A school teacher would not be able to perform his or her role without lesson plans or books, nor would a construction worker feel comfortable to help on a project without a hard hat and a detailed set of plans. Being properly prepared for the job at hand sets a person up for success and is likely to produce higher quality results.

In a call center, the traditional tools of the trade must be in place in order for an agent to perform, but he or she must also be equipped with myriad other trappings to optimize the workflow of a call center. And for managers to correctly determine which areas and agents need work, they should use Tapit NOVA Call Accounting from Trisys to see how employees spend time around their calls.

Here are two examples of how call center supervisors can bolster agent productivity during the work day:

1. Make downtime productive
Over the course of the day, there are going to be spans of time when an employee is not on the phone with a customer. This is natural, of course, but these moments should be used wisely, so as to not waste time and company resources. Talkdesk suggested that call center managers should allow employees to take short breaks throughout the day and use the time in between calls to complete important tasks.

Having large to-do lists with many small items on them makes each one easier to complete. And breaks are vital for call center employees, as they should get up, stretch their legs, decompress from stressful calls and regroup for the rest of the day.

Use call center data to boost agent performance.Use call center data to boost agent performance.

2. Show agents how they spend their time
As an employee goes about his or her day, it can be difficult to gauge how much time is being spent on which tasks. It’s surprising how easily the minutes can slip by when a person is punching in a few numbers into a data spreadsheet or taking a quick phone break in another room. With call accounting software such as Tapit NOVA from Trisys, supervisors can reference specific time stamps between calls to give the agent a direct metric between productivity and time spent.

Call Centre Helper noted that showing employees how they use their hours at work will help them be more productive because they will be determined to have a better performance score during their next review.

Giving employees the best tools for the job will ensure customers get  the highest quality service possible and the company gets top-notch agents representing its brand.