Call Center In Focus

Since Halloween is fast approaching we decided to share with you some of the "mysterious" or "scary" stories that all of us might have encountered in the workplace and we decided to give a little twist. 1. One time I was tasked to monitor our queue and my TL advised me to go on aux meeting he showed me the monitoring software and how it's being used. I was closely looking on the screen then something changed on the image I was really nervous to look at the screen but out of curiosity I still decided to take a peek. I saw the name of Denise at the bottom of the call queue with 0:00 avail time. Scary! 2. Denis was having a heated conversation with his caller and wanted to escalate the issue to our supervisor however, all of the supervisors were not available and the SME’s kept on telling him to de-escalate the issue. I saw the worried look on his face and asked him if he’s okay he nodded and told me he would take care of it. Just 5 seconds after he sat...

Here’s a collection of the best call center memes that we have seen so far from the web and from the Facebook Page Tagacallcenterako. When system issues occur the whole floor becomes a party place. The moment that your customer says you speak like an American.  \ When there’s a high volume of calls and TL/Manager/Sup announced a Team Meeting.   4. The moment that you are being asked why your stats are low.  5. Our reaction when we are dealing with difficult customers.  Imgur: SomethingOk 6. That awesome moment when you were able to spell a difficult name correctly. Your browser does not support the video tag. 7. Tech support representatives on Granny Calls. 8. While checking on your pay slip and you think there's a dispute on the salary. 

A BPO job seeker looking for non-voice post was victimized by a woman named "Grace" who pretended to be a recruiter from Sykes. The alleged suspect will first get your trust and ask for your number. “Grace” would then send you a message that you are hired for a non-voice post and you are required to change clothes “Grace” would then accompany you to the store to buy a clothes and once you are inside the dressing room the alleged suspect would run away together with your belongings.  Here's the photo of alleged suspect named Grace See the story below from Facebook user Dennis O. The woman who kept on smiling at her approached her and introduced herself as “Grace” [Obviously not her real name] and asked: “Oh kumusta? tanggap ba?” [How did it go? Were you hired?] My wife replied: “Hindi eh, wala daw silang non-voice ngayon.” [No, they dodn't have any non-voice account at the moment.] My wife then decided to leave Sykes recruitment office and head home, Grace th...

We are seeing a lot of reports about fake recruiters pretending to offer BPO employees with back office post or non-voice positions. As a call center employee a back office post or a non-voice position is the most sought after position because you don’t have to speak to customers all day. A Facebook user shared her experience about these “recruiters” that posted a Data Encoder job on a Facebook Group for call center employees only to find out that instead of data encoder position they were being recruited for a networking company.  See the screen shot of her FB post below; Other victims of these “fake recruiters” often termed the experience as being “Kidnapped” because they were forced to pay a certain amount of money just to get their important documents and if they cannot pay they were advised to pawn their gadgets to produce the amount. To avoid these “fake recruiters” we suggest you join job caravans and open house events so that you are sure that you are dealing ...

Instead of killing time why not be productive by applying in BPO companies that have setup recruitment hubs inside the malls. That’s the awesome tip that we have learned from Facebook user Enzo Bautista. It's like killing two birds in one stone, you could have a free meal and at the same time you would be helping head hunters achieve their numbers. See his Facebook Post Below; Kudos to these companies that provide free meals because, they know how to appreciate the time and effort of their applicants. I would like to try these sometime and see if I could also hit the jackpot just like Enzo wherein he got a full meal plus a Starbucks coffee. Based on my experience you can also get free items by joining job caravans and company open house events. Some companies would provide a raffle entry for cellphone or other gadgets like USB Flash drive or Go Pro cameras. Of course there are terms and conditions that needs to be checked before you qualify to get the items, better check ...

Move over Fast Food, here comes Faster Foods. Faster foods are the ready-made meals available at minimarts like 7-Eelven, Family Mart and Mini Stop. Bloomberg reports that BPO employees have been the “predominant force” that prompts the demands for minimarts because a typical center would operate 24 hours a day; minimarts are poised to capture the demands from call center employees because the stores have the same operation hours matched with call centers. THE NUMBERS 7-Eleven remains the nation’s biggest convenience-store chain with 1,121 outlets and is planning to add 300 new stores this year. Ministop has more than 400 outlets and plans to add 360 stores by 2016. Family Mart convenience stores are around 54 and targets to have 700 stores by 2018. Indonesia’s Alfamart will be available in the Philippines courtesy of Billionaire Henry Sy while Puregold has entered a joint venture with a Japanese Minimart operator named Lawson Inc. WHAT WE ORDER Based on our experience Mi...

Teleperformance Philippines recently joined Adamson University’s first Media Summit as one of the event sponsors. With more than 800 AB Communication Arts students in attendance, Teleperformance staged marketing activities at the university theater. The students captured their summit participation at the Teleperformance photo booth and lucky students won mobile phones and other special items during the raffle. The event sponsorship is part of Teleperformance’s university relations program that aims to strengthen the Teleperformance brand among the students and promote the company as a viable career option after graduation. The Adamson University Media Summit featured industry experts who presented the media’s role in promoting local culture, current global media trends, social media pros and cons, and other emerging media channels. Adamson University has programs in liberal arts, sciences, engineering, law, nursing, pharmacy, architecture, business administration, and education...

Most employees in the Call Center Industry is paying the above minimum SSS premium, we owe that to  our industry that pays us well. Paying a high SSS premium doesn't mean that you will be receiving a huge amount of monthly retirement pay. Just like you, we all have a simple dream of retiring someday and finally  hanging up our headsets. After reading an article in Inquirer about a retired employee who’s excited  to get his SSS pension only to get disappointed because, his monthly retirement pay would only  amount to 4500 pesos I got upset. If I was that guy I would just laugh so that I don’t have to cry. This is the  reason why most call center employees are looking for companies that offer retirement packages  because when the time comes that we have to retire we will not rely on SSS alone. According to the Labor Code (Art. 387) “an employee may be retired upon reaching the retirement age established in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or...

