Taping an agent’s phone calls is probably taken for granted in most contact centres. Customers are usually notified this will occur in the recorded message at the beginning of the call or the agent themselves will tell them at the start of the conversation. The reason for the recording is often given as “training purposes”.
But is it legal?
That’s the question TUANZ received from a company in the freight sector this week. They want to tape the CSR’s interaction with customers but they don’t want to break the law.
My first port of call was the Department of Internal Affairs - surely they’ve released a draft policy on this? But no, they referred me to the Privacy Commissioner’s office who suggested the company contact an officer with their queries. They have since done so and the company has sent me a copy of their reply (sent within one working day – big tick to the Commissioner’s office for efficient service).
The reply highlighted principles 3,4,5 and 6 of the Privacy Act 1993, and the following paragraph stresses the need for being open about recording a call:
“Depending on the nature of the conversation and the information collected it is possible that an individual may, for example, have answered a question differently if they had been made aware of the telephone call being recorded, this may make a particular collection (of information) unfair under the circumstances.”
As to whether it’s legal to store the recordings indefinitely, this was the answer given:
“While you still hold the recordings the individuals, both customers and staff have a right of access to the recorded information and may require you to provide a copy or a transcript of their information on the recording.”
Hmmm, food for thought.