Skills CFA
Contact Centre
Labour Market Information
April 2010
6 Graphite Square
Vauxhall Walk
London SE11 5EE
info@skillscfa.org
Tel: 020 7091 9620
Fax: 020 7091 7340
www.skillscfa.org
Contents
Contents
Page
1.
Foreword
1
2.
Executive summary
2
3.
Background to research
5
3.1
3.2
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Scope of the research
Methodological issues and information validity
Contact centres in the wider context
4.1
What is a contact centre?
4.2
Contact centres and the information explosion
4.3
Factors influencing changing customer expectations of contact centres
4.4
Industry groupings
4.5
Contact centres and the future
Contact centre occupations
5.1
Contact centre occupational structures
5.2
Operator/agent occupations
5.3
Senior operator/agent and managerial positions
5.4
The contact centre workforce
Contact centres and customer service skills
6.1
Contact centre agent jobs
6.2
Employer views on skills needs
6.3
Senior operator/agent and managerial positions
Contact centres and skills shortages
7.1
Primary research evidence of skills shortages
7.2
Secondary research evidence of skills shortages
7.3
Skills shortages by country
7.4
Skills shortages by sector
7.5
Contact centre specifics and country differences
Contact centres and skills gaps
8.1
Primary research evidence of skills gaps
8.2
Secondary research evidence of skills gaps
8.3
Skills gaps by country
8.4
Skills gaps by sector
8.5
Contact centre specifics by country
16
26
34
37
55
Contents
9.
10.
11.
Contact Centre qualifications and training
9.1
Contact centre qualifications
9.2
Contact centre apprenticeships
9.3
Contact centre training
9.4
9.5
Matching training supply with demand
Investment in skills
Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
10.1
UK growth in contact centres and employment
10.2
UK contact centres and employment by sector
10.3
UK contact centres and employment by region
Priorities and the next steps
11.1
Identifying priorities
11.2
Vision of future qualifications
Appendix 1
11.3
Priority 1
11.4
Priority 2
11.5
Priority 3
11.6
Next steps
11.7
Future evolution of the CCQS
11.8
Summary
74
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Section 1: Forward
Table No.
Table 3.1
Table 3.2
Table 3.3
Table 3.4
Table 3.5
Table 3.6
Table 3.7
Table 5.1
Table 5.2
Table 5.3
Table 5.4
Table 5.5
Table 5.6
Table 5.7
Table 5.8
Table 5.9
Table 5.10
Table 5.11
Table 7.1
Table 7.2
Table 7.3
Table 7.4
Table 8.1
Table 8.2
Table 8.3
Table 8.4
Table 8.5
Table 8.6
Table 9.1
Table 9.2
Table 9.2(a)
Table 9.2(b)
Table 9.3
Table 9.4
Table 9.5
Table 9.6
© Skills CFA 2010
Title
Replacement demand by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) sub
major group 2004-2014
Annual agent attrition rate by economic sector
Annual agent attrition rate by region
Length of agent service by economic sector
The SOC major and sub-major unit group structure of all occupations
Minor group classification for major group 7, customer service occupations
Page
11
12
13
13
15
16
Revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2010
Management gender in contact centres
Employment of contact centre staff by job role
Call centre agents and operators by full time and part time staff
Call centre agents and operators by gender
Contact centre employee gender
All customer service employment full-time/part-time and male/female
analysis by UK countries - April 2008 to March 2009
All contact centre employment full-time/part-time and male/female April
2005 to June 2009
Estimated UK contact centre agent employment using Office for National
Statistics (ONS) proportions and ContactBabel figures
Estimated contact centre agent numbers by age group
Average age of contact centre agents, by economic sector
Major group 'sales and customer service' by ethnicity and UK Countries
17
29
30
30
31
31
32
Skills shortage by occupation – major groups – England
Hard-to-fill and skill shortage vacancies as a proportion of vacancies by
occupation in Scotland
Skills required for skills shortage vacancies by occupation - Wales
Profile of skills shortage vacancies by occupation within Sector Skills councils
44
46
Skills lacking in employees overall and by occupation – all England
Skills gaps by region – England
Distribution of skill gaps in Wales by occupation
Skills lacking among employees with skills gaps by occupational group –
Northern Ireland
The nature of skills gaps by Sector Skills Council
Main two skills gap area by Sector Skills Council
National Qualifications in Contact Centres
NVQ/SVQ awards by gender, academic age, occupation, centre type,
Government Office, region and country by level of award
60
61
69
70
Contact centre qualifications - achievements and enrolments
78
Contact Centre Apprenticeships - completions and registrations
79
Gender and level of qualification for major group sales and customer service
England and Wales
Apprentice job roles and employer engagement
Typical educational attainment of staff in UK contact centres
Ongoing training
79
Page 1 of 115
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33
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34
35
50
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 1: Forward
Table No.
Table 9.7
Table 10.1
Table 10.2
Table 10.3
Table 10.4
Table 10.5
Table 10.6
Title
Weekly hours of coaching and development for team leaders
Call Centre Agents and Operators
The UK contact centre industry - contact centres, 1995-2007
Growth of UK contact centres 2007 - 2011
UK Contact Centre Industry - Agent Positions, 1995-2007
UK agent positions 2007 - 2011
Agent positions and contact centres by size of contact centre
Table 10.7
Table 10.8
Table 10.9
Table 10.10
Contact centres by sector 2003 - 2011
Agent positions by sector 2003 - 2011
UK contact centre employment by region
UK contact centre projected employment changes by region 2007 - 2011
97
97
97
99
Table 10.11
Table 10.12
Contact centres by region and size band
Agent positions by region and size band
99
100
Figure
Figure 5.1
Figure 6.1
Figure 7.1
Title
Proportion of people by occupation and age - UK wide
Top three abilities or characteristics of a successful contact centre agent
Overall distribution of vacancies and recruitment difficulties by occupation England
Skills sought in connection with skill shortage vacancies - England
Skills sought in connection with skill shortage vacancies - Scotland
Skills sought in connection with skill shortage vacancies - Wales
Skills sought in connection with skill shortage vacancies – Northern Ireland
Sector Skills Councils – SSVs for Sales and Customer Service Occupations
Skills Gaps by Region - England
Highest Skills Gaps – All Scotland
Skills gaps by occupation Highlands and Islands
Skills gaps by occupation North East Scotland
Skills gaps by occupation South East Scotland
Skills gaps by occupation South West Scotland
Skills gaps by occupation West Scotland
Skills lacking amongst employees with skills gaps - Wales
Impact of skills gaps in Northern Ireland
Contact Centre and Customer Service Apprentice starts England and Wales
2003-2009
Contact Centre Apprenticeship Starts and 10% of Customer Service
Apprenticeships in known Contact Centre Starts
Page
33
37
42
Figure 7.2
Figure 7.3
Figure 7.4
Figure 7.5
Figure 7.6
Figure 8.1
Figure 8.2
Figure 8.3
Figure 8.4
Figure 8.5
Figure 8.6
Figure 8.7
Figure 8.8
Figure 8.9
Figure 9.1
Figure 9.2
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 1: Forward
1.
Foreword
This report examines Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) relating to contact centre
employment and to the demand from employers for relevant staff skills. The development
of this report is supported by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).
The report draws on:
 existing data from Government and commercial surveys of employment patterns in the
contact centre sector
 information included in data sets of the devolved administrations, the Learning and
Skills Council and Government Departments
 primary research relating to the broader skills sets of customer service occupations and
qualifications which include contact centre skills
 qualitative research to gather information and opinions from a cross-section of
employers.
The report:
 describes the research methodology including the boundaries and limitations of




available information
sets out the business context in which employers are addressing skills issues in contact
centres
examines evidence of the evolution and development of contact centres and likely
changes in the foreseeable future
analyses available data relating to employment patterns in contact centres across the
four nations of the UK
analyses available data relating to skills shortages and skills gaps in the contact centre
sector.
The principal purpose of the report is to provide robust analysis of LMI that will inform
future development of qualifications and frameworks appropriate to the contact centre
sector.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 2: Executive summary
2.
Executive summary
This report sets out to provide a comprehensive survey of labour market information for the
contact centre sector with special reference to qualifications and training. It is designed to
offer a reference point for planners and operational managers seeking to understand clearly
aspects of the contact centre labour market relevant to skills development.
There is increasing clarity and understanding surrounding the meaning of the term contact
centre. Evolving from the more restrictive term ‘call centre’ a contact centre is an
organisation that uses different media, most commonly telephony, to deal with customers
in a systematic and structured process both through inbound and outbound
communication. The emphasis is on human contact and many contact centre services
complement full on-line services offered by their organisations.
Contact centres are by their very nature customer focused and indeed can be seen as the
only organisations whose primary purpose is the delivery of customer service.
Consequently, the skills needs of the sector are intrinsically linked with developments in the
world of generic customer service skills development. There are also economic, social and
technological influences on changes in contact centre skills needs. The world of contact
centres continues to change but it has become an established part of customer service
delivery in many sectors and increasingly in the public sector.
The pattern of occupational structures is clarifying as the identity of the sector develops.
The management line generally includes operations managers and team leaders with key
support roles in Information Technology, Human Resources and training being provided by
specialists. The majority of positions (often referred to in the industry as ‘seats’) are for
operators or agents with senior agent roles that involve coaching and mentoring of less
experienced staff. Further groups of common job roles in the industry are those dealing
with resource allocation and management and allocation and specialist monitoring roles
dealing with quality assurance by sampling of transactions or dealing with customer
complaints.
Analysis of the occupational groups shows that the industry employs a majority of females
although the proportion is lower in high-level positions. The industry has always included a
significant number of part-time positions with an even distribution of gender however, this
is not the case for customer service where a higher proportion of females work in the parttime positions. Evidence also suggests that the proportion of part-time jobs is falling in the
contact centre industry.
The focus of employers with regard to skills needs falls mainly on operators and team
leaders. The specialist skills of managers and others are noted but in many cases involve
more generic management and IT skills than those specific to contact centres.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 2: Executive summary
The skills needed by the majority of the workforce in operator and agent roles, the jobs, in
common with many others, involve a blend of customer service and ‘technical’ skills. The
‘technical’ skills vary according to the systems being operated in a particular organisation
but in nearly all cases consist of a mix of IT skills to use the system-specific software and
telephony skills to use the call handling systems.
Alongside these technical skills all contact centre front-line occupations involve empathy
with customers, teamwork and reliability as key employer demands. The evidence sourced
for this report points clearly to recognition by employers that customer service skills are at
the heart of the industry's needs and therefore will be especially relevant to qualifications
considered by the industry.
No clear pattern and trends emerged from research for this report relating to general skills
shortages in industry. There are regional variations and patterns that are included in the
report mostly evidenced through available statistics on customer service occupations as a
whole. The primary research carried out in this report provided valuable guidance on
employer views. Most employers see the acquisition of staff with appropriate personality
traits as their main route for combating skills shortages. Most of all, recruitment
approaches seek to stress the need for interpersonal and customer skills together with a
commitment to the industry rather than seeing agent/operator jobs as transient.
Specialist skill shortages (areas where it is hard to recruit candidates with appropriate skills)
were mentioned in relation to posts for resource planners, team leaders and outbound
calling agents with sales skills. The nature of these shortages in the industry is inevitably
entwined with the image of contact centre jobs presented to the outside world. Not too
long ago, jobs in call centres were poorly regarded among potential applicants. Employers
now report an increase in numbers of those seeking longer term employment.
Skills gaps (areas in which there is a need for training and development for existing staff)
that concern employers relate mainly to the challenge of keeping pace with technology and
communication system changes. Most contact centres operate systems of individual
assessment and re-accreditation. These enable the identification of skills gaps down to
individual levels. Employers agree that performance monitoring is one of the most effective
strategies for identifying and dealing with such gaps.
Specific examples of skills gaps have been identified such as the need for young people to
develop life skills that they may not have acquired but which are needed for dealing with
customers of all ages. More detailed reporting of regional variations relates primarily to the
broader customer service skills and enables the identification of specific regional needs.
Existing qualifications for contact centre staff have limited take-up. It is known that many
contact centre employers have chosen to use customer service qualifications in preference
to specific contact centre qualifications. However, it is not possible to quantify this take-up
as the place of employment of learners is not on any accessible databases.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 2: Executive summary
Many contact centres also choose to incorporate more generic customer service and
information and communication technology (ICT) training into their in-house programmes
that focus on brand and product training. Once again, it is not possible to quantify those
learning activities.
Looking to the future, the sector is living down a number of negative image connotations
that have become commonplace among many observers. Reductions in staff turnover,
greater information demands on agents, more permanent career patterns and less
emphasis on the stop-gap nature of jobs in the sector will help a to build a more
establishment image for call centre occupations. Employment patterns in the sector are
being monitored with greater accuracy by private-sector independent agencies than
through government statistics. At least as long as the present growth trends continue,
these figures will be of immense interest to learning and qualifications planners. This report
helps to identify the key sources of available information and to highlight its important
features.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 3: Background to research
3.
Background to research
3.1
Scope of the research
3.1.1 Secondary data
The secondary data used in this research has been extracted from a variety of sources which
include Government statistics e.g. Office for National Statistics, NOMIS, The Data Service,
and the DTI, in addition to a range of data maintained by the sector itself. Although some
data is available through the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), 1 within which code
7211 lists data for the employment of ‘Call Centre Agents/Operators’, this data has
limitations which are discussed below. It nevertheless provides information that can be
compared with other sectors. The classification was introduced under the SOC, sub major
group of customer service which was listed as a group for the first time in 2000. Prior to
2000, although employers were repeatedly identifying customer service skills shortages and
gaps, there was no recognisable and agreed classification of customer service jobs and
hence of jobs such as call centre operators and agents under that umbrella term.
Another valuable source of secondary data for the sector is provided by a private research
agency, ContactBabel 2. This company has assembled a directory of over 3,400 UK contact
centres from which, using statistical extrapolation, quantitative conclusions can be drawn
within reasonable confidence limits. Once again, the integrity and validity of this data
source for the purpose of this report is examined below.
Finally, in relation to secondary data, a report on Customer Service LMI produced by the
Institute of Customer Service (ICS) 3 also offers valuable source material. This involves a
special relationship between the more generic customer service occupational description
and the more specific contact centre classification. It is based on the undisputed fact that
customer service provision is central to the work of all contact centres and indeed that few
other organisations have customer service as such a core activity. The importance and
validity of this link is discussed below.
3.1.2 Primary data
For the purposes of this report, primary data has been collected principally from industry
groupings. Focus groups have been held specifically relating to the LMI project and contact
centre LMI topics were included in some eight further focus groups held for broader
customer service purposes. An analysis of participants in all these meetings is shown in
Appendix 1. Once again, the validity of this research source is explored below. However,
the use of industry groupings for consultation with employers was seen as appropriate in
organisations for which contact centre activity is not their core business but simply a means
of delivering customer service.
1
2
3
Standard Occupational Classification 2000 Volume 1, June 2000
UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th Edition), ContactBabel, July 2008.
Customer Service Employment and Skills, now and the future, ICS, 2008.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 3: Background to research
The project team has made site visits to a varied range of contact centres. These are listed
in Appendix 1. In addition to identifying the variety of tasks undertaken by different types of
centre, the visits gave the team an opportunity to explore employment and occupational
patterns. In particular, the visits were used to establish how different centres train and
develop their teams.
3.2
Methodological issues and information validity
3.2.1 Contact centre definitions and activities
The term contact centre has evolved from earlier references to call centres and has now
become industry standard. Whilst still relatively young as terminology, there is some
standardisation in the terms used that is reflected especially among the industry groupings
quoted elsewhere in this report. There is no single definition of a contact centre but
research for this project has explored industry perceptions of the limits of any definition
that might be agreed. When the topic is raised people generally seek a definition that
includes:
 the smallest size in terms of number of agents/operators
 the communication channels used in addition to telephony that is seen as standard
 the nature of the exchanges and hence any overlap especially with sales occupations.
There is general acceptance that a contact centre may be a single department or section of
an organisation in a defined occupational sector or may be an organisation dedicated to
contact centre activities on behalf of clients in other sectors (this is often referred to as
‘outsourcing’ and should not be confused with the ‘off-shoring’ of activities overseas).
ICS focus groups4 were asked to identify the key words for inclusion in a definition of a
contact centre. It was never intended that a perfect definition should emerge designed by
committee. However, there was a considerable level of agreement among participants that
any definition should include:
 recognition that the primary purpose of a contact centre is to provide customer service