A moment of silence for Gwendolyn Dellera 34 years old of Cebu City who died after drowning at a resort in Murcia town, Negros Occidental. Investigators said  Dellera and a companion were swimming in the river when they were swept away when the current grew strong. The victims’ companions rushed to rescue them but Dellera drowned. According to Philstar article   Dellera was a Team Leader for Teleperformance Bacolod City branch. Watch the news video below from GMA News Channel and the Yotube Description Balita Pilipinas Ngayon rounds up the top stories from around the PhilippinesGMA’s regional stations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It’s hosted by Mark Salazar and Maki Pulido and airs at 4:30 PM (PHL Time), Mondays to Fridays on GMA News TV Channel 11.

In case you will be missing this Job Caravan you can go to their office on Monday or you may contact +6 3 9 1 7 8 6 1 4 9 7 0 you can also send an email to HR@backoffice.com for your queries. We suggest attending today's event because it would have a free training. ** JOB CARAVAN & 1 DAY FREE TRAINING ** MEET & GREET ** When: October 18, 2014 Where: One corporate center (Ortigas) 34th Floor Time: 8 am to 5 pm The Location: The building is located at the corner of Meralco Avenue and Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City, and is strategically positioned within the Ortigas Center, the second largest Central Business District (CBD) of the country. One Corporate Centre is located near the Philippine Stock Exchange at Tektite Towers, and a few blocks away from the headquarters of San Miguel Corporation. There are also a number of residential condominiums and high end villages like Valle Verde at the vicinity of the building's location, as well as a major shopping m...

Akamai Technologies has released their Second Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report. One of the statistics that the report provides is internet connection speed. The report shows that the internet connection of the Philippines is now at 2.5Mbps which is faster compared to India’s 2.0 Mbps. Based on the report the Philippines Global Rank is 103 and a year on year increase of 58%. Peak speed is at 21.16 Mbps with a year on year change of  35% and a global rank of 85 In terms of high broadband connectivity report, India leading by 0.5%. The Philippines can catch up if we can keep up the momentum for  year on year change. Internet speed is one of the backbone of the BPO sector. If the internet speed in the Philippines would continue to improve this would mean more opportunities for us. Aside from speed , stability of the connection should be taken into consideration as well because work from home employees would benefit from it by getting a clear VOIP line ...

Los Angeles - A complaint was filed last Wednesday against VXI Global Solutions by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after it violated federal law on alleged charges of sexually harassing its male and female employees. EEOC reported that to prevent employee complaints the floor manager allegedly threatened and intimidated both male and female staffs. When VXI Global’s supervisors and human resources personnel were advised of the harassment some of the alleged victims were afterwards disciplined and terminated in retaliation between 2010 and 2011. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court of the Central District of California ( EEOC v. VXI Global Solutions, Inc. a/k/a, VXI Global Solutions, LLC, Case No. 2:14-cv-07444), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The agency seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the class of victims, along with injunctive relief to prevent and ...

Have you seen this photo of the anatomy of a call center agent? We have seen this photo six years ago. The description is pretty much accurate however since he looks outdated the picture needs to have an upgrade. {source: Greyweed of Flickr} The number of in-house companies has grown since six years ago we are taking that into account and the guy above needs a makeover. Now, we present to you the  new anatomy of a call center agent.  Here's some additional items of what's being updated. 1. Finished an actual course na medyo malayo sa course. In-house companies like Alere Philippines and United Health Group are still looking for health care professionals which means that graduates of health care jobs are not limited to Technical Support and Customer Care positions.  2.Aside from Hollywood rumors, we are also updated with current episodes of US series like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, Gossip Girl and others.  3. Though coffee i...

The Princess Sarah Memes has finally made it to the Call Center World. Check what we have collected so far. 1. Sarah on ACW. 2. Sarah on Referral Bonus 3. Dirty Finger on Monitor while on mute. 4. On Extreme Weather Conditions 5. Accidental Release 6. Sarah on working during Holidays 7. On Sup Calls 8. Sarah Ordering Potatoes. The list will be updated once we see new memes coming in.  You can also enjoy the Princess Sarah memes via youtube. Check the video below.

Remember the guy who ordered "manok ng kaligayan"(chicken joy) in Jollibee? He's back this time he contacts a call center in Manila speaking in fluent Filipino language. See the description below from his Youtube channel. Check out my hilarious phone call to a Philippine call center earlier this year. The first time I called was actually on legitimate business but after all the laughs, I couldn’t help but call back a few more times. Like always this was totally unscripted and unplanned and hope you enjoy. If you like it please don’t forget to share, it’s the most important thing you can do to help Chris Urbano make more great content. As always email me anytime at chris@maputingcooking.com ... Here's the video: Does your center allow you to speak in the vernacular? We would like to hear from you. Share your experience remember sharing is caring.

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz urged employers to provide workers who worked during natural calamities with “extra incentives or benefits”. "To alleviate the plight of employees in times of crisis, employers may provide such extra incentives or benefits to employees who reported for work." Baldoz said employers shall ensure the safety of their workers or employees by providing FREE transportation, food, personal protective equipment and first-aid medicines, as may be necessary. It appears that the said “calamity benefits or incentives” mentioned by the DOLE Secretary has been implemented by BPO companies way before their labor advisory. The incentives that were provided by BPO companies during extreme weather conditions were better compared to the said advisory because we were provided with hotel accommodation, shuttle services and proactive notifications just to ensure our safety. Question is, what's the real sentiment of c...