10 staff; nine will be fabulous and then there is that one who just doesn't fit! Then we spend months giving time and energy managing their performance, and meanwhile the ‘gems’ keep on performing but do not feel very loved.
I agree the poor service, or in some of the cases no service, by these staff members was unacceptable, and they were definitely in the wrong job. And we all know there is no option but to manage them out of role as quickly as possible.
I would like the focus to be more on what is happening to fix this problem. It seems the 111 contact centres are reviewing all the time and making changes. TUANZ chief executive Ernie Newman recently visited the Police Northern Communication Centre and was impressed at the professionalism and commitment to each call. He blogged about the visit here - it’s worth another read.
Keep up the good work I say. I think people who work in the contact centre industry will support and understand the frustrations of people and performance management in this environment. Contact centre are among the most structured and process driven environments and have great procedures for managers to get through these issues.
If only we didn't have to jump through multiple burning hoops to release the few bad eggs!