How To Create A Culture Of Honesty In The Contact Center Workplace

How To Create A Culture Of Honesty In The Contact Center Workplace

Many times, we have talked about the importance of a good work atmosphere in the contact center workplace. It’s necessary to identify what things can affect the workplace you want to create.

This time we want to talk about lies and dishonesty. Dishonesty at work can cause deterioration of relationships between coworkers, conflict, team disintegration, stress, and low productivity. There are many reasons why people lie, sometimes people lie to protect others, because of fear or insecurity, to obtain a personal benefit or just as a personal behavior. This is crucial because by understanding the objective of dishonesty in your workplace you can find the right solution.

But, why exactly it is important to create a culture of honesty in a contact center to begin with? Honesty helps address problems on time, create better relationships with coworkers and bosses, which can result in helping each other, and, in general, they will feel better and happier. Remember, your contact center agents are the voice of your company. If you have honesty in your working atmosphere, the agents will be honest with your clients and this will say a lot about the values in your company.

 

Here are some strategies that will help you encourage honesty in the contact center workplace:

 

Set An Example

Values are something we learn from others. When someone is nice to us, we try to be nice as well. You cannot ask for honesty if your company is dishonest with some of the activities it does. If Top Management does not do what they promise, if leaders say something and do another thing. If you want your agents to be honest, start with yourself and with your company. Show them that it’s good to be honest.

 

Allow Open Communication

As we mentioned, sometimes people lie because of fear and insecurity. When people feel that they will be judged or punished if they speak, they will avoid being themselves and being honest. They could try to say what others expect to hear. Be open to all kinds of ways of thinking, treat every opinion with respect, accept that everyone makes mistakes, and make sure others understand this as well.

 

Ongoing Team Building

By building healthy relationships amongst the team, you can develop trust and, this way, a work atmosphere of honesty. We are used to do team building activities during new employee orientation courses, with small groups that are getting into the operations floor together. This group will seem to have a good relationship. But what about the others? Do your senior agents have a good relationship with new agents? With supervisors? With other departments? When they develop trust with others in the company they would be less likely to lie.

 

Stress The Importance Of Addressing Mistakes Soon

When agents make mistakes, they are likely to avoid saying it and, in some cases, they prefer to lie to not get punished. This is something we want to avoid. Again, everyone makes mistakes and every mistake has a solution. But it’s important to address them on time, before it gets worse. Let the agents know that. Be empathic and compassioned with them. Avoid punishing them for every mistake they make, it’s not necessary to punish for them to learn. Let them know they count on you to fix the problems and that it’s better to accept their mistakes before they get worse.

 

Do Not Accept Negative Or Unethical Behavior

You can forgive mistakes, and some lies, when they have a sincere intention. But not unethical behavior. When people seek their own benefit at the expense of others, it has a negative effect on teamwork and on the company. You don’t want that behavior in your contact center. Let the agents know that negative and unethical behavior are unacceptable and that there will be consequences for people that act this way.

 

Reward Honesty

When we incentivize employees, we always think about performance. But there are other things, such as behavior, that are valuable to the company and that need to be acknowledged. Reward an honest behavior and others will take it as an example. They will know that honesty is important in your company.

 

Hiring Honest Agents

Look for people with values to join your company. You can teach them the skills with training but teaching values can be more difficult. Make sure your Management Team is honest too, they will set an example for the agents. To identify values like honesty when hiring, you can use this method we recommended to asses soft skills. Ask how they would act in certain situations.

 

One day someone said, an honest person will not last longer in a dishonest company and a dishonest person will not last longer in a honest company. Make sure your case is the second one!

 

At Call Center Services International we care about encouraging a positive work atmosphere, we know the importance of having happy agents. We are proud to keep our turnover rate under 10%, this way we offer our clients a great service. Contact us to learn how to establish a nearshore contact center in Mexico!

 

Sources:

How to Create an Atmosphere of Honesty in the Workplace

Dear Workforce How To Deal With Dishonesty In The Workplace