Mask Use In Contact Centres

Mask Use In Contact Centres

HI all. Would be interested to hear of any experience of running your site with agents in masks.

Keen to know what style people are using, how the agents are reacting, if you are making roster adjustments to give them “fresh air” breaks, any impact on voice quality.

Also any other observations I have not thought about

Question asked by tom

Is This Just for When People Walk Around the Office?

I would imagine that it would be very uncomfortable to answer calls in masks

Is this just for when people walk around the office?

These links may help

https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-public-use-of-face-coverings/

With thanks to Jonty

Mask Use In Contact Centers

I am also looking for feedback on best type of mask for comfort of the agent. We have tested the disposable and cloth masks that were available to us. Agents reported few comments from members not being able to hear. The agent spoke a bit louder and problem resolved. Most feedback was regarding discomfort by the agent.

With thanks to Terry

Mask Use In Contact Center

Hi- Anyone willing to share their contact center protocol? Are you using face shields or no covering needed if within 6 ft? We are requiring face masks but it is not comfortable for the agent that talks a lot so would love alternatives.

With thanks to Annie

Mask Use In Contact Centres

We provide our call centre agents with face shields and masks.

When on calls, the agents are allowed to remove the masks, provided they wear a face shield. We insist on using one of the two PPE provided to protect the Supervisors who from time-to-time may need to consult with the agent.

With thanks to Adrian

Facemask Or Termination?

It’s very uncomfortable and hard to breathe when wearing a facemask during a call. But the management insisted that we should or else, they’ll terminate us.

With thanks to Amber

How About A Visor?

If you are mandated to wear a mask there is not a lot you can do about this as it is for everyone’s safety.

There are a couple of suggestions

• There are a number of visors that you could use. This is less constricting and gives better airflow. These are generally accepted substitutes for a mask and could mean that you sound less muffled on a call.
• Also different face masks allow different amounts of air. The cloth ones can be quite constricting which can make it more difficult to breathe. Some of the paper based masks are much lighter and allow for a better flow of air.
• Another approach is to loosen the elastic on your face mask. You could sew on your own elastic that goes behind your head rather than over your ears. Someone in my family is handy with a sewing machine and that is the style of mask that I use.

With thanks to Jonty

Distance Between Desks

We are lucky that we were able to distance advisors to every other desk and so they only need to wear masks when moving around, not sat at their desks.

Could you maybe look at spreading out a bit or have a work from home roster (if it’s possible to work from home), to reduce the number of people in the office?

If masks have to be worn at all times then I think implementing mask free breaks would definitely help, even if just for a couple of minutes every hour? I imagine it would get quite claustrophobic almost, having a mask and headset on, especially if you also wear glasses!

With thanks to Kerry

Author: Jonty Pearce