4
against whatever service offer is agreed
reference to the channels of communication to be used by the centre (but excluding
face-to-face transactions)
no restrictive statements of the nature of the business transacted in terms of it being
sales related, inbound or outbound, information provision, public administration or for
other purposes
reference to an infrastructure of contact centre procedures, technology and protocol
that makes the centre more than simply a collection of separate customer service
agents
recognition of adherence to compliance requirements relevant to the centre’s business
See Focus Group members at Appendix 1
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 3: Background to research
 a structure that allows referral of more complex or difficult transactions to specialists or
to those with more authority
 recognition that the establishment is set up essentially to deal with high volumes of
transactions
 a link with the brand message of the organisation.
Above all, there was a wish among participants to stress the professionalism within contact
centre services and to emphasise the considerable development of the industry beyond its
early call centre image.
The matter over which there was least general agreement related to the inclusion or
exclusion of face-to-face customer service centres. It was recognised by many that such
centres, if dealing with high transaction volumes, have much in common with contact
centres dealing with customers remotely. However, for the purposes of this project and
future demarcation of contact centre and generic customer service competences and skills,
it is likely that face-to-face customer service operations will not be included in the contact
centre boundaries.
In order to establish the boundaries of the sector for this report, it may be appropriate to
accept a working definition that a contact centre is any operational unit that is happy to be
described as a contact centre. In practice, the boundaries are described by the membership
of trade bodies and internal organisational references to the call centre or contact centre
function. Above all, it is important that the definitions should not become exclusive as
contact centre activities cross many sector boundaries. Rapidly changing working practices
and technology will continue to shift the boundaries.
3.2.2 Contact centres and customer service
It is worth noting a challenge that is faced in researching and reporting on contact centre
skills. Arguably, contact centres are simply a sub-set of pan-sector customer service
occupations with their generic nature and dedicated set of National Occupational Standards
(NOS) competences. Indeed, within the SOC data sets the most common occupation within
contact centres is classified as a sub-set of customer service occupations. However, there
are good reasons why, for the purposes of this report, contact centre occupations should
not be seen in this way in that
 they have to this point been treated separately with a discrete set of NOS in existence
which support a range of bespoke contact centre qualifications
 under the broader customer service umbrella contact centres are unique in that their
whole raison d’être can be seen as the provision of customer service.
A useful parallel can be drawn with IT skills in that, while nearly all organisations use IT,
there is a specific group of organisations whose whole business is IT and hence who have
particular needs that are distinct from those of IT user organisations.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April 2010
Section 3: Background to research
One further issue that should be noted relates to potential overlap between contact centre
occupations and sales. The link with sales is explored in the ICS report of Customer Service
LMI 5. An indeterminate proportion of contact centres are involved in sales through either
outbound or inbound contacts. Many of those who are involved take sales opportunities as
a consequence of initial customer service contact. However, the overlap with sales has
been recognised in customer service research and thus should also be noted in this LMI
study.
3.2.3 Data source strengths and limitations
The principal data sources supporting this LMI study are listed in Section 3.1 above. As with
any research of this kind, the data has certain strengths but also has limitations. Whilst as a
complete set it may present sound evidence for the project, it is best to be aware of the
characteristics of each source.
The SOC statistics maintained by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have the benefit of
being official Government statistics that provide long term data from which to identify
trends. The limitation of this source is that many of the core statistics are drawn from
Neighbourhood Surveys in which respondents are asked to classify the main business of
their employer. This means that returns from that survey tend to include only outsourced
contact centre operations and do not include those contact centres that are operated by
organisations in-house.
The independent commercial database offered by ContactBabel 6 offers significant benefits
over this as it starts from an organisational base. Covering in excess of 65 per cent of the
estimated total number of contact centres in the UK and with members offering reliable
information, figures can be extrapolated to give a broad view of the industry within
reasonable confidence limits. The limitation of this data source is that, in order to draw
more general conclusions, an assumption must be made that the membership is
representative of the industry as a whole. No obvious reason to believe that this is not the
case.
The Customer Service LMI was recognised as a very sound analysis of that pan-sector
occupational group. At the time it did not make extensive reference to contact centres but
it is known that many customer service qualifications are offered within those businesses.
One limitation of the report as a data source is that it is very useful as an umbrella view of
customer facing occupations but provides somewhat more limited information about
contact centres in certain areas.
In addition, it is recognised following the Institute’s recent takeover of the contact centres
standards that inadequate take-up figures are available. This is currently being addressed
and is one of the reasons priority three focuses on the need for closer monitoring.
3.2.4 Employment levels in contact centres
5
6
Customer Service Employment and Skills, Now and for the Future, ICS, 2008
UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th Edition) Contact Babel, July 2008
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 3: Background to research
Some of the difficulties associated with estimating the numbers employed in contact
centres have already been mentioned. As a relatively new occupational innovation, contact
centre numbers have been tracked only since 2000. As with customer service data, it is
important to separate contact centre functions from purely sales functions. However, this
separation presents less challenge than it does to the generic customer service area. Indeed
the employment figures presented in this report can be viewed with considerable
confidence.
The most reliable source of employment information for the sector as a whole is
ContactBabel. In July 2008, they reported the existence of 5,180 contact centres in the UK
employing 638,250 people as agents. Contact centres with 250 or more agent positions
employ 52% of the staff despite representing just 8.5% of contact centre sites. The mean
contact centre size is 123 agent positions. There are nearly 4,000 contact centres with 100
agents or fewer representing 76% of the sites but employing just 26% of the agents.
3.2.5 Replacement demand
In Section 10 of this report, employment projections are based on the total number of jobs
that are expected to be available in the period to 2011. These numbers represent
expansion demand in the sector. However, this does not cover a whole range of demand
for extra entrants into the sector to replace those leaving through retirement, career
changes, maternity leave and many other departures. Even if a sector predicts an overall
decline in numbers, it may still offer a significant number of job vacancies to replace
workers who leave the occupation.
In this report, only expansion demand is used for employment projections whilst recognising
that replacement demand has an effect on demand for skills development in the sector. For
further information regarding replacement demand see Sector Skills Development Agency
(SSDA) Working Futures 2004-2014 7.
Table 3.1
UK, all industries
Replacement demand by SOC sub major group 2004-2014
Replacement
Expansion demand
demand (retirements
and mortality)
UK, all industries
Corporate Managers
Managers and Proprietors
Science/Tech Professionals
Health Professionals
Teaching/Research Professionals
Business/Public service Professionals
Science Associate Professionals
Health Associate Professionals
Protective Service Occupations
Culture/Media/Sport Occupations
Bus/Public Service Associate Professionals
Admin and Clerical Occupations
7
000s
000s
696
-79
177
84
319
117
75
85
0
154
143
-89
1,225
445
272
103
639
296
180
422
98
219
526
1,086
Net requirement
(excluding
occupational
mobility)
000s
1,921
366
449
187
958
413
255
506
98
372
669
998
SSDA Working Futures 2004-2014: National Report, Chapter 5; (January 2006, Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick)
© Skills CFA 2010
2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 3: Background to research
Table 3.1
UK, all industries
Replacement demand by SOC sub major group 2004-2014
Replacement
Expansion demand
demand (retirements
and mortality)
Net requirement
(excluding
occupational
mobility)
Secretarial and Related Occupations
-238
437
Skilled Agricultural Trades
57
157
Skilled Metal/Electrical Trades
-340
385
Skilled Construction Trades
226
367
Other Skilled Trades
-93
225
Caring Personal Service Occupation
387
682
Leisure/Other Personal Service Occupation
37
219
Sales Occupations
239
711
Customer Service Occupations
136
140
Process Plant and Machinery Operatives
-309
408
Transport Drivers and Operatives
190
419
Elementary: Trades/Plant/Machinery
-372
324
Elementary: Clerical/Service
-303
910
All Occupations
1,300
10,894
Source: CE/IER estimates, based on LEFM Replacement Demand Module, MDM01R1 C51F8A Forecast,
ReplacementDemand.xls, (Table5.1).
199
214
45
593
132
1,069
256
950
276
100
610
-48
606
12,194
No evidence is available from Government sources regarding the numbers needed to meet
replacement demand specifically for contact centres. However other reliable sources of
information provide indications of replacement demand by examining turnover and attrition
rates.
The contact centre sector has had a reputation for high staff turnover and hence attrition
rates provide an indicator of likely replacement demand. The 2004 DTI report 8 analyses
attrition by economic sector and by region as shown in Tables 3.2 and 3.3. It should be
noted that these rates are for agent positions alone. A comparison with 2008 is also made
using figures from a 2008 report by ContactBabel which uses similar sources and
methodology as the earlier DTI report.
Table 3.2
Annual agent attrition rate by economic sector
Economic sector of contact centres
Annual attrition rate 2004
Annual attrition rate 2008
Outsourcing
35.7%
43%
Telecoms
15.3%
14%
Transport and travel
12.9%
15%
Retail and distribution
12.7%
15%
Finance
11.5%
27%
Utilities
10.4%
14%
Public services
9.8%
9%
IT
8.6%
30%
All contact centres
14.5%
23.9%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry: A study and UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th
Edition), ContactBabel, July 2008.
The DTI 2004 report summarised that:
“The outsourcing sector has staff attrition rates far in excess of any other sector, certainly
driven in part by the campaign-based nature of much of the business. This sector pays
8
The UK Contact Centre Industry: A Study: May 2004
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Section 3: Background to research
agents least, and often deals in work which is proven to increase staff attrition: high-volume,
outbound cold calling on a dialler.” 9
It is evident that this is still true in 2008 and that some other sectors, notably finance and IT
suffer high turnover, probably due to structural and economic changes that have affected
those sectors.
The figures shown in Table 3.3 below make it clear that attrition rates have risen
dramatically in all regions. Most of the movement shown in Table 3.2 above is in the
outsourcing sector.
Table 3.3
Region
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
London
West Midlands
North-West
East Midlands
East Anglia
South-East
Yorkshire
South-West
North-East
UK average rate
Annual agent attrition rate by region
Attrition rate 2004
16.7%
19.7%
10.1%
18.3%
14.1%
15.9%
9.7%
13.7%
14.1%
15.1%
16.3%
7.8%
14.5%
Attrition rate 2008
26%
24%
16%
37%
29%
28%
26%
22%
22%
20%
20%
16%
23.9%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry: A study and UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th
Edition), ContactBabel, July 2008.
The DTI report provides further useful data regarding the average length of service for
contact centre agents in different sectors as shown in Table 3.4.
Length of agent service by economic sector
Economic sector
Length of agent service (months)
Telecoms
26
Outsourcing
28
IT
35
Finance
41
Transport and travel
43
Utilities
44
Retail and distribution
46
Public services
51
Average for all sectors
39
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry: A study
Table 3.4
The challenges presented when locating appropriate data sources for replacement demand
in contact centre occupations provide a good indication of the difficulties involved in
9
Ibid
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Section 3: Background to research
tracking detailed employment information about contact centres in general. The problem
arises from two sources in that:
 the relatively recent development of contact centre occupations means that their
inclusion in broader statistical bases has still to be clarified
 the cross-sector nature of the contact centre function combined with choices that
organisations make about outsourcing, in-house operation and off-shoring make it
difficult to build confidence that all employers of contact centre occupations are
included in any statistics.
The high attrition rates recorded in available statistics contrast somewhat with length of
service data from 2004. These figures indicate that contact centres in specific sectors tend
to have longer than average agent service whereas outsourcing and telecoms agents tend to
move on quicker.
Whilst the evidence is not totally clear from available figures, primary research sources
suggest that fewer agents are using the contact centre route solely as a stopgap or stepping
stone before settling on a different career route. To some extent this results from employer
actions with highly developed selection processes seeking to ensure that there is proper
long term commitment.
3.2.6 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) groups
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the first Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC) Codes in 1990 which replaced the Classification of Occupations 1980
(CO80) and the Classification of Occupations and Dictionary of Occupational Titles (CODOT).
The SOC 1990 was revised and updated by ONS to produce SOC 2000.
New codings were introduced in SOC 2000 to reflect changes in patterns of employment
over the previous 10 years. The growth in the number of jobs characterised by employers as
‘customer service’ was one such change and the recognition of customer service as an
occupation at sub major Level 72 as shown in Table 3.5 was a step forwards in terms of
related data collection .
However the ongoing issue of distinguishing between customer service and sales
occupations continues, particularly as much of the data available focuses on major unit
groups bringing sales and customer service together as Unit 7 with no opportunity to gather
alternative data between the two. Once again it should be noted that call centre operators
at 7211 are a subset of the sub major 7200 customer service occupational group.
Table 3.5
© Skills CFA 2010
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The SOC major and sub-major unit group structure of all occupations
Standard Occupational Classification (7) is shown below:
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Section 3: Background to research
Major
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sub major
MANAGERS AND SENIOR OFFICIALS
11
Corporate Managers
12
Managers and proprietors in agricultural services
PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATIONS
21
Science and technology professionals
22
Health professionals
23
Teaching and research professionals
24
Business and public services professionals
ASSOCIATE PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL OCCUPATIONS
31
Science and technology associate professionals
32
Health and social welfare associate professionals
33
Protective service operations
34
Culture, media and sports occupations
35
Business and public services associate professionals
ADMINISTRATIVE AND SECRETARIAL OCCUPATIONS
41
Administrative occupations
42
Secretarial and related occupations
SKILLED TRADES OCCUPATIONS
51
Skilled agricultural trades
52
Skilled metal and electrical trades
53
Skilled construction and building trades
54
Textiles, printing and other skilled trades
PERSONAL SERVICE OCCUPATIONS
61
Caring personal service occupations
62
Leisure and other personal service occupations
SALES AND CUSTOMER SERVICE OCCUPATIONS
71
Sales occupations
72
Customer service occupations
PROCESS, PLANT AND MACHINE OPERATIVES
81
Process, plant and machine operatives
82
Transport and mobile machine drivers and operatives
ELEMENTARY OCCUPATIONS
91
Elementary trades, plant and storage related occupations
92
Elementary administration and service occupations
© Standard Occupational Classification 2000 Volume 1, June 2000
Within the major and sub-major occupational classifications sit the specific occupational
groups for each sub-major group. The occupations underlying group 72 – ‘customer service
occupations’ are shown in Table 3.6 below where Call Centre Agents/Operators are listed at
7211.
Table 3.6
© Skills CFA 2010
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Minor Group Classification for Major Group 7, Customer Service Occupations
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Section 3: Background to research
Major
Group
7
Sub Major Group
Minor Group
71 Sales occupations
72 Customer service
occupations
721 Customer service
occupations
7211 Call centre agents/operators
7212 Customer care occupations
Call centre agents/operators are further described in the SOC 2000 as follows:
“Call centre agents and operators receive telephone calls from potential clients and existing
customers regarding the products and services offered by an organisation.
Typical Entry Routes and Associated Qualifications
There are no formal academic entry requirements, although many employers expect
candidates to possess GCSEs/S grades. Training is typically provided on-the-job,
supplemented by specialist short courses.
Tasks
 answers incoming telephone calls from existing or prospective customers;
 interviews caller to establish the nature of any complaint or the requirements of the
client;
 informs existing and potential customers on any immediate action to be taken, advises
on services available and sells additional products or services;
 maintains details of calls received, the action taken as a result of a call and updates
customer records as required;
 arranges for field staff to visit the caller if further assistance is required.
Related Job Titles
Answer line operator
Sales order clerk
Telephone adviser
This historic view of call centre agents/operators developed for the year 2000 is obviously
very simplistic given the technological changes that have taken place. As this report shows,
numerous models of contact centres have now evolved to meet the many challenges of
service technology and raised customer expectations. However statistical evidence of
contact centre activity continues to be elusive due to lack of higher level positioning within
the SIC and SOC codings. With the development of SOC 2010 four sub groups for contact
centre work have been designated under 72 Customer Service Occupations as shown in
Table 3.7. This is seen as a positive move in terms of greater choice of role. However,
statistical data is still likely to be unavailable with most Government research concentrating
on SIC codes and/or SOC codes at the one, two or three digit level only.
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Section 3: Background to research
Nevertheless what is obvious from this addition is that contact centre work remains firmly
within customer service occupations which reinforces other evidence found in this research
whereby ‘contact centres’ are intrinsically linked to customer service.
Table 3.7
Revision of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2010
Summary of proposed changes to Sales and Customer Service Occupations
SOC
2010
Title
SOC 2000
7
SALES AND CUSTOMER SERVICE OCCUPATIONS
7
71
SALES OCCUPATIONS
71
711
Sales Assistants and Retail Cashiers
711
7111
7112
7113
7114
7115
Sales and retail assistants
Retail cashiers and check-out operators
Telephone salespersons
Pharmacy and other dispensing assistants
Vehicle and parts salespersons and advisers
7111pt
7112pt
7113pt
3217pt, 7111pt
3542pt, 7111pt
712
Sales Related Occupations
712
7121
7122
7123
7124
7125
7129
Collector salespersons and credit agents
Debt, rent and other cash collectors
Roundspersons and van salespersons
Market and street traders and assistants
Merchandisers and window dressers
Sales related occupations n.e.c.
7121
7122
7123
7124
7125
7129
713
Sales supervisors
711
7130
Sales supervisors
7111-3
72
CUSTOMER SERVICE OCCUPATIONS
72
721
Customer Service Occupations
721
7211
7213
7214
7215
7212
Call and contact centre occupations
Telephonists
Communication operators
Market research interviewers
Customer service occupations
7211pt
4141pt
4142
4137
7212pt
722
Customer service managers and supervisors
114pt, 721pt
7220
Customer service managers and supervisors
1142, 7211pt,
7212pt
Source: ONS: REVISION OF THE STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION (SOC); Summary of proposed changes to the major groups. June 2009
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
4.
Contact centres in the wider context
4.1
What is a contact centre?
4.1.1 The criteria for defining a contact centre
For a long time the term call centre tended to be used for operations that were largely
based on telephony and most of all dealt with inbound calls from customers. It is fair to say
that the term ‘call centre’ developed relatively negative connotations with both customers
and employees (and hence potential employees). The term contact centre developed as the
activities undertaken by call centres broadened and the channels of communication which
they use multiplied. More recently, ‘contact centre’ has become the term which is generic
to the sector and encompasses the few operations that are still referred to as ‘call centres’.
So the principal criterion for describing a business operation or part of a business operation
as a ‘contact centre’ is that its main activity involves contact with customers. It is generally
agreed that this includes either inbound or outbound traffic or both and that the channel of
communication is immaterial. However, there is also some agreement that customer
service centres which major on face-to face contact are not seen as ‘contact centres’. An
exception to this may be in the public sector where local authorities in particular often
promote ‘one stop shop’ customer contact centres which include drop in, face to face
services. The size of the operation is immaterial although an arbitrary distinction is
sometimes made to classify centres with fewer than ten operators as ‘mini-centres’ and
subsequently to exclude them from statistics measuring the concentration of staff in a few
large centres.
This report is therefore not suggesting a specific definition of a contact centre. However,
taking into account comments made in all the intelligence sources used, it is reasonable to
suggest that any such definition should include recognition that a contact centre





is a centralised function to deal with contact and communication with customers
employs people in mainly similar roles using structured, process methodology
may use telephony, web, e-mail, post or other channels of communication at a distance
has a minimum of ten staff directly involved in customer contact processes
may deal with inbound or outbound traffic or both.
These criteria would surely satisfy all those in the sector who may need to devise a specific
description or definition. The criteria show a clear match with views expressed during
primary research meetings and outlined in Section 3.2.1 of this report.
4.1.2 Evolution and change
Aspects of the future of contact centres are examined later in this section of the report.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the current criteria that are appropriate for defining a
contact centre are changing constantly and rapidly. Organisations involved are innovating in
relation to distribution, information provision, on-line transactions, service provision and
emergency services contact.
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
In the coming period it will be important, therefore, not to be as restrictive with the
meaning of ‘contact centre’ as earlier was the case with the use of the term ‘call centre’.
4.2
Contact centres and the information explosion
4.2.1 Contact centres as a complement to on-line services
Many of the organisations operating contact centres also offer on-line service delivery.
Constant re-evaluation of investment in these two differing channels of service delivery is a
feature of many larger organisations as they seek to gain competitive or public recognition
advantage by making access and delivery easier for customers. Purely in terms of cost
effectiveness, the need for human intervention in a contact centre transaction will always
make that method more costly. However, that is rarely seen as the sole reason for choosing
to provide service through a particular channel. Increasingly, the sheer volume of
information that can be made available to customers is influencing decisions about the way
service is delivered.
4.2.2 The need for human contact
Making more information available to customers on-line also involves greater complexity of
website design and the need for increasingly sophisticated navigation through the site. This
in turn increases the likelihood of a customer needing to have a direct conversation to
achieve their service aims. There are clear indications that in the future automation
especially through voice recognition systems will increase. However, for the foreseeable
future, there are equally clear indications that customer expectations, partly simply through
personal preference, will be to deal with a person. The balance of these trends has clear
implications for skills needs within contact centres in the foreseeable future.
4.3
Factors influencing changing customer expectations of contact centres
4.3.1 Links with general customer service developments
The LMI 10 in customer service identifies key factors influencing changing customer service
expectations. Those changes are supported by commentaries on customer expectations
recorded in that report and include:
“The trend of rising skills required to do jobs seen since the 1990s may be expected to
continue as a result of … the increasing tendency of consumers to demand products and
services tailored to their individual needs” 11
“Today’s customer ‘wow’ is tomorrow’s ‘what I’m now expecting’” 12
10
Customer Service Employment and Skills, now and the future, ICS, 2008.
Skills in the Global Economy, DfES, 2004
12
Carnival UK, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
11
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
“Increasingly what customers need from us [local councils] is a bespoke service and so this
idea that we need set processes that work every time just falls down again and again
because the individual customer needs a bespoke service.” 13
“Public services have to be refocused around the needs of the customer not the problems of
those who provide the service.” 14
“20 years ago 65% of people thought that those in charge knew what was best for them.
Now less than 20% feel this.” 15
“It used to be that a dissatisfied customer would tell 10 other people whereas now, using the
Internet, it’s probably thousands.” 16
“In 1978, 61% of UK jobs were in services. By 2005 this had risen to 82%.” 17
“It is increasingly apparent that producers of goods or services who fail to adapt to the
changing global environment are less likely to succeed in the 21st Century.15 18
These views of customer service are clearly significant for contact centres and are driving
change as well as other influences described below. It is inevitable that the development
and direction taken by customer service will continue to influence many aspects of
occupations in the contact centre sector.
4.3.2 Economic influences
The economic factors influencing the development of contact centres include:
 an increasingly service-led UK economy (over 70% of UK GDP and 80% of UK





employment is service based)
increasing concentration of distribution and service industries into larger organisations
that can support contact centre operations
global business developments which mean that organisations are not restricted by
national boundaries
the need to cater effectively for customer expectations for consistent reliable customer
service that are transferred across national boundaries
national economic pressures to produce growth in the service sectors to replace the
economic contribution of the manufacturing and other sectors of the economy
economic pressures favouring off-shoring for some contact centre operations where
the quality of service can be maintained
13
London Borough of Haringey, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
Tony Blair when Prime Minister, New Year Message, 2003
15
Ipsos MORI, 2007
16
ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
17
National Statistics Office, 2005
18
M. Milakovich, Improving Service Quality in a Global Economy. CRC Press, 2006
14
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
4.3.3 Social influences
Changing social and customer behaviour patterns that could influence contact centre
developments include:
 a more assertive stance by customers requiring more of service suppliers
 changes in the way people do business with a wide range of service providers because
of increased use of on-line services especially in information gathering, booking services
and retailing
 ongoing increase in the use of debit and credit cards rather than cash and cheques
making contact centre transactions more possible
 increasing access to broadband connection in domestic premises enabling people to
transact business involving contact centres around the clock.
4.3.4 Technological influences
Contact centre services by their very nature involve significant reliance on technology.
Technological developments that will continue to influence contact centres include:
 rapid advances in communications technology enabling multimedia contact with
customers round the clock and wherever they are
 information security developments combating the financial and identity risks involved
in transacting business on-line
 advances in automated response systems especially using voice recognition reducing
the demand for operator time when dealing with calls.
4.3.5 International influences
Contact centres are spread worldwide and are thus subject to a range of international
influences including:
 ongoing debate about the benefits and drawbacks of ‘off-shoring’ contact centre
operations
 the increasingly global acceptance of common customer service skill sets needed by
front-line staff
 a common understanding about the importance of customer service across industries
and countries
 the acceptance and relevance of the UK National Occupational Standards in Customer
Service.
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
4.4
Industry Groupings
4.4.1 Introduction
The Contact Centre sector has emerged and developed as an identifiable occupational group
quite quickly. For whatever reasons, the growth pattern has been accompanied by the
emergence of many trade associations and groupings. The approach and objectives of those
organisations naturally vary. However, they provide a platform for dealing with matters of
mutual interest and sharing best practice in areas where members are not in direct
competition.
This section of the report is not intended to provide a comprehensive list of all such
organisations and their members or to be in any way evaluative about the services they
provide. The topic is addressed here by outlining the profile of just four organisations as
examples. The nature of these organisations is clearly relevant to labour markets in the
sector as each one of them becomes involved especially with the HR and training functions
as well as operations managers from the sector. For future reference, particularly in
connection with qualifications strategy and other sequels to the LMI reports, the
associations may well be seen as an important source of representative information about
the sector providing they are willing to share the information they have.
4.4.2 Example 1 – The Welsh Contact Centre Forum
Information available on www.callcentrewales.com indicates that the Forum deals with all
different sizes of contact centre regarding benchmarking, networking, new ideas and
innovations. The Forum also offers help and advice to members on employment and
recruitment matters. The methods used for sharing this information include:






