What is the Guidance on Staff Listening In on Calls?

We were asked…

“Can you please tell me the guidance around allowing employed staff of our company to listen in to calls for awareness and training purposes only.”

Put into the Staff Handbook

We’ve put into the Staff Handbook a section detailing that all calls are recorded and monitored for training purposes as well as being used to prevent fraudulent activity (and so on). Our induction includes a talk from our Quality Department which runs through our monitoring process. Everyone is therefore fully aware that all telephone conversations are recorded.
In regards to the people monitoring calls, they are told not to listen to private conversations that are not work related, however, it is up to the respective manager to monitor non-work related calls to ensure no abuse of the office systems.

Thanks to Matt

Call Listening is Regularly Completed

Within our contact centre call listening is regularly completed on staff. This task is undertaken monthly by their line manager and they are advised in their initial training that this practice occurs. Feedback is then given on an individual basis on the calls with objectives set to build on their performance.
We also have a team who specifically listen to calls to identify potential areas for further training or trends in call types and to check quality – this team then provides written assurances to the contact centre manager of the standards achieved.

Thanks to A Olsen.

An Effective Feedback Mechanism

I feel, quality monitoring is the most effective feedback mechanism and ensures quality interactions. Most of the agents are pretty open to the positive feedback given and use it constructively, in an effort to perform better, thus ensuring the best customer experiences. What is critical, is that the mentor needs to be most positive when phrasing the feedback and always begin with praise of what the agent has done, however small it may be, moving on to the opportunities where an agent can perform better and effectively then closing with at least 3 good take-aways. The agent can work on in the future interactions as the way forward. Documented feed back should be the norm as its a more organised approach.

Thanks to Pinaz. 

Legislation Relating to Call Monitoring

You mustn’t forget the legislation relating to call monitoring. If you are going to be listening in on calls. You must ensure that customers are informed that calls may or are being recorded for training and or quality monitoring purposes. You also need to be aware of the data protection act regarding protecting a customers personal data and take care to ensure you are complying with the Data Protection Act 1998 when calls may include collecting personal details and especially payment details.

Thanks to Janette Coulthard.

Legal Aspect of Listening in on Calls Must be Considered

The legal aspect of listening in on calls must be considered. Companies as a matter of principal inform the customers and their employees that they will listen in on calls for mostly training and reference purposes. This is a good tool for personal development.

Thanks to Anonymous

Author: Jo Robinson