With the great swathes of unfounded expectancy and mounting excitement that currently sweep this great nation, (please let John Terry's hamstring heal before Sunday!), it got me wondering about the coming month.
Not only in England, (and to some extent territories within the UK), but also abroad, the pending European Championship is likely to cause a great deal of interest amongst both call centre agents and the customers whom they serve.
Have any of our members and\or the organisations they work for made special provisions for their staff to ensure that they can catch the matches they want to watch? Or conversely has there been an edict from on high that all absentees will be treated sceptically and harshly if they take 'sick' leave on specific days?
(I appreciate that it is not as like the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea when games kicked off during office hours but since some of the group games, (and crucially the England Switzerland match), kick off at 5pm I imagine there will be some impact).
I recall one financial institution said that all staff could take time off to watch the England games providing a), they made up the lost time later; and b), they didn't come into work drunk! I know of other call centres where the plasma screens previously used as wall boards for real-time Management Information, had all the games on so that staff could watch and still work. One or two call centres actually broadcast real-time feeds onto Windows Media Player so the agents could watch via their own desk-top PC.
Also, what affect has there been on forecasting and scheduling for call flow? Has your operations team made special arrangements for if \ when England (or the country in which you operate\take calls for), make it through to the next round? What impact are you expecting?
Just thought it might be an interesting and topical thread to start!
P.S. Come on In-ger-land! |