Here are some fun ideas to help keep your agents motivated in the heat.
1. Give your break-out room a beach-themed makeover
A fun way to bring the summer into your call centre is to give your break-out room a beach-themed makeover.
Create a montage of holiday snaps on the wall (asking all agents to contribute), put a beach soundtrack on loop, and invest in some cheap beach inflatables (beach balls, crocodiles, whales, etc.).
You could also apply this idea to your agents’ desks and pods – or even turn it into a competition!
2. Send your team leaders round with jugs of water
To make sure your agents are drinking enough throughout the day, send your team leaders round with jugs of water (and squash) at regular intervals.
This increased presence on the floor should also help you to spot when agents are flagging (and are in need of an ice cream boost) before the customer experience starts to suffer.
3. Have a barbecue in the car park
Set up a barbecue in the car park and give free burgers and hot dogs to your agents. Alternatively, you could attach a small fee and raise money for charity.
This event works especially well in a 24/7 operation as, by running the event from midday to midnight, you can get all of your agents involved – whether they are just starting their shift or clocking off for the day.
For an extra morale boost, you could also try putting your team leaders on cooking duty (wearing comical aprons, of course!).
4. Give out summer-themed prizes
Give your in-house competitions a summer revamp by switching your usual prizes for over-sized sunglasses, floppy sun hats and ice lollies.
You could also run a summer-long competition – giving away a family day out or a city break as a prize to the best-performing agent.
5. Ask your local ice cream van to park up outside
The next time your local ice cream van parks up nearby, try seeing if they’ll add your contact centre to their daily route.
(It is best to pick a time when most of your agents are on break to avoid a sudden surge of agents switching to ‘not ready’ when the ice cream van appears!)
Alternatively, stock up the canteen with ice creams, ice lollies and slush puppies for the summer months.
6. Turn the air conditioning on (or off if your agents are cold)
It’s all too easy to assume that your agents want the air conditioning on full blast in the hot weather, but that may not always be the case.
Regularly wander round the floor and listen to what your agents have to say.
Sometimes it can be just as positive for morale to turn the air conditioning off or down for the afternoon.
Also, get your air conditioning serviced before the really hot weather hits.
7. Put a paddling pool and some deck chairs in the car park
Give your agents a good excuse to leave the building during their breaks by putting a paddling pool and some deck chairs in the car park.
The chance to take off their shoes and escape from the contact centre floor will help your agents relax before they need to get back on the phones.
You can even put a radio on a nearby windowsill to help liven up the atmosphere.
8. Hand out sweets and treats in beach buckets
Add an extra buzz to the floor next time you hand out sweets and treats by putting them in colourful beach buckets.
You could also set an egg timer on each supervisor’s desk, so that the buckets are sent round every hour on the hour.
9. Hold all of your team meetings outside
Add a splash of summer to your team huddles and one-to-ones by getting your agents out of the stuffy meeting room and into the sunshine!
The fresh air should help to perk them up before they return to the phones.
You may also find that agents are more engaged and ask more questions in an effort to stay outside for longer.
Try to avoid doing this in June to help the hay fever sufferers!
10. Have a ‘beach wear’ dress code if temperatures go over 25oC
Relaxing the dress code and encouraging a beach theme (flip-flops, shorts, gimmicky t-shirts, etc.) should help to keep your agents cool and relaxed in the heat.
(We suggest you allow this dress code when temperatures go over 25oC.)
Just make sure you decide exactly what is and isn’t appropriate – and explain this clearly to your agents – before you relax the rules.
Otherwise you might end up sending everyone home for a wardrobe change…
Read How to Motivate Staff in 25 Ways
What do you do to keep your agents smiling in the summer?
Author: Megan Jones
Published On: 3rd Jun 2015 - Last modified: 8th Feb 2022
Read more about - Call Centre Life, Editor's Picks, Employee Engagement, Fun, Motivation
We go one step further on the “outdoors team brief” idea and have a “team brief picnic” – agents bring one item each and we spread out a nice big blanket. Our Screwfix CC provides picnic blankets and cushions as a matter of course for warm weather lunches and breaks 🙂
We’ve just introduced free coffee and tea at the vending machines from 9-10 and 12-2 for the summer. An extra way for agents to keep hydrated when it’s hot and also a great way to start the day after summer nights out on the pub terrasse!