The Hallis report : " Call Centre Staff Salary Survey 1998 " Cont.
Methodology
The survey questionnaire was mailed to respondents. The survey questions are shown in Appendix 1.
There were 105 contributors to the survey, from a variety of industries and states.
Distribution by Industry Profile :
| Financial Services and Insurance | 34 |
| Telecommunications | 6 |
| Manufacturing | 10 |
| Services | 28 |
| Utilities | 10 |
| Hospitality | 8 |
| Other Industries | 10 |
Distrubition by Location :
| New South Wales/ACT | 35 |
| Queensland | 5 |
| South Australia/NT | 6 |
| Victoria/Tas | 54 |
| Western Australia | 4 |
Markets :
Organisation’s
| International | 26 |
25% |
| National | 48 |
46% |
| Multi State | 15 |
14% |
| Local | 16 |
15% |
Call Centre’s
| International | 20 |
19% |
| National | 51 |
49% |
| Multi State | 12 |
11% |
| Local | 22 |
21% |
Turnover :
| +$3 Bn (BRW Top 200) | 38 |
| $250m - $850m (BRW Top 500) | 33 |
| - $100m p.a. | 34 |
The names of the contributing companies are confidential and will not be released for publication.
The level of technology employed by the call centres that responded to the survey is shown below. Automated call centres included those with full ACD, CTI and IVR functionality. Partial automation was assessed as basic ACD only.
| Automated | 21 |
| Partially Automated | 75 |
| Manual | 6 |
This is consistent with research by Optus which has indicated a similar level of take up on take up of advanced technology such as CTI. Clearly there is a significant opportunity for efficiencies to be gained through the adaptation of this technology. In terms of call centre HR implications, there is likely to be a greater demand for staff with a higher skills base as more routine functions are carried out through technology solutions.
Call Centre Size and Structure
Relative Sizes of Call Centres
The larger call centres, those in the top 50% of the sample of respondents averaged 64 staff, were likely to have specialists on staff, and had a slightly higher number of agents per team leader. Smaller call centres averaged 14 staff and generally did not have specialist staff assigned.
Across the complete sample of call centres, the average team leader: agent ratio is 11:1. There are wide variances in this figure however, and ratios as high as 28:1 and as low as 2:1 were reported. The ratio (or ‘span of control’) is influenced by a number of factors, such as:
- the level of complexity of the calls being handled
- the stability of operations
- how well established the level of procedures is
- the level of training of the agents
- the level of assistance provided to the leader/manager
- the management style or culture (loose/tight)
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