Night Shift Strategy

Answers

• Posted at 12:00AM on Jul 1, 2002

  Consistency and efficiency across shifts can be a challenge in 24x7 call centers. Often, the 3rd or night shift is viewed as separate (but not equal) to "regular" call center hours. It takes energy and a real focus on process alignment to bring your night shift into the loop. A few suggestions:

  1. Take special care to ensure shifts are treated equally. If a special event (potluck, customer service week activity, recognition program) is organized for the day shift, plan to continue these events into the evening and early morning hours with the same degree of care and effort (no leftovers). Training, coaching and supervisor face time should be planned for. These employees can often feel isolated from the day-to-day activities and decision-making of the call center that take place during daylight hours.
  2. Make adjustments to keep performance expectations relevant and meaningful. If your night shift agents are responsible for more administrative work (timesheets, running reports, data entry, account administration) and/or handle fewer customer contacts, modify performance expectations, monitoring and coaching programs, performance reviews and incentive/recognition programs to reflect this.
  3. Hold the day shift management team accountable. If your call center has made the commitment to implementing a third shift support staff, then they should be held accountable for supporting that staff. Systems support, human resources (recruiting, interviewing, hiring, orientation), training, quality and other call center support services should be readily available for your third shift staff during their regular work hours. If management or other cross functional meetings are scheduled, alternate between shifts.

  Keep your third shift team in mind whenever a decision is made and be creative in keeping them informed and up-to-date in your call center operations and you'll see productivity and job satisfaction soar! Good luck!

  -- Rebecca Gibson, Associate & Manager of Educational Services, Incoming Calls Management Institute, Tel. 410-267-0700, ext. 227, Fax: 410-267-0962 , rebeccag@incoming.com

  Learn more from Rebecca Gibson by logging on to ICMI's popular series of Web Seminars about Call Center Hiring: Part 1: How to Develop Candidate Hiring Profiles that Guide Your Selection Process; Part 2: Determining Who's Best for the Job: Interview Methods and Guidelines; and Part 3: Effective Interview Questions for Call Center Positions.

• Posted at 12:00AM on Aug 1, 2002

  Staffing a 24x7 call center is a challenge, and I agree with most of the advice here (see Response #1, below). I would add the importance of selecting strong self-leaders and analytical thinkers to work third shift. Then let your third shift workers know why they were selected for that shift and the high level confidence management has in them. -- Kareem Thrones-Jenkins

• Posted at 12:00AM on Sep 1, 2002

  Staffing any operation on a 24x7 basis requires some serious planning. I've worked and managed in them for 25 years, and have found that in each case the third shift was just plain different. It really takes a unique individual to want to work at that time of the night. I've seen many failures, usually caused by management who forced people to work a shift they didn't want.

  My best recommendation is to embrace the idea that third shift is different, so be prepared to manage it differently. Make the shift hours known when you recruit so that there are no surprises. Offer a financial incentive for people who work third shift, but be sure it's also tied to performance. You don't want to have top agents take third shift for the money and then sleep all night long. Also realize that the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you will develop for third shift are different, as demand and customer expectations are not the same in the middle of the night. Finally, include the agents in the planning process. Rather than trying to figure it all out by yourself, ask them what they would like. You may be surprised at what they say! -- Mark Stanley, Crestview Consulting Group

• Posted at 12:00AM on Mar 1, 2003

  I'm biased, since my company offers outsourcing services in India, but here are some reasons to consider outsourcing the night shift to a good call centre in Asia.

  • It'll be their daytime when it's night here and since they are primarily busy at U.S. and European daytime (their night time), they can use the spare infrastructure capacities with access to good people who can't work nights.
  • Costs are substantially lower.
  • It's a great way to dip your toes in and test the waters of the 'outsource to Asia' wave.

  -- Rakesh Bhambani, Supportscape

• Murali Seshadri Posted at 12:00AM on Nov 30, 2007

  We are successfully handling an alarm monitoring and response system for a U.S. client during U.S. week nights and 24/7 during weekends. This being a critical application, an Indian agent working during his/her daytime is more alert and performs to the satisfaction of our client. There is a smooth handover/takeover process between offshore and onsite teams ensuring uninterrupted service. This has proved to be lot less expensive for the client. India outsourcing should be given a serious thought for any night Shift strategy. -- Murali Seshadri, SGT India