workshops and seminars
an annual conference
an awards competition and ceremony
training courses
on-line benchmarking information available only to members
helpline information and support.
These services are available to the corporate membership and are coordinated by a small
staff team.
An example of the Forum’s industry role was a research project undertaken on behalf of
International Business Wales analysing contact centre activity in Wales in June 2007. The
information in that report has contributed to the regional trends traced elsewhere in this
report and provides valuable referral data to underpin more detailed future actions.
The Forum’s commitment to the sector was demonstrated by the part it played in
coordinating and publicising the ICS focus group activity included in the primary research for
this report. The ICS would like to acknowledge the help and support given by the Forum in
this regard.
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
4.4.3 Example 2 – CallNorthWest
The establishment of CallNorthWest was sponsored by the Northwest Regional
Development Agency and the University of Central Lancashire in 2003. The organisation
aims to support the call and contact centre sector in the North-West of England. As a
networking organisation, the main focus of its activities is around




regional networking to develop, identify and share good practice
training and development
identifying industry knowledge and understanding needs
developing industry image and challenging negative perceptions about employment in
the sector.
The organisation pursues these aims through training, awards and general discussion
events. In addition, it reports annually on an overview of contact centres in the region. The
latest available report for 2008 has been used for regional analysis elsewhere in this report.
There are in the order of 120 corporate members of CallNorthWest as reported on the
website www.callnorthwest.org.uk
Once again, the information held by this organisation provides a valuable further source of
detail for future extensions of the LMI project. The organisation’s commitment to the
industry was demonstrated by the support and assistance it provided to the ICS in
organising a focus group to contribute to primary research for this project. The ICS
acknowledges and thanks CallNorthWest for that support.
4.4.4 Example 3 - South West Contact Centre Forum
The South West Contact Centre Forum was formed relatively recently modelled on other
regional organisations. Growth of contact centre employment in the region resulted in a
realisation that a number of employers share an interest in skills and employment trends.
The Forum seeks to make contact centres heard and to influence the shape of the industry
in the South West.
The organisation offers services to members that include:







industry updates at regional and national levels
advice and mechanisms for networking within the contact centre industry
conferences, seminars and special interest meetings
help-desk advice and information
benchmarking models
access to supply chain information
regular best practice events and workshops.
The South West Contact Centre Forum as a relative newcomer showed its commitment to
the industry by helping the ICS to assemble a focus group as primary research for this
project the ICS acknowledges and thanks the Forum for that help.
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
4.4.5 Example 4 – The Contact Centre Association
The Contact Centre Association bases its membership offer on the implementation of the
CCA Global Standard, an organisational accreditation demonstrating the meeting of
performance standards. The standards were developed in partnership with a number of
large organisations and represent an insight into the way big brands deliver customer
service through contact centres.
The CCA website reports that over 250 contact centres out of the estimated 5,300 in the UK
have successfully implemented the CCA Global Standard and their website lists 112
accredited member organisations.
The Association was established in 1996 as an independent organisation and in May 2004
had over 600 corporate members from the public and private sectors across the UK. It
offers individual training as well as organisational accreditation. The organisation
commissions and carries out industry research to develop the pool of independent industry
knowledge on employment, technical and location matters.
The Contact Centre Association did not participate in the consultation process for this
report. However, it is believed that a number of its member organisations were
represented in the primary research focus groups. The membership also displays significant
overlap with the ContactBabel subscription list from which many industry statistics have
been drawn for this report.
4.5
Contact centres and the future
4.5.1 Customer service trends
The report 19 outlines findings about employer views of:
 changes in customer behaviour and customer expectations
 expectations about further changes in the future.
Employers report that they are experiencing fundamental changes in customer behaviour
and customer expectations. These changes can be summarised as follows:
Customers are no longer willing to be the passive recipients of service standards with which
they are unhappy. Similarly the inertia which in the past was assumed to stop customers
taking their business elsewhere has reduced significantly: there is a far greater willingness,
particularly but by no means exclusively among the young, to switch suppliers in cases of
dissatisfaction. Customers are also far more vocal in sharing their dissatisfaction with
others, including through use of the internet
19
Customer Service Employment and Skills, Now and in the Future, Institute of Customer Service (ICS), 2008
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“The biggest change I’ve noticed is that customers are much more aware of what they want
and expect and much more prepared to fight for it to the extent of involving outside
organisations and bodies for support when they don’t feel they are getting the right
treatment” 20
“Customers are much more willing to challenge things. I think this is to do with them being
more secure financially and their basic needs met” 21
“In the business-to-business environment, expectations have risen significantly partly driven
by the standards which business customers expect themselves as consumers outside work
and partly because, having put effort into improving their own customer service, they expect
their suppliers to do the same” 22
“ Financial services customers are grasping the idea that you can move bank, insurance
company or whatever – this has had a huge impact on the service drive because now our
customers use their biggest weapon, which is to vote with their feet” 23
“Customers are more demanding for example for round-the-clock access time and faster
response times. This is coupled with less willingness to wait”. “Their expectations are a lot
higher and I believe a lot of us deal with the fact that people travel in the world, they’re on
the internet, they can see what best practice is and they want that best practice in their own
back yard” 24
Customers are less tolerant and far more willing to complain all or most of time if
dissatisfied. “In the period 2004 to 2006, there has been a 10% increase in the willingness of
customers to complain where they think this is justified” 25
Customers are more likely to make cross-sector comparisons
“Our customers compare our service delivery with what they get from the local Boots and
the local Post Office. They don’t care that we’re the local council – they’ve got expectations
of what service they should get anywhere” 26
“If customers ring a contact centre and they take a long time to answer, customers don’t
compare them with another contact centre in that market – they compare them with all
contact centres” 27
Customers have a greater desire for tailored products and services
“There’s a very big drive – certainly in our part of the financial services industry – for
customers to want to set the agenda to almost determine their own terms and conditions” 28
20
Carnival UK, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
22
DHL, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
23
Lloyds TSB,, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
24
Northern Ireland Railways, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
25
National Complaints Culture Survey, TMI/ICS, 2006
26
London Borough of Haringey, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
27
ICS Employer Focus Group 2007
21
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Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
Employers expect customer expectations to continue to rise and that organisations will
need to focus on keeping up with and preferably exceeding, those expectations. Employers
also see the need for additional interventions, for example:
 involving customers much more in the development of products and services
 enhancing customers’ emotional engagement with their organisation
 educating and informing customers better.
“I do think that customers will develop products more and more rather than organisations.
We’ve got a chat room on our website where we encourage customers to talk to each other
and we have taken information from that chat environment and developed our products or
our services in light of what they say … and you get comments back – “they listen, they’ve
done it” … and they’ve given us credit for that … and I do think that customers will be
dictating what they want from organisations more and more” 29
“It’s how to develop intelligent customers and not just provide products that waste money or
encourage poor behaviour, thinking about the longer term environmental or other issues –
and that will continue to be a challenge, I think, for the foreseeable future” 30
“What’s changing is the relationship between the service provider and the customer. The
customer is driving that relationship much more and will increasingly do so to the point at
which there will be a blur almost between who is the customer in this relationship.” 31
“Competition is the big word in our part of the world and what will really define financial
services, particularly the banks, will be how you deliver service – it won’t be your products, or
even your rates – it will now genuinely be how you deliver those to the customer” 32
Some employers welcome the continuing challenges:
“I embrace customers’ expectations rising because I think it’s the life force that drives us to
be a better and successful organisation and therefore more profitable, or whatever it is that
signifies” 33
4.5.2 Contact centre trends
Largely as a result of the rapid pace of change of communication methods and their
associated technology, trends in contact centres are hard to predict into the future. There
are many predictions which are by their nature speculative but some patterns emerge which
will provide guidance on the skills needs of the sector as it develops. Trends that are
already evident provide the best indicators for likely directions in the future.
28
Ibid
ICS Employer Focus Group 2007
30
DHL, ICS Employer Focus Group 2007The British Council, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
31
The British Council, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
32
Lloyds TSB, ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
33
ICS Employer Focus Group, 2007
29
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 4: Contact centres in the wider context
The most evident change that is taking place is the move towards self-service. As a
complement to their contact centre services, many organisations are simultaneously
developing their on-line or automated telephony systems. Self service through either of
these routes without human intervention is designed to give customers what they want
quickly and directly. It is generally recognised that when complications come into the
transaction it may be appropriate to offer human contact.
Some organisations are seeking to personalise self-service with the use of avatars (on-line,
virtual representatives). There are also developments which involve a contact centre
operator dealing with multiple customers by ‘supervising’ the activities of avatars and
directing the service route when necessary. Although these developments are relatively
recent, it is clear that organisations will continue to explore the options as they present
opportunities for significant reductions in cost of service delivery through a reduction in the
number of contact centre operators.
From the customer’s point of view, increased access to broadband and increased familiarity
with self-service processes is likely to reduce the number of occasions on which a
transaction involves contact with a person in an organisation. Younger customers in
particular are expected to embrace these developments but it is generally recognised that
all customer expectations will continue to rise. This is likely to lead to a demand for choice
in the way contact is made with an organisation even if that involves variation of the service
offer and price of each route.
The predicted outcome of these changes is that service involving contact centres will
increasingly be split between self-service and personal contact centre support. What this
split would mean for the organisation of contact centre operations remains to be seen but
there would clearly need to be a high level of coordination between front line contact staff
and back office functions.
All of these factors in turn beg questions about skills requirements in the future. It is
generally recognised and predicted that skills requirements for contact centre
operators/agents will always involve customer service and people skills. However, it is
generally expected that straightforward transactions will be dealt with through self-service.
The consequence of this will inevitably be that operators/agents will tend to deal solely with
the more complex enquiries. This in turn raises the knowledge and skills demand of the job
and implies that a greater proportion of jobs in the sector will be at a higher level. In this
and other aspects the nature and extent of change is unknown but it appears certain that
there will continue to be significant and rapid change.
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Section 5. Contact centre occupations
5.
Contact centre occupations
5.1
Contact centre occupational structures
As with any occupational sector, there is no single structure that can be applied to all
contact centres. However, there are broad categories and job titles which are generally
recognised across the industry in that in addition to the operators/agents which comprise
the largest occupational category most contact centres have:
 operations and client managers who are responsible for the strategy and organisation





of the centre and planning resource use and are also the external face of the centre for
client organisations (or departments of their own organisation) on whose behalf the
centre is operating
team leaders who generally work alongside their colleagues but also take supervisory
responsibility for team performance, coaching and work allocation
key support managers in IT, HR and training roles who provide the infrastructure on
which successful team and agent performance depends
senior agents who are experienced staff in a particular centre who undertake regular
operator duties and may also take on mentoring and coaching duties with new agents
new agents who undertake limited operator duties and are still part of a learning
process related to the specifics of a centre and/or customer service skills
agents with specialist monitoring roles dealing with quality assurance by sampling of
transactions and/or processing more complex customer enquiries and complaints.
While all of these functions are dealt with in different contact centres, they may not be
grouped in exactly the same way into separate occupations.
5.2
Operator/agent occupations
These occupations are the mainstay of the sector and the job count by which the size of a
centre is generally measured. Most of the jobs involve direct voice contact with customers
with a few dealing mainly or solely with on-line or written enquiries. The skills and
knowledge required for these occupations can be grouped into two key sets as
 customer service skills covering the way in which agents relate to people and
understand the organisation’s preferred approach to customers
 specific product and service knowledge and skills relating to what the organisation
offers and how its delivery systems work.
It is recognised that the skills levels required for these roles differ considerably from centre
to centre and also that they are changing as the level of self-service intrudes on current
personal contact systems. What is clear is that an accepted wisdom that ‘call centre’ jobs
are repetitive and unskilled is now dated and in most cases the required skill levels are
rising. This trend makes the tracking of changes in number of jobs over time more difficult
as less skilled jobs disappear but more highly skilled jobs are created.
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Section 5. Contact centre occupations
The simple grouping of operator/agent jobs should not be allowed to mask the considerable
variations in those jobs. Both the nature of the organisation’s business and the activities of
individual job holders make for very different jobs with generic themes of customer service
and specific service provision.
At an organisational level, contact centres are operated to provide services for retailers,
financial service providers, emergency services, IT help-lines, travel services, Government
departments and social support such as the Samaritans. At an individual job level agents
may be expected to sell, provide product information, talk customers through regulatory
requirements, deal with emergencies, provide personal counselling or give after sales
support. The variety at both levels presents challenges to anybody seeking to develop skills
that may adapt to a range of different jobs in the sector.
5.3
Senior operator/agent and managerial positions
Excluding mini-centres, it is estimated that the mean size of a UK contact centre is 123 agent
positions34. Inevitably, organisations of this size require structure and defined
responsibilities. Management structures draw on hierarchical and flat models and roles are
defined accordingly. Across the industry work teams are the basic unit of organisation and
so the team leader role has particular significance. Generally, the team leader role involves
a higher than average knowledge and skill set relating to the specific business of the
organisation but also includes generic team leader skill sets.
The other grouping that is common to most contact centres is a set of roles relating to the
monitoring and quality assurance functions. These roles are held mainly by experienced
operators who have progressed into the role sometimes through a team leader route and
sometimes simply as a result of extensive experience in the agent role. The data recording,
collation and analysis needed for these jobs tend to separate them from other roles.
The gender of management positions in contact centres shown in Table 5.1 below shows a
significantly higher rate for males in IT roles whereas females appear more in HR and
training manager roles.
Table 5.1
Management gender in contact centres
Job title
% male
Contact centre manager
50%
Contact centre IT manager
89%
HR manager
34%
Training manager
38%
Source: DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study, ContactBabel
34
% female
50%
11%
66%
62%
UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th Edition), ContactBabel, July 2008.
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 5. Contact centre occupations
5.4
The contact centre workforce
5.4.1 Contact centre job roles
The structure and balance of employment within contact centres naturally varies but it is
possible to trace certain patterns. It has already been noted that measuring the numbers of
agents in contact centres is a good way of gauging overall employment in that generally
there is approximately one support post for two agent posts. There is little research
evidence available to locate precise numbers across the industry but the results of one
study were included in the 2004 DTI report and are shown in Table 5.2 below.
Table 5.2
Employment of contact centre staff by job role
Job role
% of contact centre workers
Sales advisor – inexperienced
10%
Customer service advisor – inexperienced
17%
Sales advisor - experienced
19%
Customer service advisor - experienced
36%
Sales team leader
3%
Customer service team leader
5%
Product specialist
2%
Coach
2%
Resource scheduling manager
1%
Contact centre manager
2%
New entrant (pre-training)
2%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and E-skills UK 2003 Contact Centre Survey
It can be seen in this study that the proportion of agents to managers is higher than the 2:1
ratio identified elsewhere. However, it should be noted that these statistics do not include
a range of other support functions which would form a normal part of any sizeable
organisation.
5.4.2 Full and part time jobs and gender of agents
The quantitative analysis of employment in the contact centre sector faces major challenges
of variable results drawn from different sources. Wherever possible in this report all
available sources are quoted and the commentary reflects an interpretation of the true
picture.
Table 5.3
Call centre agents and operators by full time and part time staff
Full Time
Part Time
April – June
000s
%
000s
%
2002
56
72
22
28
2003
56
73
21
27
2004
70
75
23
25
2005
63
72
24
27
2006
80
71
31
28
2007
71
68
33
32
2008
68
71
28
29
2009
61
73
23
27
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey, Employment status by occupation and sex April 2002 – June 2009
© Skills CFA 2010
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Page 30 of 115
Total
000s
78
77
93
88
112
104
96
84
Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 5. Contact centre occupations
The ONS data in Table 5.3 above shows a reasonably consistent picture of a 70:30 split of
full and part time employment. It also indicates a significant decline in numbers from 2006
to 2009. However, this trend will be questioned when set alongside other sources.
Once again, the ONS returns show a relatively consistent pattern of 40:60, male : female
employees in contact centres as shown in Table 5.4 overleaf.
Table 5.4
Call centre agents and operators by gender
Male
Female
April – June
000s
%
000s
2002
24
31
54
2003
29
38
48
2004
31
33
62
2005
37
42
51
2006
44
39
67
2007
36
35
68
2008
37
39
59
2009
39
46
46
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey, Employment status by occupation and sec April 2002 – June 2009
%
69
62
67
58
60
65
61
55
Total
000s
78
77
93
88
112
104
96
84
Table 5.5 is drawn from the DTI 2004 report 35 and provides supporting evidence of the
gender split
Table 5.5
Contact centre employee gender
Type of employee
Average tenure (months)
% female
Customer contact employees
32
69%
Team Leader / First line supervisor
43
63%
Manager
56
64%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and CCA/Sheffield University - “Human resource management in
Call Centres”
These figures confirm the higher proportion of female employees close to the 40:60
proportion shown above. This research however revealed an even higher predominance of
female employees overall, indicating that at operator/agent level proportions are even
greater. There is no immediately available data to confirm more recent observations of
these proportions
These figures can be compared with the broader sub major group of customer service
occupations as shown in the Table 5.6 below.
35
DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and CCA/Sheffield University - “Human resource management in Call Centres”
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 5. Contact centre occupations
Table: 5.6
All customer service employment full-time/part-time and male/female analysis by UK countries
April 2008 to March 2009
United Kingdom
Sub major group: customer
service occupations
Number
All employed
England
per
cent
per
cent
Number
414,900
Wales
per
cent
Number
16,900
Scotland
per
cent
Number
341,500
Northern Ireland
per
cent
Number
16,500
17,600
All employed full-time
278,200
67%
228,400
67%
10,400
59%
32,600
70%
6,800
72%
All employed part-time
136,700
33%
113,100
33%
7,100
40%
13,800
30%
2,700
28%
Males employed full-time
116,900
28%
92,800
27%
5,000
28%
14,900
32%
4,200
44%
Males employed part-time
26,300
6%
21,300
6%
1,200
7%
3,000
6%
800
8%
Females employed full-time
161,300
39%
135,600
40%
5,400
31%
17,700
38%
2,600
27%
Females employed part-time
110,400
27%
91,800
27%
5,900
34%
10,800
23%
1,900
20%
Source: ONS annual population survey - online workplace analysis, NOMIS December 2009
Totals may only add up to 99 per cent owing to rounding errors.
The statistics suggest that the pattern of full and part time working in contact centres is
close to the national average for customer service as a whole. The same is also true of the
gender split although it would appear that the proportion of males in contact centres is
nearly around 35 per cent higher.
However, recent figures in Table 5.7 overleaf show that part time jobs are more evenly
distributed between the genders within contact centres than in customer service as a
whole.
Table: 5.7
All contact centre employment full-time/part-time and male/female
April 2005 to June 2009
Apr – June 2006
Sub major group: customer service
occupations
per
cent
000
All employed
112
Apr – June 2007
per
cent
000
104
Apr – June 2008
per
cent
000
Apr – June 2009
000
per cent
97
84
All employed full-time
80
71%
71
68%
68
70%
61
73%
All employed part-time
31
28%
33
32%
28
29%
23
27%
Males employed full-time
39
35%
30
29%
30
31%
28
Males employed part-time
*
*
*
*
*
*
11
Females employed full-time
41
37%
41
39%
38
39%
33
39%
Females employed part-time
26
23%
27
26%
22
34%
12
14%
33%
13%
Source:ONS Labour Force Survey: Employment Status by Occupation and Sex: April 2005 to June 2009
* Sample size too small for reliable estimate.
The independent estimates of employment in the sector produced by ContactBabel differ
significantly from the ONS statistics shown in Table 5.7 above. Its ‘State of the Industry
2008 36’ report estimates that there are some 638,000 agent positions in 5,180 contact
centres in the UK. These figures are not analysed by full/part time or gender and are
estimates extrapolated from the database containing details of some 65% of the total
number of centres in the UK.
36
UK Contact Centres in 2008, The State of the Industry (6th Edition), ContactBabel, July 2008.
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Section 5. Contact centre occupations
If these figures are seen as more realistic estimates of total numbers in the industry, it is
reasonable to assume that the proportions reported by the ONS data are representative of
the sector as a whole. That assumption would lead to sector employment figures as shown
in Table 5.8.
Table 5.8
Estimated UK contact centre agent employment using ONS proportions and ContactBabel figures
Contact centre employment
000s
%
All employed
638
100%
All employed full time
447
70%
All employed part time
185
29%
Males employed full time
198
31%
Males employed part time
*
*
Females employed full time
249
39%
Females employed part time
217
34%
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey: Employment Status by Occupation and Sex: April 2007 to June 2008 percentage results
applied to ContactBabel employment figures, July 2008
These significant numbers dwarf the estimates of all customer service occupations
employment held by the ONS. The apparent discrepancy results from a continuing problem
with classification and definition of these occupations. In particular, there is an issue with
contact centre posts that exist within organisations in many sectors as opposed to contact
centre posts in organisations that are solely dedicated to contact centre activities. In
addition, data for 2009 would have been preferable but not available during the production
of this report.
5.4.3 Age profile
Figure 5.1 below illustrates that the percentage of young people aged 16 – 24 is significantly
higher in sales and customer service than all other occupational groups at 39 per cent.
Proportion of people by occupation and age - UK Wide
Figure 5.1
60+/65+
45 - 59/64
35 - 44
25 - 34
16 - 24
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Managers Professional
Ass.
Admin. and Skilled
Personal
and senior
occs. professional secretarial trades occs. service
officials
& technical
occs.
Sales and Process, Elementary
occs.
Customer plant and
Service
machine
occs.
ops.
Source: Analysis in brief, employment by occupation and industry, ONS, Labour Market Trends, June 2004
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Section 5. Contact centre occupations
The ContactBabel database does not contain information about the age profile of
employees. However, extrapolating the proportions for all customer service occupations, it
is reasonable to assume that the agent numbers in each age group would be approximately
as shown in Table 5.9 below.
Table 5.9
Estimated contact centre agent numbers by age group
Age group
% in customer service
occupations
39
17
18
20
6
estimated agent numbers (000s)
16 – 24
25 – 34
35 – 44
45 – 59/64
60+/65+
Total
Source: ICS extrapolation and analysis of Contact Babel data using ONS customer service age band proportions
249
108
115
128
38
638
Table 5.10 below shows other, somewhat dated figures available from the DTI but together
with evidence from focus groups and site visits the DTI report indicates that there are
several key groups of employees who are agents. The first of those groups is young women
under 30 who may not have higher education qualifications but have significant length of
service in the industry. There are some young men in the same category but they are not
represented in such large numbers. A second group is made up of returning workers and
those looking for a new start after structural redundancy. This brings in a more mature age
group which raises the overall average age profile. The third group consists of students and
new graduates who may not be seeing long-term prospects in the industry.
Table 5.10
Average age of contact centre agents, by economic sector
Economic sector
Average age
Business services
27
Consumer products
29
Distribution and transport
29
Entertainment and leisure
24
Financial services
27
Food and drink
32
Healthcare
24
Information Technology
28
Retail
29
Telecoms/cable
26
Travel/tourism
25
Utilities
31
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and Merchants International Call Centre Benchmarking Report 2000
5.4.3 Ethnicity
No data for sub major occupational groups was found for ethnicity in customer service or
contact centre occupations; therefore for the purpose of this section of the report sales and
customer service occupations have been used alongside all major groups.
Analysis from the ONS Annual Population Survey April 06-March 07 and the Raw Data
available in this survey37 shows that sales and customer service occupations have the
highest ethnic participation of all major occupational groups in the UK at 11 per cent.
37
Customer Service employment and skills, Appendix 20, ICS, 2008
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Section 5. Contact centre occupations
In addition sales and customer service occupations have the highest ethnic participation in
England at 12 per cent. This pattern is repeated in Wales and Scotland (both at 4 per cent);
however, ethnic participation in professional occupations also reaches 4 per cent in these
two countries. In Northern Ireland, elementary occupations have the highest ethnic
participation at 3 per cent.
For each ethnic group the raw data 38 shows that sales and customer service occupations in
the UK have a participation of:





