Call Centre - put through to handler WFH

[Harvestfestivalknickers]

Just had to renew my insurance today. I needed to make a small amendment so rang their call centre. The call handler I was connected to was obviously WFH. I gave her my details but she had to clarify them several times as there was what sounded like a dog barking. The line was so bad she said she'd call me back. She did so but the barking continued. I made the comment that the line was still really bad and I could hear a dog barking. She didn't respond to that but carried on talking. As she came to the end of the call, the dog started barking quite clearly again. I was surprised that a large insurance company would tolerate this, surely this isn't acceptable, calls are recorded aren't they?

My office is far noisier than my home as it's open plan. I can often barely hear my customers when I'm in the office due to the other conversations going on around me.

No, more the idea that it conjures all sorts of ideas of who might also be there, listening along, seeing what's on the screen.

Like anyone who's handled personal information, I have been trained on how to handle it. The idea that someone working from home might have someone there popping in and gaping at it too is off putting.

Do you handle calls? No headphones??

Me too and it's annoying for me as well! I don't have a partner, pets or young kids so I'm alone at home when I'm working and it's far better for customer services.

I think the room the woman was using who I spoke to the other day must have been the utility room, going by the noise of a washing machine spinning in the background.

One of the cleaners was hoovering in the office the other day, wasn’t long as they were just finishing off

i did think that it wouldn’t sound good if I had a call 😀

Do you not work from home at all then?

A dog would not bother me as confidentiality is not threatened in any way. Much as I would prefer to hear a cat.

No. I'm a domestic cleaner. For all the technology we have, no one has been able to allow me to clean other people's houses from the comfort of my own home. It's only a matter of time though.

Not really.

Even if I worked in the office every day, I could still take my laptop home and show everyone your personal information at the end of the working day if I was so inclined. Obviously I wouldn't do that but I'm not sure why people think an office is more secure in that respect.

Well, AI will be doing all our jobs in 10 years perhaps!

I used to be a senior manager in a call centre, and had to bring in WFH due to covid. If people worked with sensitive information, they had to demonstrate that they had a private space (eg an office, spare bedroom etc) where they could work without being overheard and where no one could see their screen. Otherwise there was no reason why they couldn’t work from home.

Also there’s stopping them from taking your details and sharing it even if they are in an office. I once had to decline a candidate for a job because he had been found guilty of fraud in a previous contact centre role for taking peoples cc details and using them. This was years before WFH was a thing.

In my job we often get calls from people in distress wanting help. They get a lot more privacy with me wfh upstairs on my own than when I was in the office with colleagues, possibly workers from other orgs and service users/carers who had popped in to see us hanging around.

Remote call centres were a thing pre Covid, that just accelerated them really. We found it a brilliant way to tap into talent that couldn't have otherwise worked for us, those with disabilities, single parents who could only work when the kids were in bed etc.

Financial services are heavily regulated, connections are secured etc ( not my industry but also regulated and we had a lot of hoops to jump through to make it happen)

As for the dog, I would find the background to be a lot quieter than the 1000+ call centre I used to manage that's for sure! I would have been asking its name if it were me...