3 per cent for Indian
3 per cent for ‘other’
2 per cent for Pakistani/Bangladeshi
2 per cent for ‘black’
1 percent for ‘mixed’.
This pattern is replicated in England but varies in the other three UK countries.
The overall percentages of ethnicity in the UK for all major groups are as follows:








Sales and customer service 11 per cent
Professional occupations 10 per cent
Elementary occupations 9 per cent
Personal service occupations 9 per cent
Associated professional and technical occupations 8 per cent
Process, plant and machine operatives 8 per cent
Administrative and secretarial occupations 7 per cent
Skilled trades occupations 5 per cent.
Although sales and customer service has higher than average ethnic participation across the
UK, it is not possible to identify customer service or contact centres separately which would
give a more accurate picture.
Major group 'sales and customer service' by ethnicity and UK Countries
Table: 5.11
Ethnic Group
All
United Kingdom
per
Number
cent
2168000
England
per
Number
cent
Scotland
per
Number
cent
1802800
198500
Wales
Number
per
cent
Northern Ireland
per
Number
cent
106400
60300
White
1931700
89%
1580000
88%
189600
96%
102300
Mixed
22000
1%
20600
1%
500
0%
~
96%
59900
Indian
60000
3%
57700
3%
2100
1%
Pakistani/Bangladeshi
45000
2%
40200
2%
3700
2%
1100
1%
!
Black
51300
2%
50100
3%
~
700
1%
!
Other Ethnic Group
57300
3%
53800
3%
1900
1%
1600
2%
!
99%
!
!
!
- These figures are missing.
! Estimate and confidence interval not available since the group sample size is zero or disclosive (0-2)
~ Estimate is less than 500
Source: ONS Annual population survey, Table: T15 Employment by occupation and ethnic group, online November 2007
38
Ibid
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Section 6: Contact centre and customer service skills
6
Contact centre and customer service skills
6.1
Contact centre agent jobs
In common with many organisations and occupations, contact centre jobs have a customer
service element requiring particular skill sets and another element involving technical and
product or service knowledge and skills. For most contact centre agents the job involves the
skills of handling a software system and a telephony system. This very specific skill set is
normally limited to the organisation although if, for example, it involves a Microsoft
Windows system, agents may come to it with some previous experience.
Product and service knowledge is by definition unique to a particular operation. However if,
for example, the centre is responding to IT helpline calls, agents may be expected to have a
high level of IT expertise when entering the job. The same may be true of financial skills in
finance sector contact centres. Thus there will always be varying levels of technical demand
on agents subject to the business of the centre and the technology used.
The customer service content of contact centre agents’ jobs can be seen as much more
generic. Regardless of the communication channels being used, customer service skills are
needed and this has been demonstrated through the significant take-up of customer service
qualifications by contact centres as evidenced elsewhere in this report. The ability to deal
effectively with customers in a wide range of situations as set out in the Customer Service
NOS units is clearly one aspect of the agent’s role. These competences are at the heart of
contact centre agent roles but it is not possible to quantify their importance alongside other
skill sets. Rather it is the balance between each essential skill set for a contact centre agent
that may vary somewhat according to the nature of the business in question.
6.2
Employer views on skills needs
The ContactBabel ‘UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide - 2009’ sought the views of a
random sample of 200 contact centres on a wide range of topics. Managers were asked to
rank in order of preference a list of attributes or characteristics that they would most
require in a contact centre agent. The three most popular choices were:
 empathy with customers
 reliability
 being a team player.
It is interesting to note that no mention is made of ICT skills and that the possession of
complex technical or product knowledge ranks as the third least important attribute in the
opinion of managers see Figure 6.1 below.
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Section 6: Contact centre and customer service skills
Figure 6.1
Source: UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide, ContactBabel, -2009
ICS focus group participants drawn from both operational roles and training functions were
asked to define the skills that are most business critical to the sector. As always with the
need to label and classify skills, this brought a mixed response from which common threads
can be collated.
Above all, the research showed that moving responsibility for the contact centre standards
into the customer service arena will certainly be seen as most appropriate by the industry.
Priority skills that were identified all had a focus on people and the ‘soft’ skills rather than
technology skills that have previously been at the heart of contact centre standards and
qualifications. It should be noted that most of those participating were viewing contact
centres from a telephony base and that considerably more and wider research will be
needed when the contact centre NOS units are next reviewed.
The main findings about the skills seen as business critical for contact centre operational
staff were as follows
 communication skills are seen as top priority regardless of the communication channel
being used
 people skills which include influencing, negotiating, life skills and active listening are all
seen as a central part of the agent’s role
 technical skills to operate the communication technology are important but can readily
and easily be developed during an induction process
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Section 6: Contact centre and customer service skills
 knowledge and skills needed to navigate the software are seen as important but, once
again, as an area that can be developed once in post
 as well as more generic management skills, senior posts require expertise in resource
planning and IT architecture
 the ability to empathise with the life experience of customers is seen as important but
not necessarily as something that can be developed through training (this is something
that is sometimes characterised as emotional intelligence)
 the contribution to teamwork especially through coaching and support of colleagues is
particularly important for those seeking additional responsibility.
These skills areas provide clear indication of the labour market requirements of contact
centres which then indicate how employers see skills shortages and gaps. Once again, there
is evidence that customer and people skills are a higher priority than technical know-how.
However, a very detailed analysis of these skills will be needed for any revision of the
contact centre NOS.
It may be concluded therefore that, because of the match between these preferences and
customer service principles as defined by the Customer Service NOS, customer service plays
a very large part in contact centre agent jobs. However, it is equally important to recognise
that there are other elements to the skills and knowledge sets required for these jobs.
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
7.
Contact Centres and Skills Shortages
7.1
Primary research evidence of skills shortages
Participants in focus groups were asked questions about skills shortages and their effects on
recruitment in order to:
 identify any shortages
 comment on whether the situation was improving or worsening
 identify effective strategies for dealing with the shortages.
Subject to some understandable regional variations, there was a very significant level of
agreement about shortages that are being experienced. Some of the discussion revolved
around the unquantifiable aspect of the public image of contact centres. There was general
agreement that the term contact centre has less negative connotations than in the past for
potential employees. Some organisations have chosen to rename their operation as a
‘customer service centre’. However, overall it is believed that extending the length of
service by many staff is contributing to the image of contact centre jobs as more stable and
long lasting.
Some consultees stress that improved control over skills shortages results from the
reputation of the individual organisation. Where, locally, an organisation builds a strong
reputation as an employer, both recruitment agency referrals and general word of mouth
contribute to a level of interest drawing those with the right skills towards the organisation.
Organisations therefore devise and use strategies to promote themselves as employer of
first choice among the groups who are most likely to possess the skills that are needed.
It is generally agreed that all these trends are also subject to the economic cycle and the
general level of unemployment. Whilst outside of the control of individual employers, this
factor clearly influences the availability of labour. At the time of this research,
unemployment was high and still rising resulting in an increased level of applications for all
contact centre employers. However, this in turn causes concern if it simply results in a
reduction in the quality of applicants. Participants agree that to some extent this has been
the case during the recent economic downturn but that there is a balance with a greater
number of good quality applicants as well.
Another difficult employment balance to measure is that between an essentially transient
workforce and those seeking a much more permanent career path. In so far as employers
prefer the latter (in some cases, employment for the defined period of a campaign or
contract is mutually beneficial) they report an increase in numbers who are seeking longer
term employment. The debate also becomes entangled with the question of employing
recent graduates. Some employers believe that contact centre jobs with more complex
technical demands are more appropriate for those with a degree. Others believe that a
degree in itself is very little indication of skill level and that, as such, is irrelevant. However,
in relation to skills shortages the research did not indicate any shortages of graduates
prepared to consider contact centre jobs.
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
In relation to recruitment strategies for agents, many participants reported that they
undertake demanding assessment centre activity before appointment. Employers complain
about the tendency to drop out of agreed assessment centre commitments with the
consequent cost of arranging such events for very small numbers. Nevertheless, overall
they see the strategy of making significant demands on applicants as being a good
investment to find employees who are more likely to become established.
Another strategy that employers see as particularly successful is to increase the offer of
flexible working. With ever more sophisticated methods of call volume monitoring and
resource planning, together with more 24/7 customer demand on different types of contact
centre, flexible working can be accommodated and is very appealing to many applicants.
Specialist areas picked out for mention as skills shortages were in relation to posts for:
 resource planners
 those with team leader skills and
 outbound calling agents with sales skills.
In those cases employers recognise that there are relatively long training demands for those
without valid experience and hence would prefer to employ those with previously
developed skills. As always in this area there is some difficulty of definition when seeking to
distinguish between pro-active customer service skills and sales skills. However, on balance
it is fair to report that employers generally see only limited skills shortages and place more
emphasis on the importance of having the right approach to effective recruitment.
7.2. Secondary research evidence of skills shortages
Analysis of quantitative research data about skills shortages in contact centres has again
been problematic as the majority of the available data maintains a focus on Industrial
Classifications and/or the occupational SOC Codes 39. SOC area 72 Sales and customer
service is again the predominant measure and research has identified this occupational area
as one with high levels of skills shortages40. These measures, although useful for
customer service, do not unveil the contact centre aspects of these occupations.
Nevertheless, some quantitative surveys have used ‘customer handling’ or ‘call handling’ as
a defined skill area. These terms are often used interchangeably between researchers,
research bodies and employers and this again underlines the parallels between customer
service and contact centre skills discussed elsewhere in this report.
To reach conclusions about contact centre skill shortages, we have had to draw as
appropriately as possible on the available data and for the purpose of this section we will
concentrate on those pieces of research that specify customer handling and call handling as
measureable skill areas. However, where data shows overall skills shortages in ‘customer
service and sales’ for a particular country or sector we will show this as an important part of
the overall picture.
39
40
Standard Occupational Classification 2000 Volume 1, June 2000
Customer service employment and skills, Now and for the future, pages 61 to 83; ICS, 2008
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
7.3
Skills shortages by country
7.3.1
The evidence quoted above was collected from the primary research of focus groups and
secondary research using government statistics. In the case of primary research, the events
were restricted to gathering major aspects of the relevant data and it was not practical to
make distinctions between the four countries. Government research fails to distinguish
effectively between generic customer service occupations and contact centre occupations in
that contact centre returns are limited to outsourcing organisations so information about
contact centres operated directly by service providers is hidden. Although there are some
organisations representing contact centres by region, it has not been possible to produce
any analysis that is near enough to being comprehensive to be of any value.
Under the circumstances, and mindful of the fact that in future monitoring activities must
facilitate analysis by country, the ICS believes that extrapolating country information by
using general customer service data is at the present time the best that can be achieved.
Given the strong correlation that is believed to exist between customer service occupations
and the specific category of contact centre occupations this data at least provides guidance
which can be used in the construction of an initial qualification strategy and can be built on
as monitoring activities are increased in future.
7.3.2 Skills shortages - England
Less than half of all vacancies in England are considered hard-to-fill by employers41. Many
of these vacancies are hard-to-fill due to a lack of applicants or because of employer
perceptions about applicants’ attitude, personality or motivation.
Figure 7.1 illustrates the numbers of vacancies, hard to fill vacancies and skills shortage
vacancies reported for each major group occupation in England.
41
NESS 2005, Shury et al, 2006
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Overall distribution of vacancies and recruitment difficulties by occupation - England
Figure 7.1
Vacancies (000s)
Hard to fill vacancies (000s)
Prompted and unprompted skill-shortage vacancies (000s)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Managers & Professionals Assoc prof
senior officials
Unweighted
base:
Admin
Skilled trades
Personal
service
Sales &
customer
service
Machine ops Elementary
vacancies:
2305
4994
6584
6246
3905
5826
7610
4273
8110
employers
with vacancies
1379
1923
2806
2999
2140
2489
2640
1585
2977
Source: Ness 2005
As illustrated in Figure 7.1, one-third of all vacancies in sales and customer service
occupations, taken together at major group level, consist of hard-to-fill vacancies (Htf) of
which just over two-thirds are specified as skills shortage vacancies (SSVs). While
recruitment activity is high, the proportion of all vacancies that are skills related (19 per
cent) is below the national average for all occupations of 25 per cent.
However, in contradistinction, all the evidence from employers is that customer handling
has become a major skills shortage both at the point of recruitment and once an employee
is in the job. As illustrated in Figure 7.2, the NESS 2005 also showed that, overall, employers
identified technical and practical skills (other than information technology) as the most
difficult to obtain, with customer handling skills second. It should be noted from Figure 7.2
that the next three skills areas in order of significance cited by employers as being in short
supply are ‘soft skills’ – communication (oral and written), teamworking and problemsolving – which are also an essential part of the customer service (customer handling) skills
set. Similar data has been published in the 2006 Skills at Work Survey 42 confirming the
continuing need for skills development work in this area.
42
Skills at Work, 1986 to 2006, Alan Felstead et al, published 2007, ESRC
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Figure 7.2
Skills sought in connection with skill shortage vacancies
England
Technical and practical skills
53%
Customer-handling skills
38%
Oral communication skills
35%
Team working skills
34%
Problem-solving skills
34%
Written communication skills
30%
Literacy skills
28%
Management skills
24%
Numeracy skills
Office/admin skills
23%
14%
General IT user skills
13%
Foreign language skills
13%
IT professional skills
10%
Source: NESS05 (Shury et al. 2006)
Base: All unprompted and prompted skills shortage vacancies
(weighted=143,124; unweighted=11,326; unweighted employer base=4,846)
Table 7.1 below shows skills shortages in England by occupation. Although the skills lacking
among applicants vary by occupation, this shows that ‘customer handling’ follows technical
and practical skills as the most frequently cited reason for SSVs . Lack of ‘customer handling’
skills is identified as causing the highest incidence of SSVs for the occupations of
administration, personal services, elementary and, not surprisingly, sales and customer
service. Customer handling skills shortages are also predominant in the following
occupational groups:





managers and senior officials (second to management skills)
professionals (third to technical and practical and management skills)
associated professionals (third to technical and practical and teamworking skills)
personal services (second to oral communication skills)
elementary occupations (second to oral communication skills).
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Table 7.1
Professionals
Associated
professionals
Admin, clerical
and secretarial
Skilled trades
Personal services
Sales and
customer service
Machine and
transport
operatives
Elementary
Overall
Column percentages
Managers and
senior officials
Skills shortage by occupation – major groups – England
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Technical and practical skills
31
40
45
41
57
34
46
54
40
45
Customer-handling skills
36
23
33
42
24
49
67
29
49
38
Oral communication skills
26
22
28
39
21
52
50
40
50
35
Problem-solving skills
32
23
33
34
43
33
29
30
39
34
Teamworking skills
30
17
35
25
26
43
45
31
48
34
Written communication skills
27
21
27
37
23
44
35
28
36
30
Literacy skills
16
15
19
33
21
41
48
28
37
28
Management skills
46
30
22
25
16
24
33
11
27
24
Numeracy skills
16
13
12
29
17
27
41
27
33
23
Office/admin skills
27
21
22
35
18
23
28
18
15
22
Foreign language skills
13
11
9
13
23
17
7
11
14
13
General IT user skills
18
12
12
29
11
13
15
8
12
13
IT professional skills
17
15
10
21
6
10
14
4
6
10
Source: NESS 2005, Shury et al, 2006
Base: All skills shortage vacancies (unprompted and prompted).
Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 since multiple responses were allowed.
7.3.3
Skills shortages - Scotland
The skills which employers consider are lacking in applicants in Scotland are shown in Figure
7.3. These are:




oral communication skills
customer handling skills
problem solving skills
teamworking skills.
In contrast with the results in England and Wales, SSVs in Scotland have ‘technical and
practical skills’ considerably lower in the hierarchy of skills sought. The skills most
commonly cited as being in short supply are “soft skills” with oral communication and
customer handling skills being the most cited. As in England, other customer service related
skills, e.g. teamworking and problem-solving are also identified as important skills
shortages. 43
43
Future Skills Scotland, The Scottish Labour Market, 2006
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Figure 7.3
Skills sought in connection with skill-shortage vacancies
Scotland
Oral communication skills
Customer handling skills
Problem solving skills
Technical & practical skills
Planning and organising
Team working skills
Written communication skills
Strategic management skills
Using numbers
Literacy skills
Advanced IT and software skills
Basic computer literacy/using IT
64%
61%
57%
56%
55%
51%
46%
44%
39%
38%
34%
32%
Source: Scottish Employer Skills Survey, 2006
Impact of hard-to-fill vacancies on employers in Scotland
Where hard-to-fill vacancies occur in Scotland the impact on employers can be severe
including:
 difficulties in meeting customer service objectives (cited by 41 per cent of employers
with skills shortages)
 delays in developing new products or services (30 per cent)
 difficulties in meeting quality standards (26 per cent)
 increased operating/running costs (24 per cent)
 loss of business or orders to competitors (24 per cent)
 difficulties introducing new working practices (24 per cent)
 withdrawing from offering a product altogether (15 per cent).
Table 7.2 shows that where there are vacancies, roughly two-thirds are hard-to-fill, the
majority of which are caused by skills shortages. With sales and customer service
occupations, nearly two-thirds of hard-to-fill vacancies occur because applicants do not
have the right skills, experience or qualifications. This has important implications for
developing the customer service skills of young people and giving greater opportunities for
the attainment of customer service qualifications through work experience and placement
offered through school programmes.
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Table 7.2
Hard-to-fill and skill shortage vacancies as a proportion of vacancies by occupation in Scotland
No. of
vacancies
Major Groups
Managers and senior officials
Number of
hard-to-fill
vacancies
Number of
skills
shortage
vacancies
Hard-to-fill
vacancies as
a % of
vacancies
Skills shortage
vacancies as a
% of vacancies
Skills shortage
vacancies as a %
of hard-to-fill
vacancies
4,600
3,000
2,700
65%
57%
88%
Professionals
11,700
6,700
4,000
58%
34%
59%
Associate professionals
10,000
5,500
4,000
55%
40%
74%
Administrative staff
8,000
3,000
2,200
38%
27%
71%
Skilled trades people
7,100
5,100
3,200
72%
45%
62%
Personal service staff
8,800
2,700
1,200
31%
14%
45%
Sales and customer service staff
9,300
3,600
2,300
38%
25%
64%
Machine operatives
4,800
2,200
1,100
45%
22%
49%
Elementary staff
9,700
3,800
1,900
39%
20%
50%
All occupations
76,700
37,000
23,200
48%
30%
63%
Source: Scottish Employers Skill Survey 2006
7.3.3.1 Skills shortage - Scottish regions
Highlands and Islands - Scotland 44
Where skills shortages are evident in the Highlands and Islands45, it is the broad area of soft
skills that are most frequently mentioned by local employers as lacking among job
applicants. These include:




problem solving
oral communications
teamworking and
customer handling.
However, a lack of technical skills was mentioned by two-fifths of local employers as a
reason for not recruiting applicants.
The vacancy figures show that skills shortage vacancies are no more a problem in the
Careers Scotland Highlands and Islands area than in other parts of Scotland. This is not to
say that skills shortages are unimportant as employers do recognise that they can affect
performance. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 delays developing new products or services.
44
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland Highlands and Islands Area, March 2005
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
North East Area - Scotland 46
Vacancy rates in the North East Area of Scotland were highest for elementary jobs followed
by sales and customer service. Two-fifths of all vacancies reported in the Careers Scotland
North East area were hard-to-fill.
Where skills shortages are evident in the North East it is the broad area of soft skills that are
most frequently mentioned by local employers as lacking among job applicants. These
include:
 written communication
 customer handling
 problem solving skills.
However, a lack of technical skills was mentioned by two-fifths of local employers as a
reason for not recruiting applicants.
The vacancy figures show that skills shortage vacancies are no more a problem in the
Careers Scotland North East area than in other parts of Scotland. This is not to say that skills
shortages are unimportant as employers do recognise that they can affect performance. The
most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 difficulties meeting quality standards.
South East Area - Scotland 47
The highest number of vacancies at March 2005 in the South East area of Scotland were in
sales and customer service jobs with 7,000 or just over one-in-three of all vacancies. The
next highest number of vacancies were for elementary jobs. These occupations can contain
many entry level jobs and provide a significant opportunity for new workers in the labour
market, either for permanent employment or as a starting point for career progression.
Vacancy rates (vacancies as a proportion of employees) are highest for sales and customer
service and elementary jobs. Half of all vacancies reported in the Careers Scotland South
East area were hard-to-fill.
Where skills shortages are evident in the South East area, it is the broad area of soft skills
that are most frequently mentioned by local employers as lacking among job applicants.
These include:
 oral communication
 planning and organisation
 problem solving skills.
46
47
Source: The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland North East Area, FSS, March 2005
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland South East Area, FSS, March 2005
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
However, a lack of technical skills was mentioned by two-fifths of local employers as a
reason for not recruiting applicants. The vacancy figures show that skills shortage vacancies
are no more a problem in the Careers Scotland South East area than in other parts of
Scotland. This is not to say that skills shortages are unimportant as employers do recognise
that they can affect performance. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer objectives
 difficulties meeting quality standards.
The absence of customer handling as a key skill shortage area is surprising as this has been
identified as such in all other areas of Scotland. Given the high vacancy rate of 7,000 in the
sales and customer service occupation in the South East and the impact on meeting
customer objectives reported by employers, it would be expected that customer handling or
customer service would be high on the list of skills shortages. However, it may have
something to do with the fact that the three skills shortages can in any case be seen as
belonging to the customer service skill set.
South West Area - Scotland 48
Research shows that the highest numbers of vacancies at March 2005 in the South West
area were in elementary jobs – 3,300 or just under one-in-four of all vacancies. The next
highest numbers were for skilled trade jobs followed by sales and customer service.
Vacancy rates (vacancies as a proportion of employees) are highest for elementary, skilled
trades and sales and customer service jobs. Two-fifths of all vacancies reported in the
Careers Scotland South East area were hard-to-fill
As with other areas of Scotland, elementary and sales and customer service occupations
contain many entry level jobs and provide a significant opportunity for new entrants to the
labour market either for permanent employment or as a starting point for career
progression.
Where skills shortages are evident, it is the broad area of soft skills that are most frequently
mentioned by local employers as lacking among job applicants. These include:




customer handling skills
oral communication
planning and organising
problem solving skills.
However, a lack of practical and technical skills was mentioned by almost half of local
employers as a reason for not recruiting applicants.
Employers do recognise that skills shortage vacancies can affect performance. The most
common impact reported includes:
48
Source: The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland South West Area, FSS, March 2005
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 difficulties meeting quality standards.
West Area - Scotland 49
Research shows that the highest numbers of vacancies at March 2005 in the West area were
in sales and customer service jobs – 7,000 or just over one-in-three of all vacancies. This
mirrors the findings in the South East area where sales and customer service also showed
7,000 vacancies. The next highest number was for personal service workers. Vacancy rates
(vacancies as a proportion of employees) are highest for sales and customer service and
personal service jobs. Half of all vacancies reported in the Careers Scotland West area were
hard-to-fill
These occupations tend to contain many entry level jobs and provide a significant
opportunity for new entrants to the labour market, either for permanent employment or as
a starting point for a career.
Where skills shortages are evident, it is the broad area of soft skills that are most frequently
mentioned by local employers as lacking among job applicants. These include:
 oral communication
 customer handling
 teamworking skills.
However, a lack of technical skills was mentioned by two-fifths of local employers as a
reason for not recruiting applicants.
7.3.4 Skills shortages – Wales
As Table 7.3 shows customer handling appears as one of the top five major skills shortages
in Wales. Taking all skills shortage vacancies in Wales, the skills area in greatest need is
“other technical and practical skills” followed by customer handling.
Skills required for skills shortage vacancies by occupation - Wales
49
%
%
Transport and
Machine
Operatives
%
Sales and
customer
service
%
Skilled Trades
%
Associate
Professionals
General IT user
IT professional skills
Other technical and practical skills
Communication skills
%
Professionals
Base: All occupations with SSVs followed up
Total
Table 7.3
14
13
50
43
16
20
31
13
13
17
52
49
15
10
70
39
8
7
21
66
14
4
74
39
Source: The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland West Area, Future Skills Scotland, March 2005
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Skills required for skills shortage vacancies by occupation - Wales
%
%
Transport and
Machine
Operatives
%
Sales and
customer
service
%
Skilled Trades
%
Associate
Professionals
Customer handling skills
Teamworking skills
Problem solving skills
Management skills
Using numbers
Literacy skills
Welsh language skills
Work experience (unspecified)
Lack of qualifications
Others
Don’t know/not stated/no answer
Source: FSW 2005, published 2006
%
Professionals
Base: All occupations with SSVs followed up
Total
Table 7.3
47
36
38
27
27
31
11
4
5
3
15
12
6
19
54
14
11
3
6
5
5
18
58
42
48
35
21
30
9
6
14
5
9
41
37
45
21
27
34
18
3
3
0
9
67
20
35
5
36
19
7
1
1
15
27
40
44
44
15
37
43
5
1
10
An interesting conclusion reported in Future Skills Wales 2005 was that, in general terms,
the larger the establishment, the greater was the likelihood that ‘general IT user skills’ and
‘other technical and practical skills’ would be cited as lacking among applicants. In contrast,
micro organisations were more likely than larger organisations to cite communication and
customer handling skills as lacking among applicants for skills shortage vacancies. 50
Figure 7.4 below shows that in the majority of cases and across all sectors, the skills that
were being sought for skills shortage vacancies were 51:




50
51
other technical and practical skills
customer handling skills
communication skills
problem solving skills.
Future Skills Wales 2005, published 2006
Ibid
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Figure 7.4
Skills sought in connection with skill-shortage vacancies
Wales
Other technical and practical…
52%
Customer-handling skills
44%
Communication skills
43%
Problem-solving skills
41%
Team working skills
37%
Literacy skills
30%
Management skills
27%
Using numbers
25%
IT professional skills
General IT user skills
Welsh language skills
17%
15%
13%
Source: Future Skills Wales 2005, published 2006
Future Skills Wales shows the highest overall SSVs across all employee size bands is:





other technical and practical skills (52 per cent)
customer handling skills (44 per cent)
communication skills (43 per cent)
problem solving skills (41 per cent)
teamworking skills (37per cent).
These results are very similar to those found in England with technical and practical skills
being the highest cause of SSVs followed by other soft skills -customer handing,
communication, teamworking and problem-solving.
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
7.3.5
Skills shortages - Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs 52 reported substantial
evidence which indicates that generic skills are regarded as at least, if not more, important
for employers as technical or job-specific skills for the 21st century workplace.
“The other side of the picture is that, to varying extents, more advanced knowledge work
has increased within occupations, driving consequential changes in the skills required, and
is continuing to increase. For example, reduced cash transactions have eliminated much of
the routine work for cashiers and counter clerks, while the share of work devoted to
customer service and sales has increased steeply”. 53
The report stressed that employees would be required to acquire a range of generic and
transferable skills and attitudes as, in most cases, work is becoming less routine with a
requirement for flexibility, continuous learning and individual initiative and judgment.
These findings supported the work of the Skills Monitoring Survey 54 where it was found
that the most common skills reported by employers as lacking from applicants were:
 other technical and practical skills (35 per cent of external skills shortages)
 communication skills (30 per cent)
 customer handling skills (22 per cent)
Total skills shortages in Northern Ireland are shown in Figure 7.5.
Figure 7.5
Skills sought in connection with skill-shortage vacancies
Northern Ireland
Other technical and practical skills
35%
Communication skills
30%
Customer handling skills
22%
Management skills
15%
Using numbers
11%
Problem solving skills
11%
Literacy Skills
9%
IT professional skills
9%
General IT user skills
9%
Team working skills
None
Other
8%
4%
15%
Source: Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey 2005: Summary Report, October 2006, DELNI
52
Tomorrow’s Skills: Towards a National Skills Strategy: 5th Report, Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, 2007
Ibid
54
The Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey 2005: Summary Report, October 2006, Delni
53
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Impact of hard-to-fill vacancies on employers in Northern Ireland
Where skills shortages do occur the impact on employers can be severe. Approximately
one in 8 (12 per cent) of the hard-to-fill vacancies had not caused employers any
particular problems. However, not being able to fill vacancies clearly has an impact on
business activities including:
 difficulties in meeting customer service objectives (56 per cent)
 loss of business or orders to competitors (34 per cent)
 difficulties meeting required quality standards (33 per cent).
In addition 11 per cent of the hard-to-fill vacancies had ‘other’ impact upon the business
including additional work on other staff, difficulty in expansion and difficulty in meeting
shift patterns.
These results show that over half the difficulties employers experience in Northern Ireland
is in meeting customer service objectives which demonstrates the importance of
customer service to organisations and of customer service skills.
7.4 Skills shortages by sector
As no secondary data for contact centre, customer handling or call handling skills
shortages are available, the major occupational groups have been used for the following
analysis. The results must therefore be read cautiously but do give an indication of
customer service skills shortage vacancies by occupation.
The results shown in Table 7.4 show the difficulties experienced by sectors when
recruiting. The figures in red show the main skills shortage vacancies for each SSC, blue
shows the second largest skills shortage vacancies and green the third. At 11 per cent,
sales and customer service occupations have the third highest number of SSVs for
occupational vacancies across all sectors.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
© Skills CFA 2010
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11
13
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
1
5
1
3
3
4
0
31
0
4
34
*
2
10
6
4
7
59
0
2
39
17
Unclassified
17
29
11
27
9
23
45
22
28
78
57
13
27
2
2
Elementary
%
Operatives
%
customer
service
Personal service
%
%
%
%
SSCs
Overall
11,326
143,124
4
10
18
7
Lantra
169
2,357
2
7
8
4
Cogent
172
1,412
3
2
38
8
Proskills UK
158
1,476
2
8
8
16
Improve Ltd
118
1,127
3
0
5
6
Skillfast-UK
110
1,223
3
6
3
2
SEMTA
572
6,669
2
9
12
3
Energy and Utility Skills
60
675
0
0
10
8
ConstructionSkills
1,058
11,899
4
31
13
4
SummitSkills
263
2,822
5
2
1
2
Automotive Skills
322
3,989
4
2
6
4
Skillsmart Retail
604
9,431
11
1
5
4
People 1st
1,061
12,900
6
0
1
4
GoSkills
398
3,471
1 *
3
8
Skills for Logistics
281
2,908
5
1
1
10
Financial Services Skills
Council
344
4,442
3
8
35
35
Asset Skills
233
4,110
10
7
10
8
e-skills UK
388
6,649
4
17
13
9
Lifelong Learning UK
365
2,516
5
42
31
8
Skills for Health
555
6,618
6
5
42
8
Skills for Care and
Development
1,077
7,721
4
7
22
4
Skillset
60
512
10
7
37
11
Creative and Cultural Skills
252
1,458
7
17
36
10
SkillsActive
249
1,558
3
0
33
5
Non-SSC employers
2,287
37,241
4
14
26
9
Base: All skill-shortage vacancies (prompted and unprompted).
Notes: Percentages sum to 100 across each row (subject to rounding).
Figures in italics denote base sizes of 25 to 49 and should be treated with caution.
‘*’ denotes a figure greater than 0 per cent but less than 0.5 per cent.
Skills for Justice and Government Skills SSCs are not shown due to low base sizes.
Source: NESS 2005 page 59
Skilled trades
Administrative
Associate
professionals
Professionals
Managers
Weighted
Profile of skills shortage vacancies by occupation within Sector Skills Councils
All SSVs
Unweighted
Table 7.4
%
%
%
%
11
1
15
8
14
14
4
23
1
3
13
59
7
1
10
10
11
18
26
50
40
19
22
12
3
8
1
1
77
60
10
21
5
4
14
7
5
15
6
4
5
5
52
7
5
1
3
0
0
0
2
1
0
1
3
1
1
0
0
1
16
8
53
3
2
0
2
1
1
0
0
23
3
0
*
14
16
3
7
1
0
2
*
8
*
*
1
3
2
10
3
12
9
Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
1
*
*
0
*
1
*
Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
Figure 7.6 shows the percentage of SSVs in sales and customer service occupations across
all Sector Skills Councils.
Figure 7.6
Sector Skills Councils - SSVs for Sales and Customer Service Occupations
Skillsmart Retail
e-skills UK
Energy & Utility Skills
Creative & Cultural Skills
59%
53%
23%
16%
16%
15%
14%
14%
14%
13%
10%
8%
8%
7%
4%
3%
3%
3%
2%
1%
1%
1%
Cogent
Skillset
Skillfast-UK
Improve Ltd
Automotive Skills
Skills for Logistics
Asset Skills
Proskills UK
People 1st
SEMTA
SkillsActive
Lifelong Learning UK
SummitSkills
Skills for Health
GoSkills
ConstructionSkills
Lantra
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Sales and customer service are the occupations experiencing the highest recruitment
difficulties and SSVs for the sectors covered by the following SSCs:
 Skillsmart Retail (59 per cent)
 E-Skills UK (53 per cent)
 Energy and Utility Skills UK (23 per cent)
and second largest for:






Financial Services Skills Council (16 per cent)
Cogent (15 per cent)
Skillset (14 per cent)
Improve Ltd (14 per cent)
Automotive Skills (13 per cent)
Skills for Logistics (10 per cent).
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Section 7: Contact centre skills shortages
7.5 Contact centre specifics and country differences
The analysis in this section is based on available information about the core generic skills
set for contact centres, i.e. customer service. As already noted, data on specific contact
centre skills and qualifications have proved difficult to obtain at this stage. Data collection
and monitoring have therefore been identified as high priority activities in the next phase.
Further analysis of contact centre trends is presented in section 8.5 of this report; this
shows the trends that will affect the skills shortages and gaps.
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
8.
Contact centres and skills gaps
8.1. Primary research evidence of skills gaps
Participants in focus groups were asked questions about skills gaps and the resulting training
and development needs. In particular, they were asked about the relevance and
importance of qualifications for ongoing staff development. Participants were asked to
identify:




the most common skills gaps to appear in contact centres
the levels at which skills gaps are most likely to appear
the training, development and qualifications available to help deal with skills gaps
any additional qualifications they would like to see developed.
Once again there was a significant consensus about the pattern of gaps together with the
normal difficulties of identifying and labelling the skills that require development.
The most commonly held view about skills gaps is that the process to update and maintain
product knowledge is continuous and presents a real challenge to all contact centre
management teams. A variety of strategies are used in an area that depends partly on the
nature of the centre’s work. Many centres use on-line, video and other briefing techniques
to remind agents of current changes and developments in small portions. Assessment and
re-accreditation takes various forms from on-line testing to personal observation. Nearly all
organisations see routine and structured monitoring through observation and sampling of
recorded calls as vital components of the process. This drives the identification of skills gaps
down to individual levels. The systematic monitoring of performance is seen as one of the
most effective strategies for identifying and dealing with skills gaps.
Despite the emphasis placed on recruitment processes which ensure that newcomers have
strong people and empathy skills, the further development of those skills is seen as a prime
need for dealing with skills gaps. Many of the concerns in this area are age related with
considerable reservations being expressed about the skills and abilities of younger people.
The concerns echo broader employer views that are often expressed but do not provide
specific guidance on what actions might be appropriate to change the situation. Rather, the
views place further emphasis on the need for effective recruitment processes. This is
reinforced by consultee opinions about the need to match agent age and life experience to
the type of service offered by a particular contact centre.
Many organisations deal with customers in areas that create sensitive situations. What may
be seen as a simple process of dealing with queries about relatively small bills, for example,
can require considerable sensitivity when the matter is a major issue for a customer. To
quote one consultee – ‘How can young people imagine the pressure produced by a small bill
if they have never paid a gas bill themselves?’ Life skills are therefore seen as an essential
component of creating empathy but clearly cannot be produced from nowhere.
Qualifications and training are seen as having a somewhat limited role in filling this gap.
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
The consultation revealed significant reservations about the role of qualifications. On the
one hand, both the Call Handling and, more particularly, the Customer Service S/NVQs have
been used quite extensively by the sector as detailed elsewhere in this report. On the other
hand, people express the view that competence based qualifications that accredit
performance rather than developing skills are of limited value. As with many other sectors,
a significant proportion of employers have reservations about providing access to
qualifications that will make it easier for their staff to seek employment elsewhere. A not
insignificant proportion of consultees declare that they do not see the relevance of workbased qualifications for the contact centre sector. This view clearly signals the need for
effective promotion of any new qualifications that are to be developed.
Coaching is seen as a principal route through which to tackle skills gaps. Buddying,
mentoring and team leader coaching systems are very common in the sector and are
believed to make a major contribution to skills development. It was agreed by consultees
that this process needs to be systematic and thus that anybody looking to make progress in
the sector needs coaching skills. This leads to the more general recognition of the
challenges the sector faces in career development from agent, through team leadership,
into management roles. Gaps in management skills are identified as a concern as detailed
earlier and relate specifically to resource planning and pro-active sales skills. In conclusion,
the sector has a relatively advanced approach to structured training and development but
does not universally recognise the potential contribution of qualifications.
8.2. Secondary research evidence of skills gaps
As explained in Section 6 of this report analysis of quantitative research data about skills
gaps in contact centres has again been problematic as the majority of the available data
maintains a focus on Industrial Classifications and/or the occupational SOC Codes55. SOC
area 72 Sales and customer service is again the predominant measure and research has
identified this occupational area as one with high levels of skills gaps 56. These measures,
although useful for customer service, do not unveil the contact centre aspects of these
occupations.
Nevertheless, some quantitative surveys have used ‘customer handling’ or ‘call handling’ as
a defined skill area. These terms are often used interchangeably between researchers,
research bodies and employers and this again underlines the parallels between customer
service and contact centre skills discussed elsewhere in this report.
To reach conclusions about contact centre skills gaps, we have had to draw as appropriately
as possible on the available data and for the purpose of this section we will concentrate on
those pieces of research that specify customer handling and call handling as measureable
skill areas. However, where data shows overall skills gaps in ‘customer service and sales’ for
a particular country or sector we will show this as an important part of the overall picture.
55
56
Standard Occupational Classification 2000 Volume 1, June 2000
Customer service employment and skills, Now and for the future, pages 61 to 83; ICS, 2008
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
8.3.
Skills gaps by country
8.3.1
The evidence quoted above was collected from the primary research of focus groups and
secondary research using government statistics. In the case of primary research, the events
were restricted to gathering major aspects of the relevant data and it was not practical to
make distinctions between the four countries. Government research fails to distinguish
effectively between generic customer service occupations and Contact Centre occupations
in that Contact Centre returns are limited to outsourcing organisations so information about
Contact Centres operated directly by service providers is hidden. Although there are some
organisations representing contact centres by region, it has not been possible to produce
any analysis that is near enough to being comprehensive to be of any value.
Under the circumstances, and mindful of the fact that in future monitoring activities must
facilitate analysis by country, the ICS believes that extrapolating country information by
using general customer service data is at the present time the best that can be achieved.
Given the strong correlation that is believed to exist between customer service occupations
and the specific category of contact centre occupations this data at least provides guidance
which can be used in the construction of an initial qualification strategy and can be built on
as monitoring activities are increased in future."
8.3.2. Skills gaps – England
Employer performance is being hindered by a lack of skills including hard skills (technical
and practical skills) and ‘soft skills’ “with teamworking, customer handling, oral
communication and problem solving skills at a particular premium” 57.
Table 8.1 shows the specific skills lacking among employees whom employers regard as not
fully proficient. In 2003 and 2004, when identifying the skills lacking among their staff,
employers focused significantly on soft skill areas, in particular teamworking and customer
handling skills, each of which is mentioned as the cause of almost half of all skills gaps.
57
NESS 2005
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
Table 8.1
All 2004
All 2005
Managers
Professionals
Associate
professionals
Administrative
Skilled trades
Personal service
Sales and
customer service
Operatives
112,789
85,175
109,310
10,661
8,413
5,284
10,883
8,133
9,020
21,627
9,769
1,176
1,241
1,059
115
69
65
114
81
91
218
81
Elementary
occupations
All 2003
Unweighted base
Weighted base
(000s)
Skills lacking in employees overall and by occupation – all England
25,520
226
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Teamworking
52
47
48
47
35
41
43
39
55
48
50
55
Customer handling
55
47
46
34
30
39
52
33
47
63
29
51
Technical and practical
43
45
44
31
52
53
36
64
47
36
56
43
Oral communications
n/a
n/a
42
42
28
30
39
36
43
44
47
48
47
40
40
45
36
41
44
43
41
38
43
38
Skills lacking
Problem solving
n/a
n/a
29
29
28
34
39
30
36
20
34
27
Management
32
25
26
76
30
23
23
18
16
23
11
15
General IT user
29
26
23
28
33
33
51
17
18
19
18
10
Literacy skills
24
19
22
10
18
22
24
23
32
16
27
27
Numeracy skills
21
16
21
14
16
17
18
19
21
20
28
26
n/a
20
20
31
22
23
55
15
11
15
8
8
13
12
12
19
26
21
29
9
8
7
5
5
7
9
9
13
5
4
7
6
13
8
12
11
Writtencommunications
Office admin skills
IT professional skills
Foreign languages
Base: All skills gaps followed up.
Note: Column percentages do not sum to 100per cent because of multiple responses
Source: NESS05 and NESS03 (Shuryetal.,2006; 2004)
Employers also reported technical, practical or job-specific skills as lacking among
employees. Over two-in-five (44 per cent) of employees described by their employers as
lacking full proficiency are felt to lack technical, practical or job-specific skills.
Other soft, generic skills such as oral communication, problem solving and written
communication skills were the next most commonly mentioned.
For sales and customer service staff, customer handling skills are the main area of skills that
are lacking which explains, at least in part, nearly two-thirds of skills gaps in this
occupational area. Oral communication skills were also identified more than averagely.
English regions
For the English regions as a whole, team working followed by customer handling were
reported as the highest skills gaps. The pattern in each of the regions varies as shown in
Figure 8.1 which compares the relative scale of each of the four most identified skills gaps
areas. However in two-thirds of the regions, customer handling skills are seen as either the
most or second most significant skills gap area.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
Figure 8.1
Team working
Skils Gaps by Region
England
Customer handling
Technical and practical
70
Oral communication
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
All
Eastern
East
Midlands
London
North East
North West
South East
South West
West
Midlands
Yorkshire
and Humber
Source: NESS 2005; Main Report, June 2006
The full regional pattern of all skills lacking among staff described by employers as not fully
proficient is presented in Table 8.2.
Yorkshire and
Humber
West Midlands
South West
South East
North West
North East
London
East Midlands
Eastern
Column percentages
Skills gaps by region - England
All
Table 8.2
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Teamworking
48
53
36
39
51
60
49
37
53
52
Customer handling skills
46
50
35
46
49
50
47
37
51
49
Technical and practical skills
44
48
39
24
48
48
47
34
54
58
Oral communication
42
45
38
36
38
49
41
36
49
44
Problem solving skills
40
44
34
32
46
56
39
29
44
44
Written communication
29
30
31
25
30
38
26
23
33
30
Management skills
26
30
27
29
21
30
21
22
25
26
General IT user skills
23
24
24
24
27
26
20
18
24
22
Literacy skills
22
22
22
17
21
31
20
14
26
24
Numeracy skills
21
16
21
21
22
30
18
15
23
21
Office admin skills
20
28
16
23
18
20
17
15
20
18
IT professional skills
12
15
17
15
9
11
8
10
15
11
9
15
10
12
5
10
8
5
8
6
Foreign languages
Source: NESS 2005, Shury et al, 2006
Base: All skils shortage vacancies (unprompted and prompted). Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 since multiple responses were allowed.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
8.3.3 Skills gaps - Scotland
Skills gaps in Scotland are more prevalent in occupations which generally require entry level
skills. For example, skills gaps are more common in:
 elementary occupations
 sales and customer service occupations
 personal service occupations.
than in professional and managerial occupations 58. This pattern is repeated in data
collected by Careers Scotland for each Scottish area.
Skills gaps in Scotland are more common than skills shortages, affecting one-in-five
workplaces and nine per cent of employees. Two-thirds of skills gaps are seen as transitory
and disappear as employees ‘learn the ropes’ or complete their induction. As Figure 8.2
shows, where skills gaps exist, employers most often cite soft skills such as customer
handling, problem solving, teamworking and oral communication as those most lacking in
employees.
Highest Skills Gaps - All Scotland
Figure 8.2
Planning and organising
54%
Customer handling
52%
Problem solving
50%
Team Working
49%
Oral communication
45%
Source: FSS, Scottish Labour Market, 2006
8.3.3.1 Skills gaps – Scottish regions
Highlands and Islands - Scotland
Just under 3,000 (or one-in-five) organisations covered by Careers Scotland Highlands and
Islands stated that they had a skills gap 59 with less than one-in-ten (9 per cent) individuals
not fully proficient in their jobs, which is similar to Scotland as a whole.
58
59
FSS, Scottish Labour Market, 2006
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland Highlands and Islands, FSS, March 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market Information April
Section 8: Contact centres skills gaps
Figure 8.3 illustrates the extent of local skills gaps within each occupation. Those
occupations with the highest proportions of staff not fully proficient include elementary and
sales and customer service occupations. These occupations contain a high proportion of
entry level jobs where many people get their first experience of the labour market and have
the highest vacancy and turnover rates. In some instances, skills gaps exist simply because
the employee has not been in the post long enough to have received suitable training or to
have gained the necessary experience. Such skills gaps are therefore temporary. Around
two-fifths of all employers have also reported that skills gaps arise because of positive
developments in the workforce, such as the introduction of new technology or working
practices.
Figure 8.3
Skills g aps by o ccupation Highlands an d Islands
Man ag ers an d senior o fficials
Pro fessionals
Asso ciate p rofessionals
Ad min istrative staff
Skilled trad espeople
Perso n al service staff
Sales an d custo mer service staff
Mach in e o peratives
Elemen tary staff
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Skills Gaps as a p ercentage o f employment
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland Highlands and Islands, March 2005
The most common causes of skills gaps are said to be a lack of soft skills. In the Careers
Scotland Highlands and Islands area employers mentioned:




customer handling
planning and organising
problem solving
teamworking
as the skills most frequently lacking in staff. The skills lacking among the existing workforce
are very similar to those that cause skills shortages when employers are trying to recruit
new staff.
The impact of skills gaps in the workplace is also broadly similar to that caused by skills
shortages. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 meeting required quality standards.
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Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
North East Area - Scotland
Figure 8.4 illustrates the extent of skills gaps in the North East within each
occupation. Those occupations with the highest proportions of staff not fully
proficient include elementary and sales and customer service occupations. These
occupations contain a high proportion of entry level jobs where many people get
their first experience of the labour market and have the highest vacancy and
turnover rates. The proportion of associate professionals deemed to be not
proficient in the North East (11 per cent) is well above the figure for the rest of
Scotland (8 per cent)60.
In some cases, skills gaps exist simply because the employee has not been in the post
long enough to have received suitable training or to have gained the necessary
experience. Such skills gaps are therefore temporary. Three-fifths of all employers
have also reported that skills gaps arise because of positive developments in the
workforce, such as the introduction of new technology or working practices.
Figure 8.4
Skills gaps by occupation North East Area
Managers and senior officials
Professionals
Associate professionals
Administrative staff
Skilled tradespeople
Personal service staff
Sales and customer service staff
Machine operatives
Elementary staff
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Skills Gaps as a proportion of employers
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland North East Area, March 2005
The most common causes of skills gaps are said to be a lack of soft skills. In the
North East area, employers mentioned:




customer handling skills
planning and organisation
problem solving
teamworking
as those skills most frequently lacking in staff. The skills lacking among the existing
workforce are very similar to those that cause skills shortages when employers are
trying to recruit new staff.
60
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland North East Area, FSS, March 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
The impact of skills gaps at the workplace is also broadly similar to that caused by
skills shortages. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 meeting required quality standards.
It should be noted, however, that the majority of employers with skills gaps report
either no problems or only a minor impact on their business
South East Area - Scotland
Figure 8.5 illustrates the extent of skills gaps in the South East area within each
occupation. Those occupations with the highest proportions of staff not fully
proficient include 61 elementary and sales and customer service occupations. These
occupations contain a high proportion of entry level jobs, where many people get
their first experience of the labour market. They are also those with the highest
vacancy and turnover rates.
In some cases, skills gaps exist simply because the employee has not been in the post
long enough to have received suitable training or to have picked up the necessary
experience. Such skills gaps are therefore temporary. Around two-fifths of all
employers have also reported that skills gaps arise because of positive developments
in the workforce, such as the introduction of new technology or working practices.
Figure 8.5
Skills gaps by occupation South East Area
Managers and senior officials
Professionals
Associate professionals
Administrative staff
Skilled tradespeople
Personal service staff
Sales and customer service staff
Machine operatives
Elementary staff
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
Skills Gaps as a proportion of employers
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland South East Area, March 2005
The most common causes of skills gaps are said to be a lack of soft skills. In the
Careers Scotland South East area employers mentioned:
61
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland South East Area, FSS, March 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps




oral communication skills
planning and organisation
problem solving
teamworking
as those skills most frequently lacking in staff. Skills gaps in the South East are
similar to those that cause skills shortages when employers are trying to recruit new
staff.
The impact of skills gaps in the workplace is also broadly similar to that caused by
skills shortages. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 meeting required quality standards.
It should be noted, however, that the majority of employers with skills gaps report
either no problems or only a minor impact on their business.
South West Area - Scotland
Figure 8.6 illustrates the extent of skills gaps in the South West area within each
occupation. Those occupations with the highest proportions of staff not fully
proficient include personal services and elementary occupations.
These occupations contain a high proportion of entry level jobs, where many people
get their first experience of the labour market and have the highest vacancy and
turnover rates62. Occupations in sales and customer service do not have the number
of skills gaps as in other areas of Scotland. However, customer handling skills are still
predominant among the skills lacking which demonstrates that these skills are
relevant to all sectors, not just sales and customer service.
Figure 8.6
Skills gaps by occupation South West Area
Managers and senior officials
Professionals
Associate professionals
Administrative staff
Skilled tradespeople
Personal service staff
Sales and customer service staff
Machine operatives
Elementary staff
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14%
Skills Gaps as a proportion of employers
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland South West Area, March 2005
62
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland South West Area, FSS, March 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
The most common causes of skills gaps are said to be a lack of soft skills. In the
Careers Scotland South West area, employers mentioned:




customer handling
planning and organisation
problem solving
oral communication skills
as those skills most frequently lacking in staff. The types of skills lacking among the
existing workforce are very similar to those that cause skills shortages when
employers are trying
to recruit new staff.
The impact of skills gaps at the workplace is also broadly similar to that caused by
skills shortages. The most common impact reported includes:
 difficulties meeting customer service objectives
 delays developing new products or services
 loss of business or orders to competitors.
West Area - Scotland
Figure 8.7 illustrates the extent of local skills gaps in the West area within each
occupation. Those occupations with the highest proportions of staff not fully
proficient include elementary and associate professional and technical occupations
with sales and customer service in third place.
Elementary and sales and customer service occupations contain a high proportion of
entry level jobs where many people get their first experience of the labour market 63.
Skills gaps by occupation West Area
Figure 8.7
Managers and senior officials
Professionals
Associate professionals
Administrative staff
Skilled tradespeople
Personal service staff
Sales and customer service staff
Machine operatives
Elementary staff
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Skills Gaps as a proportion of employers
Source FSS 2004, Careers Scotland West Area, March 2005
63
The Scottish Employers Skills Survey 2004, Results for the Careers Scotland West Area, FSS, March 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
The most common causes of skills gaps are said to be a lack of soft skills. In the
Careers Scotland West area employers mentioned:




customer handling
planning and organisation
problem solving skills
teamworking
as those skills most frequently lacking in staff.
8.3.4 Skills gaps - Wales
As Figure 8.8 illustrates the skills most commonly reported in 2005 as lacking among
employees in Wales were ’soft’ skills, for example, problem solving skills (58 per
cent), and customer handling skills (57 per cent).
Skills lacking amongst employees with skill gaps - Wales
Figure 8.8
Problem solving skills
58
Customer handling skills
57
Other technical and practical skills
52
Communication skills
49
Team working skills
49
Management skills
40
General IT user skill
40
IT professional skills
26
Using numbers
25
Literacy skills
23
Welsh language skills
23
Work Experience (unspec)
3
Sales/marketing skills
3
Time management/keeping
2
Motivation/behaviour
2
Other
2
Don't know/no answer
3
0
Source: Future Skills Wales, 2005
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
percentage of establishments
As Table 8.3 shows below the major group occupations with the highest incidence of
skills gaps in Wales were sales and customer service (10 per cent), transport and
machine operatives (8 per cent) and skilled trade occupations (7 per cent).
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 68 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
By comparison, managers and senior officials and professional occupations had
disproportionately fewer skills gaps relative to the proportion of people employed in
each category (3 per cent).
The Future Skills Wales 2005 survey also investigated which occupations with skills
gaps were deemed to be most critical in terms of hindering achievement of business
objectives; half of employers (53 per cent) in organisations reporting skills gaps said
that no single occupation was more critical than the others. However, 14 per cent of
organisations reported that skills gaps among sales and customer service
occupations were most critical, while 9 per cent thought that skills gaps among
managers and senior officials were most critical 64.
Table 8.3
Distribution of skill gaps in Wales by occupation
Total number
of employees
Total number
of employees
with skill gaps
Total number of
employees with skill
gaps as a
proportion of total
employment
Sales and customer service
155,427
15,431
10
Transport & machine operatives
Occupation by soc major groups
132,414
11,146
8
Skilled trades
91,044
6,109
7
Personal services
90,916
5,591
6
Elementary occupations
134,109
7,426
6
Administrative & secretarial
117,897
5,873
5
Associate professionals
75,004
3,141
4
Managers & senior officials
139,653
4,798
3
Professionals
147,330
4,290
3
Source: FSW 2005
8.3.5 Skills gaps - Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland the majority of employers (91per cent) said in 2005 that their
staff already possessed the skills needed to help the business meet its objectives. At
the time of the interview, the remaining nine per cent indicated that there was some
gap between the types of skills that their current staff possessed and those that the
organisation needed to meet their business objectives 65.
64
65
Future Skills Wales, 2005
The NI Skills Monitoring Survey 2005, DELNI, October 2006
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
Table 8.4 provides a breakdown of the skills employers stated that their staff needed
to improve by occupational group. Employers could report more than one skill as
lacking and for that reason the percentages appear to sum to more than one
hundred. Overall, two out of five employers said that their staff needed to improve
their:
 customer handling skills
 communication skills
 technical and practical skills .
Of the 7 per cent who reported ‘other’ skills as lacking from their staff, half of the
employers referred to various personal characteristics including behaviour,
commitment, motivation and use of initiative.
Managers
Professionals
Associate
professionals
Administrative
Skilled trades
Personal service
Sales and
customer
service
Operatives
Elementary
occupations
Skills lacking among employees with skills gaps by occupational group – Northern Ireland
All Groups
Table 8.4
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Customer handling skills
40
21
27
12
29
3
37
62
20
38
Technical and practical skills
40
15
29
29
16
79
65
13
54
60
Communication skills
37
21
27
34
40
6
19
44
18
33
Teamworking skills
24
23
9
24
20
13
22
24
22
General IT user skills
20
55
7
6
56
4
8
27
13
Problem solving skills
18
19
31
14
24
9
9
10
23
12
Management skills
15
40
33
35
7
2
-
2
1
7
Using numbers
10
5
1
4
6
1
-
20
11
10
Literacy skills
10
5
7
6
16
2
9
13
7
IT professional skills
8
9
8
36
9
1
Any other difficulties
7
1
7
3
8
2
13
2
14
7
None
5
5
10
2
4
10
1
1
6
2
392
76
48
47
109
64
55
89
69
66
Base*** = 100%
3
-
0
-
25
-
-
Source: NI Skills Monitoring Survey 2005, DELNI Oct 2006
Figure 8.9 shows how skills gaps have impacted on the employer’s business.
Considering the definition of a skill gap, i.e. a gap between the skills of current
employees and those needed by the establishment to meet its business objective, it
is surprising that in 30 per cent of cases a lack of full proficiency had no impact on
the business. However for other employers, the skills gaps created difficulties in:
 meeting customer service objectives (36 per cent of employers)
 meeting required quality standards (39 per cent of cases).
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
Figure 8.9
Impact of skills gaps in Northern Ireland
Difficulties meeting required quality standards
Difficulties meeting customer service objectives
No particular problems
Increased operating/running costs
Delays developing new products
Loss of business or orders to competitors
Difficulties introducing new working pratices
Difficulties introducing technological change
Other
39%
36%
30%
16%
13%
12%
8%
8%
5%
2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
N.I. Skills Monitoring Survey 2005,
8.4 Skills gaps by sector
Table 8.5 shows the main types of skills gap by Sector Skills Council (SSC). For each
SSC, the figures in red show the highest percentage skills gaps, blue the second
highest and green the third.
© Skills CFA 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
Technical and
practical
Problem solving
General IT user
Management
Office admin.
Literacy
Numeracy
All
%
51
%
47
%
47
%
45
%
40
%
26
%
25
%
20
%
19
%
16
Lantra
41
33
37
60
26
28
32
19
17
16
10
Cogent
47
24
56
55
51
25
30
20
20
21
12
Proskills
53
34
57
65
48
34
32
25
30
30
20
Improve
62
21
65
73
53
28
24
17
32
26
12
Skillfast-UK
52
26
57
46
42
21
25
15
35
27
5
SEMTA
49
29
52
63
47
23
30
16
18
18
9
Energy and Utility Skills
52
50
46
32
43
30
27
21
19
14
14
ConstructionSkills
42
29
35
54
30
23
25
19
22
17
13
SummitSkills
45
42
35
61
40
23
23
19
16
13
9
Automotive Skills
46
46
43
60
40
26
24
25
21
17
14
Skillsmart Retail
55
62
47
35
38
20
20
15
14
16
7
People 1st
57
65
53
41
43
15
23
13
17
17
9
GoSkills
53
53
52
27
48
36
19
30
14
11
11
Skills for Logistics
52
47
61
38
42
30
24
24
30
21
12
Financial Services Skills Council
56
55
31
39
37
41
23
31
12
12
10
Asset Skills
50
56
49
42
43
24
27
19
16
18
13
e-skills UK
61
60
47
35
34
42
30
25
14
11
23
Government Skills
12
46
17
25
45
17
12
14
4
1
13
Skills for Justice
61
51
50
32
48
50
42
46
19
20
13
Lifelong Learning UK
51
46
42
42
34
39
35
30
13
11
18
Skills for Health
34
32
30
63
23
23
13
15
14
9
11
Skills for Care and Development
53
42
56
46
38
25
28
17
28
16
13
Skillset
62
53
53
35
29
17
25
13
6
12
8
Creative and Cultural Skills
54
47
42
48
34
35
40
32
17
21
24
SkillsActive
52
68
55
37
38
18
28
16
12
12
10
Non-SSC employers
53
42
49
44
42
32
Base: All skills gaps followed up.
Notes: Column percentages do not sum to 100 per cent because of multiple responses.
31
25
23
17
17
Communication
Teamworking
IT Professional Skills
The nature of skills gaps by SSC
Customer handling
Table 8.5
%
12
Source: NESS 2005
Sectors fall into two broad categories in terms of the types of skills lacking in their
workforces. There are those where the greatest gaps are in technical or practical
skills:









Lantra (60 per cent)
Cogent (55 per cent)
ProSkills (65 per cent)
Improve (73 per cent)
SEMTA (63 per cent)
Construction Skills (54 per cent)
Summit Skills (61 per cent)
Automotive Skills (60 per cent)
Skills for Health (63 per cent).
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
For nearly all the sectors represented by the remaining SSCs, the skills most likely to
be lacking are either communication skills, customer handling or teamworking skills.
Communication skills are identified as the highest level of skills gaps across all SSCs
at 51 per cent followed by customer handling and teamworking, both with 47 per
cent, technical and practical skills then follow with 45 per cent.
The SSCs who have recorded customer handling as the highest skills gap in their
sectors are:






Skills Active (68 per cent)
People 1st (65 per cent)
Skillsmart (62 per cent)
Asset Skills (56 per cent)
GoSkills (53 per cent)
Government Skills (46 per cent).
Those SSCs reporting customer handling as the second highest skill gap in their
sector are:







e-skills (60 per cent)
Financial Services Skills Council (55 per cent)
Skillset (53 per cent)
Skills for Justice (51 per cent)
Energy and Utility Skills (50 per cent)
Automotive Skills (46 per cent)
Lifelong Learning UK (46 per cent).
As an overview Table 8.6 shows the main skills gaps by each sector and identifies the
areas where there are much higher than average skills gaps. This chart shows that
50 per cent of SSCs report customer handling as one of the two main skills gaps area
in their sectors. Of these the SSCs that report a much higher than average skills gaps
in customer handling are:
 Skillsmart Retail
 People 1st
 Skills Active
Table 8.6
SSC
Main two skills gap area by Sector Skills Council
Main two skills gap area
Areas with much higher than average skills gaps
Lantra
Technical and practical skills (60%)
Communication skills (41%)
Technical and practical skills
Cogent
Teamworking skills (56%)
Technical and practical skills (55%)
Problem solving and Teamworking
Technical and practical skills
Proskills
Technical and practical skills (65%)
Teamworking skills (57%)
Technical and practical skills
Literacy and numeracy
Improve
Technical and practical skills (73%)
Teamworking (65%)
Technical and practical skills
a number of soft skill areas and literacy
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 73 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
Table 8.6
Main two skills gap area by Sector Skills Council
SSC
Main two skills gap area
Areas with much higher than average skills gaps
Skillfast-UK
Teamworking skills (57%)
Communication (52%)
Literacy and numeracy
SEMTA
Technical and practical skills (63%)
Teamworking skills (52%)
Technical and practical skills
Energy and Utility Skills
Communication skills (52%)
Customer handling (50%)
–
ConstructionSkills
Technical and practical skills (54%)
Communication skills (42%)
–
SummitSkills
Technical and practical skills (61%)
Communication skills (45%)
Technical and practical skills
Automotive Skills
Technical and practical skills (60%)
Customer handling (46%)
Communication skills (46%)
Technical and practical skills
Skillsmart Retail
Customer handling (62%)
Communication skills (55%)
Customer handling
People 1st
Customer handling (65%)
Communication skills (57%)
Customer handling
GoSkills
Customer handling (53%)
Communication skills (53%)
–
Skills for Logistics
Teamworking skills (61%)
Communication skills (52%)
Teamworking skills and Literacy
Financial Services Skills
Council
Communication skills (56%)
Customer handling (55%)
General IT user skills
Office admin skills
Asset Skills
Customer handling (56%)
Communication skills (50%)
-
Central Government
Customer handling ( 46% )
Problem solving skills ( 45% )
-
Skills for Justice
Communication skills (61%)
Customer handling (51%)
Management skills
General IT user skills and Office admin. skills
Lifelong Learning
Communication skills (51%)
Customer handling (46%)
General IT user skills
Skills for Health
Technical and practical skills (63%)
Communication skills (34%)
Technical and practical skills
Skills for Care and
Development
Teamworking (56%)
Communication skills (53%)
–
Skillset
Communication skills (62%)
Customer handling (53%)
Teamworking (53%)
Communication skills
Creative and Cultural Skills
Communication skills (54%)
Technical and practical skills (48%)
Management
Office admin. skills and IT professional skills
SkillsActive
Customer handling (68%)
Teamworking skills (55%)
Customer handling
Non-SSC employers
Communication skills (53%)
Teamworking skills (49%)
–
Base: All skills gaps followed up.
Notes: In the final column ‘much higher than average’ has been defined as a skill area being 11 per cent or more likely to be
mentioned within an SSC sector than the all-sector average.
Source: NESS 2004, published 2005
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 74 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 8: Contact centres and skills gaps
8.5 Contact centre specifics by country
From the customer service trends identified in the previous sections, it can be
assumed that similar trends apply to the contact centre sector. However, there is a
risk employers may have reservations with this approach in respect of the direct
correlation between the broad customer service statistics and the specifics of the
contact centre sector. The patterns of occupational change and employment
projections outlined in Section 10 of this report give clear indications of the
predicted number of jobs in the sector and trends anticipated by the private sector
research sources that represent the most reliable data for the industry. Given that
the data includes details of the four countries, of regions in England relating to
employment levels and also that primary research investigated opinions on regional
training patterns, there is no reason to believe that significant regional variations in
skills shortages or gaps is a major challenge. More detailed work will be needed on a
country by country basis and within regions when actions and priorities are
considered within the Sector Qualification Strategy to be developed from this LMI.
The distribution of contact centres by country and region are shown in Section 10.3
of this report. In England, the North East, the North West and Yorkshire were the
dominant regions in 2007. Sector employment in Scotland equated to a single large
English region. Relevant employment in Wales and Northern Ireland was in each
case smaller than the smallest English region. No feature of these statistics gives any
cause to believe that skills shortages and gaps for contact centres differ from the
patterns revealed by the generic customer service data. Predicted growth rates
2007 to 2011 shown in Table 10.10 show high rates of growth in Northern Ireland,
Scotland and Wales. However, those growth rates do not differ significantly from
the rates for the larger English regions so there is no evidence of a rapid catch-up by
those countries. Skills shortages and gaps specific to the sector are therefore likely
to involve relatively small numbers in the foreseeable future.
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 75 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.
Contact centre qualifications and training
9.1
Contact centre qualifications
Qualifications undertaken and already gained in the contact centre sector vary
considerably. As this report shows individuals and groups in the contact centre
sector have often chosen to use customer service qualifications rather than those
designed specifically for contact centres. However there are still a significant
number of contact centre qualifications in the National Framework as shown in
Figure 9.1. These qualifications range from Levels 1 to 5 and are made up of
NVQs/VRQs and new QCF qualifications.
Table 9.1
National qualifications in contact centres
Qualification
No.
Qualification Title Current
Level
Qualification
Type
City & Guilds Level 1 Certificate in Introduction to the Contact Centre Industry
100/5317/7
1
VRQ
City & Guilds Level 1 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/5899/0
1
NVQ
City & Guilds Level 2 Certificate in Contact Centre Skills
100/4422/X
2
VRQ
City & Guilds Level 2 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/4758/X
2
NVQ
City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Contact Centre Skills
100/4423/1
3
VRQ
City & Guilds Level 3 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals
100/4759/1
3
NVQ
CCN Level 3 Certificate in Financial Services Call Centre Operations
500/7956/6
3
QCF
City & Guilds Level 1 Certificate for Introduction to the Contact Centre Industry
500/7441/6
1
QCF
EDEXCEL Level 1 BTEC Award in Introduction to Contact Centres
100/5007/3
1
VRQ
EDEXCEL Level 1 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/4761/X
1
NVQ
EDEXCEL Level 2 BTEC Award in Contact Centre Skills
100/5008/5
2
VRQ
EDEXCEL Level 2 BTEC Certificate in Customer Contact (QCF)
500/5535/5
2
QCF
EDEXCEL Level 2 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/4762/1
2
NVQ
EDEXCEL Level 3 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals
100/4763/3
3
NVQ
OCR Level 1 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/4643/4
1
NVQ
OCR Level 2 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
100/4644/6
2
NVQ
OCR Level 3 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals
100/4645/8
3
NVQ
OCR Level 4 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals (Original NQF Level)
100/4646/X
4
NVQ
OCR Level 5 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals (Original NQF Level)
100/4647/1
5
NVQ
Skillsfirst Level 2 NVQ in Contact Centre Operations
500/8003/9
2
NVQ
Skillsfirst Level 3 NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals
500/8004/0
3
NVQ
In a search of the national data for statistical information about NVQ/SVQ contact
centres qualifications again, only major group trends were found and limited records
of take-up for contact centres were found. Therefore, for the purpose of this
section, sales and customer service qualifications have had to be used from the
major groups. As indicated in Table 9.2 overleaf “N/SVQ uses SOC for analytical
purposes to identify the major occupation group where the qualification would best
fit. It does not mean that the person who achieved the award works in the same
occupational area” 66.
66
The Data Service, Supplementary release to Statistical First Release: DS/SFR2, 26th March 2009
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 76 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Given the link between customer service and contact centres found throughout this
report there is no reason to believe that the patterns of take-up of sales and
customer service occupations could not be used as a similar measure in terms of
contact centres qualifications. In particular, the data in Table 9.2 shows that Level 2
NVQs/SVQs in sales and customer service have significantly higher take up (41,000)
than Levels 1 (2,000) and 3 (8,000) with none shown at levels 4 and 5.
Table 9.2
Source: The Data Service, Supplementary release to Statistical First Release: DS/SFR2, 26th March 2009
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 77 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
This assumption is demonstrated by the statistical information that was available for
contact centre qualifications take-up as detailed in Table 9.2(a). As mentioned
previously, this information is limited as it reflects take-up and achievements for
2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for contact centre qualifications currently on the National
Framework as well as which were available during this period for England and Wales
only. However, the table shows that the take-up for Level 2 NVQs in contact centres
(2,057) was significantly higher than that for Level 1 (30) and Level 3 (510) although
there was a small take-up at Level 4 (4) and none at Level 5. The achievement rates
for the same period reflect a similar pattern. Figures for Scotland were not available.
Table 9.2(a)
Contact centre qualifications - achievements and enrolments
Achievements
Qualification Title
Level
Type
BTEC Award in Contact Centre Skills*
BTEC Award in Contact Centre Supervisory Skills*
BTEC Award in Introduction to Contact Centres*
Call Centre Operations
2006/
2007
2007/
2008
6
TOTAL
2007/
2008
TOTAL
13
19
6
19
25
181
74
255
225
84
309
4
17
21
7
20
27
15
Certificate in Call Handling
VRQ
5
Certificate in Contact Centre Skills
1
VRQ
Certificate in Contact Centre Skills*
2
VRQ
Certificate in Contact Centre Skills*
3
VRQ
21
VRQ
339
Certificate in Contact Centre Techniques
Certificate in Introduction to the Contact Centre Industry*
1
Enrolments
2006/
2007
VRQ
National Award in Call Centre Skills
15
15
1
6
14
9
9
15
5
19
11
11
0
1
1
92
113
45
229
274
6
345
383
7
390
51
51
53
53
10
10
20
20
NVQ In Contact Centre Operations*
1
NVQ
24
19
43
48
30
78
NVQ In Contact Centre Operations*
2
NVQ
1171
1270
2441
1923
2057
3980
NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals*
3
NVQ
244
306
550
466
510
976
NVQ for Contact Centre Professionals*
4
NVQ
7
4
11
11
4
15
NVQ in Call Handling Operations
2
NVQ
23
3
26
32
5
37
NVQ in Call Handling Operations
4
NVQ
14
2
16
16
2
18
2054
1877
3931
3192
3056
6248
* Current qualifications on the National Framework
The higher demand for Level 2 qualifications is also evidenced in the completion
numbers for Apprenticeships in England and Wales as detailed Table 9.2(b) which
shows a similar pattern of demand year on year since 2005/2006. However, during
2009/2010 the number of completions for both Modern Apprenticeships and
Advanced Apprenticeships significantly increased by approximately 200 per cent
which indicates a continued demand for contact centre qualifications. It is assumed
that there have been few, if any, completions of the Higher Apprenticeships in
contact centres.
Note: the figures included in Table 9.2(b) are for a full year.
© Skills CFA 2010
Information April 2010
Page 78 of 115
Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Table 9.2(b)
Contact Centre Apprenticeships - Completions and Registrations
Academic Year
Apprenticeships
Country
2005/2006
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
Totals
Modern Apprenticeship in Contact Centres
England
172
533
521
348
1260
2834
Modern Apprenticeship in Contact Centres
Wales
31
84
122
117
75
429
Advanced Apprenticeship in Contact Centres
England
20
43
53
59
161
336
Advanced Apprenticeship in Contact Centres
Wales
10
10
18
16
23
77
All Apprenticeships Registrations
Scotland
33
14
18
6
26
97
All Apprenticeships Completions
Scotland
218
58
40
27
0
343
484
742
772
573
1545
4116
In Table 9.3 the results for this major group in England and Wales show that the
highest take-up in qualifications overall are for Level 2 (30 per cent), followed by
Level 1 (20 per cent) and Level 3 (10 per cent). Of additional interest is the number
of qualifications at Levels 4 and 5 in an occupational area where NVQs and SVQs are
not popular at these levels, and the 72 per cent take up of qualifications by females
with 28 per cent male.
Table 9.3
Gender and level of qualification for major group sales and customer service
England and Wales
Sales and customer service
occupations
All people
Males qualification levels
Female qualification levels
All
No
qualifications
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
2,450,903
575,718
547,725
717,228
325,502
677,683
113,781
130,861
215,677
1,773,220
461,937
416,864
501,551
Level 4/5
Other
qualifications
level unknown
183,949
100,781
120,516
69,713
27,135
204,986
114,236
73,646
All people aged 16 - 74
Note: 1. The highest level of qualification variable uses both the educational and vocational qualifications question, and the
professional qualifications question.
No qualifications: No academic, vocational or professional qualifications.
Level 1: 1+ ‘O’ levels/CSE/GCSE (any grade), NVQ level 1, Foundation GNVQ.
Level 2: 5+ ‘O’ levels, 5+ CSEs (grade 1), 5+ GCSEs (grade A – C), School Certificate, 1+ ‘A’ levels/’AS’ levels, NVQ level 2, Intermediate
GNVQ or equivalents.
Level 3: 2+ ‘A’ levels, 4+ ‘AS’ levels, Higher School Certificate, NVQ level 3, Advanced GNVQ or equivalents.
Level 4/5: First degree, Higher Degree, NVQ levels 4 – 5, HNC, HND, Qualified Teacher Status, Qualified Medical Doctor, Qualified
Dentist, Qualified Nurse, Midwife, Health Visitor or equivalents.
Other qualifications/level unknown: Other qualifications (e.g. City and Guilds, RSA/OCR, BTEC/Edexcel), Other Professional
Qualifications.
Source: ONS, Census 2001, Table S113
In addition, the ONS survey shows that females have the highest achievement rates
at Level 1 (24 percent) whilst males show the highest percentage achievements for
Level 2 (32 per cent), Level 3 (18 per cent) and Level 4 (10 per cent).
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Regardless of which qualifications people in contact centres already possess or
choose to undertake, focus group input suggested that employers in the sector are
suspicious of qualifications. Many feel that the secret of success in relation to staff
skills lies with recruitment of the right people. They believe that attitude and
personality are the determinants of good personal performance and that
qualifications, especially those which simply provide recognition of current
performance rather than developing skills further, add little value to staff
development. In a few cases, employers express concern about providing staff with
qualifications which they subsequently use to move to other jobs. There is no
extensive data available on the use of qualifications in the sector beyond that
outlined above.
9.2
Contact Centre Apprenticeships
9.2.1 Background to Apprenticeships
Contact Centre Apprenticeships are offered at Levels 2 and 3 across the four UK
Countries. Contact Centre Apprentices work in a range of job roles for example:
Level 2 Apprentices could work in roles such as Receptionist; Administrator; Help
Desk; Customer Services Advisor, Contact Centre Operator and Contact Centre Agent
Level 3 Apprentices could work in roles such as Customer Services Team Leader;
Senior Contact Centre Agent; Operations Manager; Contact Centre Manager;
Product Specialist; Sales Advisor; Sales Team Leader; Sales Team Manager;
Scheduling and Resource Manager with additional opportunities to move into the
more ‘back office’ roles such as human resources, marketing, quality control and
training.
At both levels jobs in contact centres could involve working in a diverse number of
industries for instance; IT, Telecommunications, Finance, Administration, National
Health Service, Police, Ambulance Service, Retail, Travel, Sales, Hospitality etc.
There is also the opportunity for an apprentice to progress to a Higher
Apprenticeship involving a Foundation Degree for Contact Centres.
Contact Centres span virtually all industries, offering employment opportunities and
transferability in Finance, Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, Marketing and Retail to
name just a few.
Evidence has shown 67 that Customer Service Apprenticeships follow the same
pattern of employment as Contact Centre Apprenticeships and leave the same
footprint. However Customer Service Apprenticeships in Contact Centres enjoy
higher volumes of take-up with 10 per cent of Apprentice Achievers in Customer
Service coming from employer ‘identified’ ‘Contact Centres’.
67
Customer Service Skills, now and the future, ICS, 2008, page 28
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.2.2 Apprenticeship take up
Figure 9.1 below shows Apprenticeship starts for both Contact Centres and
Customer Service in England and Wales with total starts over the four years of 7,100
for Contact Centres and 103,500 for Customer Service.
Figure 9.1
Source: the Data Service: Table S6.1: Apprenticeship Programme Starts by Sector Framework Code (2003/04 to 2008/09)
Figure 9.2
Source: the Data Service: Table S11.1 : Apprenticeship Framework Starts (2005/06 to
2008/09) and ICS Customer Service Apprenticeship Database
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Figure 9.2 above shows the number of bespoke contact centre Apprentices against
the 10 per cent of Customer Service Apprentices who worked in Contact Centres
over the years 2003-2009. ICS believes that this 10 per cent should be much higher
as not every employer would have identified their organisation as a contact centre
where the contact centre work would take place in just one section of their
organisations. In this case they would be more likely identify themselves in a sector
capacity such as financial services, hospitality etc. Nevertheless with just this basic
raw data, employer preferences for Customer Service Apprenticeships over Contact
Centres does begin to be identified.
In the year 2009-2010* a total of 937 Contact Centre Apprentices achieved their
Frameworks. Of these 847 were in England, 62 in Wales and 28 in Scotland. In
terms of the Level that these Apprentice achievers were taking, 89 percent in
England and 73 per cent in Wales were working at Level 2. In Scotland all were at
Level 3 as the Contact Centre apprenticeship at Level 2 in Scotland was not available
at that time 68.
* Note: the figures included in this section are partial year figures which were
available at the time of the original submission of this report.
9.2.3 Contact centre apprentice male/female take up
Of the 937 Contact Centre Apprentices who achieved their Frameworks in the year
2009-2010 60 percent in England, 61 per cent in Wales and 60 per cent in Scotland
were female.
These results support the finding throughout this report that more significantly more
females than males work in contact centres.
9.2.4 Contact centre apprenticeship employers and apprentice job roles
Table 9.4 gives a list of actual job roles of the apprentices and a list of employers
who are currently using contact centre apprenticeships across the UK.
Table 9.4
Apprentice job roles and employer engagement
Apprentice Job Roles
Employers using CC Apprenticeships
68
Advisor
AA Insurance
Agent
Abbey
Agent - Helpdesk
Alphyra UK Ltd
Bank Clerk
Ambulance Service
BT Operator
Atos Origin
BT Sales Advisor
Blackhorse Finance
Business Developer Executive
British Gas
Call Centre Advisor
Bron Afon
ICS Contact Centre Certificated Achievers dbase - ongoing
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Centre Manager
BT
Communication Officer
Butlins
Contact Centre
Chums Ltd
Contact Centre Administrator
Come Shopping
Contact Centre Advisor
Comms Direct
Control Assistant
Conwy County Borough Council
Crime Recorder
Conwy County Council
CS Rep
Cosmos
CSA
Dial-a-cab
Customer Care Advisor
Domestic & General
Customer Service Advisor
Dovetail Services
Customer Service Agent
Epay Ltd
Customer Service Officer
Garlands Call Centre
Customer Service Representative
Gasbox DMG
Customer Support Officer
Haven Holidays
Help Desk Agent
HPB Travel
Helpdesk Advisor
HSBC Bank
Helpdesk Advisor
ING Direct
Insurance Advisor
Legal Advice Bureau
Internal Sales Consultant
Loop customer Management
Sales / Telesales
Microheaven
Sales Advisor
Motor Services
Sales Agent
Open Contact
Sales/Customer Service
Pearson Education
Team Coach
Royal Bank of Scotland
Team Manager
Royal College of Nursing
Telephonist
RPMI
Telesales
Scottish and Southern
Training Manager
Siemens Energy Services
Travel Advisor
Sitel
Smart Contact
T.Mobile
The Hartford
Tick Insurance
T-Mobile
University of Wales
Vodafone
Wales Domestic Abuse Helpline
Zerographics
Zurich
Source: ICS Contact Centre achievers database – December 2009
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Contact Centre Labour Market
Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.3
Contact centre training
More and more companies are starting to realise that the Contact Centre is vital to
brand management and customer satisfaction. Many customers only contact with a
company will be dealt with by their Contact Centre. This has resulted in major
investment by companies into the development of their contact centre workforce
and improving the working conditions for their employees.
Evolving from the old style Call Centres of a few years ago, modern day Contact
Centres now handle a range of customer enquires through numerous forms of
media. These days Customer Service Agents will not only use a telephone but also
the Internet, e-mail, SMS messaging, fax and regular post.
The exploitation of new technology and efforts to improve customer retention
through providing added value services mean that employees working in a contact
centre or as the first point of contact in an organisation now require new levels of
technical, linguistic and interpersonal skills.
As shown in this report, the profile of a good contact centre agent is defined in terms
of attributes and characteristics with empathy, reliability and team skills the most
important in the eyes of employers. Drawn from the UK Contact Centre DecisionMaker’s guide 2009 69, this evidence is set alongside findings on training and
coaching which place the skills agenda very high for contact centres as they strive to
improve customer satisfaction and quality in an ever more competitive field.
The skills required of contact centre agents often vary with the basics of call handling
and information giving often supplemented by up-selling and cross-selling
requirements. It is anticipated that the required skill set will continue to expand and
therefore that training and coaching will continue to be a central part of contact
centre activities as well as a recruitment focus on finding the right people in the first
place. The continuing issue of high attrition rates places further emphasis on these
needs for skills development.
In its Decision Maker’s Guide based on a 2008 survey of a random sample of some
200 contact centres, ContactBabel reports that most employers divide skills needs
into hard skills and soft skills. The hard skills are seen as including:





69
data entry speeds
system navigation
product knowledge
application use
understanding of relevant business processes.
UK Contact Centre Decision-Maker’s guide 2009, ContactBabel
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
The relevant and related softer skills match more closely to behaviour and the less
measurable areas of





empathy and listening skills
cross-selling and up-selling
team working skills
self-motivation
dealing with difficult customers.
The study identifies a series of key stages of training separating induction and basic
training from on-going training, specialist agent training and finally team leader
training. The cost of bringing an agent up to speed is a significant consideration in
the replacement and growth process and hence there is considerable interest in
establishing what the most cost-effective methods for training are.
An earlier expression of industry views of skills and training is outlined in the 2004
DTI Report 70. This makes a firm distinction between education and skills training.
The report points out that much is often made of the availability and desirability of
graduates for the industry but that there is no clear evidence about whether a
degree makes any difference to how well most contact centre jobs are performed.
The report further lists the skills which employers consider essential in their agents
as being






verbal communication skills
interpersonal skills
keyboard skills
work experience in customer service
experience in telephone working
educational qualifications.
Most contact centres reported a very active training regime and an expectation that
new recruits would require substantial training during the probationary period. It is
reported that the average agent receives 12 days training a year and 50% more than
in the case of outbound operations. The report also gives a profile of the typical
educational attainment of staff in UK contact centres which is shown in Table 9.5
below.
9.5
Typical educational attainment of staff in UK contact centres
Type of employee
GCSE / ‘O’ Level
‘A’ Level
Degree
Core employees
77%
10%
13%
Team Leaders
45%
33%
20%
Managers
17%
27%
50%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and CCA/Sheffield University - “Human resource management in
Call Centres”
70
DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
The DTI report also makes reference to the Contact Centre Association Standard
Framework for Best Practice and the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for
Contact centres (at that time the responsibility of e-Skills UK). These two
frameworks underpin a range of accreditations and qualifications that can be gained
at individual and organisational level alongside more generic quality accreditations
such as ISO and Investors in People. The training section of the DTI report
summarises the situation as follows
“The need for more training is widely felt, and although some detailed skills and
qualifications frameworks have been put in place recently, the industry needs to be
encouraged and educated in how best to use them. Some businesses do not support
qualifications which prove - rather than develop - employees’ skills, as they fear that
these only make the employee more attractive to other organisations 71.”
In summary the training market in contact centres is not yet mature and it is
therefore hard to analyse supply in any detail. The key features of the supply side
revealed by available data are that:




because many contact centres opt for customer service training and
qualifications, trends can be interpreted from that data
the emphasis on in-house training is significant and, as such, is hard to quantify
beyond what is made available in industry surveys
the recent transfer to the ICS of responsibility for the contact centre standards
means that reporting patterns on take-up of dedicated contact centre
qualifications are still being established
there is evidence particularly of private training provider activity regionally
where demand makes it viable.
These features combine with a level of disinterest in qualifications within the sector
to mean that provision across the sector is fragmented other than where the more
generic customer service approach is used.
9.4 Matching training supply with demand
9.4.1 Overview of training mismatches
Given the pattern of training use outlined elsewhere in this report, there is limited
information available at this stage about the match or mismatch between supply and
demand. However, it is possible to draw broad conclusions both from the evidence
of primary research in the focus groups and from secondary research, especially that
carried out by ContactBabel in the UK Contact Centre Decision Makers’ Guide (7th
edition 2009). In overview, the most important features to note are the
overwhelming industry preference for in-house training and the problems associated
with collecting detailed data that is representative of more than 5,000 contact
centres spread across many economic sectors.
71
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and CCA/Sheffield University - “Human resource management in
Call Centres”
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.4.2 No evidence of unfulfilled demand
Primary research through focus groups provided no evidence of employers seeking
courses or qualifications that are not being offered. Employers show an overall
awareness of provision by both public and private sector providers without stating
that there are gaps in that provision. Providers active in this sector appear to form
strong links with employers in their area.
The take-up of apprenticeships has been limited but the reasons for this are not
currently clear. However, there is no reason to believe that funding patterns are a
major influence. Employers express only a limited interest in Government funding
patterns. This appears to be because of a determination for all training to be
tailored closely to organisational needs and a sense that this is not easily achieved
with external funding. The focus groups and other consultative activities did not
reveal any significant regional differences in demand and supply.
9.4.3 Specific gaps in training provision
Focus group feedback revealed no specific gaps in provision relating to the
mainstream occupations in the sector. There is general recognition of specialist
provision in various interpersonal skills areas such as anger calming and customer
service. Employers also acknowledge that there is a strong provision for more
technical skills such as data entry and software system navigation, The general view
of specialist training is positive although much of that positive view results from it
being arranged and delivered in-house.
The area in which some training gaps are reported correspond to reported skills gaps
in project management, resource planning, IT architecture and commercial skills, all
of these at more senior levels. Whilst some of these areas are sufficiently generic to
provide training opportunities together with learners from other sectors, there is
concern that it is hard to source training that is specific to the industry.
Identification of further trends and patterns in this area will require further research
and monitoring especially of the direction that the sector wishes to take with inhouse training.
9.4.4 Limited take-up of existing provision
As reported elsewhere, it has been difficult to establish take-up figures for available
NVQ / SVQ contact centre qualifications. The apprenticeship figures reported above
show a low take-up from over 600,000 agents/operators. However, this is offset to
an indeterminate level by numbers taking customer service qualifications as their
preferred option. Overall, there is no substantial evidence of courses and training on
offer that are not being accesses.
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.4.5 Attributes of new recruits
Focus group input reports the easing of the labour market for operators in that
applicants tend to be better qualified than in the past and see the employment
options in contact centres as longer term rather than stop-gap. Employers are keen
to find applicants with a complimentary set of skills that includes hard technical skills
and soft interpersonal skills. Employers report that it is the combination of hard and
soft skills that create any shortages. Those shortages can be exacerbated by higher
attrition rates with employers reporting the natural feeling that it is too often those
with higher skill levels who leave.
9.4.6 Skills supply matches demand
In the most important employment area for the sector, employers in the focus group
report that it is generally possible to recruit in sufficient numbers when seeking
operators/agents. In particular, they quote a willingness on the part of applicants to
see the role as longer-term and a possible career step rather than as a short-term
placement. This fit between supply and demand contrasts somewhat with
mismatches at higher and technical levels that are reported elsewhere.
9.4.7 Skills supply does not meet demand
Using information provided by focus groups and supported in ContractBabel reports,
there is evidence that in some specific technical and managerial areas it is hard to
find recruits or to promote staff progression. The skills areas most often identified in
this regard are:






resource planning
project management
team leader and people skills
skills in management of teams remotely
IT architecture
commercial skills.
It is hard to identify the causes of these difficulties and it is equally difficult to
understand what actions might be taken to address such specialist needs.
9.4.8 Employer recruitment preferences
The contact centre sector attracts a very wide range of recruits. Many employers
adopt complex recruitment processes to identify combinations of skills that they
require from recruits. They express no preference for any particular qualifications
held by recruits including the types of degree held by the many graduates who join
the sector. Expressed in stronger terms by some, qualifications may even be seen as
irrelevant beyond the point where they offer proof of functional literacy, numeracy
and IT awareness.
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
Perhaps the only preferences expressed are those for recruits with previous
experience and who can also display the more abstract attribute of emotional
intelligence with a level of maturity. In summary, the attributes most respected by
employers are not easily evidenced by qualifications.
9.4.9 Skills requirements and qualifications
The match between skills requirements and the existing suites of NOS and workbased qualifications indicates various needs that should be addressed in the Sector
Qualifications Strategy. Firstly, the possibility of drawing customer service and
contact centre standards closer together should address some of the concerns about
the combination of skills needed in the sector. A further development that is likely
to influence skills needs in the future relates to a general industry move to extend
self-service. This is likely to reduce the number of jobs available demanding only
lower level skills and thus raise the average skill level demanded of operators /
agents. If a Qualification Strategy is to succeed, it will need to forge a firm link with
the development of personal confidence and emotional intelligence.
9.5 Investment in skills
9.5.1 Overview of skills development and costs
Primary research in focus groups indicates that there is substantial investment in
skills development across the contact centre industry. The focus on in-house
training clearly outlined elsewhere in this report makes that investment hard to
quantify. However, ContactBabel data gives a clear indication of the direction taken
generally in the industry. Most, if not all, organisations provide structured induction,
regular updates and encouragement of career progression. As has been indicated
elsewhere, the balance of funding for this investment is unclear due to the difficulty
of establishing take-up of contact centre qualifications. However, it is clear that the
relatively low levels of Apprenticeship participation indicate that very limited public
funding has been applied to the sector.
9.5.2 ContactBabel evidence
In the Decision Makers’ Guide of 2009, ContactBabel reports on training and
coaching in the industry. The report emphasises increased attention to customer
service as a driver for training together with the increasingly complex roles that
operators/agents are expected to undertake. It reports substantial investment as
being the norm while recognising that some organisations are reluctant to indulge in
training leading to qualifications that will enable staff to change jobs more easily.
The report also lists examples of the hard and soft skills that employers consider
most important to deliver. Examples of the hard skills include
 data entry speeds
 system navigation
 product knowledge
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
 software application use
 understanding of business processes.
Examples of the soft skills include:





empathy and listening skills
cross-selling and up-selling
managing team dynamics
developing self-motivation
dealing with abusive customers.
These findings support the need for integration of the hard and soft skills in the
qualification offers that should be developed.
9.5.3 Induction training and getting up to speed
Induction is seen as a very important element of operator/agent training. The
effectiveness of this training is seen as an important contribution to the costeffectiveness of the operation as a whole. Induction training is reported to include
mentoring, on-the-job practice, buddying classroom activities and some e-learning.
Induction course costs are estimated by ContactBabel to average over £1,500 per
operator/agent. However, the figure is considerably lower in outsourcing operations
at £400. This can be explained mainly by the higher incidence of ‘campaign work’ in
those centres and the greater number of transient staff.
When asked about the time taken for a new operator/agent to become fully
productive the average answer is 7.7 weeks. There is variation between the sectors
with the longest period being some 12.8 weeks in the highly regulated Insurance
sector and the shortest period being 4.8 weeks in outsourcing operations. It is clear
that all of these results represent substantial investment on the part of employers.
9.5.4 On-going training and coaching
After and operator/agent has achieved basic competence, most organisations switch
responsibility for their day-to-day development. That responsibility is supported by
regular and targeted formal training, either in-house or run externally, in addition to
e-learning opportunities. The pattern of training varies but an average consists of
30% product and market updates, 30% behavioural and soft skills training and 40%
training on internal systems and processes. Concern is expressed by employers
about the proportion of training that needs to be undertaken to update on systems
as the legacy of older software is overtaken by incremental improvements. This
training, therefore, should probably be seen as a cost of system development rather
than as a contribution to skills development. With regard to the types of training
and hours of training undertaken by operators/agents, ContractBabel reports a wide
variety as illustrated in the table below.
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Section 9: Contact centre qualifications and training
9.6 Types of on-going training (hours per agent week)
Sector
Coaching
eLearning
Classroom
training
0.9
1.4
0.8
Total ongoing
training
6.0
3.4
3.3
Finance
3.7
1.4
Insurance
1.5
0.4
Transport &
1.4
1.0
travel
Outsourcing
2.0
0.6
0.7
3.2
Public sector
1.8
0.5
0.9
3.2
Retail &
1.9
0.4
0.8
3.1
Distribution
Services
2.1
0.2
0.8
3.1
Manufacturing
1.7
0.4
0.7
2.8
IT
1.3
0.2
1.1
2.6
Telecoms &
1.6
0.4
0.4
2.4
Utilities
Average
1.9
0.5
0.8
3.3
NB ‘Classroom training’ data converted from ‘days per year’ into ‘hours per week’ by
assuming 8 hours per day, and dividing by 52 weeks.
Source: The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide (2009) ContactBabel
This illustrates both the variety of investment in training by the industry and, with an
average of 3.3 hours per day, the high level of that investment. It is indeed unusual
for some 8% of total time worked to be allocated to training on a regular basis.
9.5.5 Team leader coaching and development
There is general recognition across the industry that team leaders have an important
role to play in the development of their own operators/agents. ContactBabel
research has investigated the time which this group spends on coaching and
development of their own team leader skills. The results are shown in the table
below.
9.7 Weekly hours of coaching and development for team leaders
Sector
Weekly hours of coaching and development
for team leaders
Finance
2.8
IT
2.3
Insurance
2.3
Transport & Travel
2.3
Outsourcing
2.2
Manufacturing
2.0
Telecoms & Utilities
1.9
Public Sector
1.7
Services
1.7
Retail & Distribution
1.5
Average
2.0
Souce: The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide (2009) ContactBabel
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This coaching and development maybe carried out by more senior line managers or
by dedicated in-house or external trainers. This time allocation is in addition to the
average of just less than two hours per week that a team leader spends coaching
their own team members. That commits some 60% of the average team leader’s
time. The cost of team leaders’ time allocated to learning and to coaching others is
therefore a substantial investment for the industry.
9.5.6 Financial estimates of investment in training
Despite the extensive evidence of time spent in training and development activities,
there is very little indication of what that represents in financial terms. A substantial
amount of training is undertaken in-house so some costs are bound to be hidden in
fixed overheads. Spending on training is regarded as commercially confidential as is
the revenue derived from the industry by training providers, both public and private.
No figures are easily available regarding public funding allocated to the sector. The
conclusion must be that the industry invests more heavily than many in training but
that this statement cannot be quantified.
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
10.
Occupational change and employment projections in Contact Centres
10.1
UK growth in contact centres and employment
10.1.1 Measuring contact centre employment
Measuring the numbers of people employed in UK contact centres presents various
challenges. The statistics that are available sometimes represent total employment
but more often are restricted to the numbers of agents or "seats" within contact
centres. Both measures are valid especially since it is difficult to achieve any
precision about non-agent positions where the contact centre is incorporated into
the general operational structure of an organisation as opposed to where it is run by
an outsourcing organisation dedicated to contact centre operations.
A further challenge is presented by the mixture of full-time and part-time
employment as there are a significant number of part-time posts in the sector.
However, this becomes a marginal issue if the statistics are being considered from
the point of view of skills development as part-time staff are equally likely to have
significant skills needs. It is also likely that part-time employment in the sector is
seen as a progression route by many and thus that it is the total number employed
that should be of interest here.
In relation to the contact centre sector, various assumptions are commonly made as
they became accepted wisdom during the most aggressive growth period of the
industry and customers more commonly experienced the use of contact centres for
the first time. The most frequently quoted assumptions are that:
 staff turnover is high and very few people stay in the contact centre




environment for very long
contact centre work is extremely repetitive and mechanical requiring little more
than the ability to follow a script
many of the jobs in contact centres are carried out by students on vacation or in
gap years
new graduates use contact centre jobs as a stop-gap whilst waiting to find a
career path
most agent positions are held by women.
It is not appropriate here to analyse or challenge the veracity of these assumptions
but many of them are challenged by the evidence that appears elsewhere in this
report. Suffice it to say at this point that employment patterns in the industry
present far more balance than is represented by these commonly held views and
consequently that the range of evidence presented should be considered carefully.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 93 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
10.1.2 ONS employment evidence
Once again, there are difficulties associated with tracking these changes due to the
problem of reconciling Government statistics of the ONS with the broader base
acknowledged by the Industry. In 2004 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
commissioned a study of The UK Contact Centre Industry. Since 2004 trends have
been tracked using an extensive Industry database by ContactBabel, an independent
research Agency. The estimates in this section are therefore formed from a
combination of these sources to provide evidence of very considerable growth
patterns that seem set to continue in the Industry.
However the ONS figures are at odds with industry estimates of growth. As shown in
Table 10.1 the ONS report shows a decline in numbers from 2006. One possible
explanation, if the balance of sector employment has shifted from outsourced
contact centre services to centres being run in house, is that contact centre
employment pattern will be reported elsewhere in ONS statistics among separate
sectors. Evidence to this effect is shown below.
Table 10.1
April – June
C all centre agents and operators
Total
000s
2002
78
2003
77
2004
93
2005
88
2006
112
2007
104
2008
96
2009
84
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey, Employment status 2002-2009
% Increase /
Decrease
n/a
-1.3%
20.8%
-5.4%
27.3%
-7.1%
-7.7%
-12.5%
10.1.3 DTI and independent employment evidence
These figures are in marked contrast with the growth pattern reported by the
Industry. However, this could be explained if they represent only outsourced
services and the increases can be traced to contact centres run in-house.
Based on the DTI 2004 survey, collated and analysed data showed steady growth in
the number of contact centres in the period 1995 and predicted continuing growth
through to 2007 as shown in Table 10.2 below.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 94 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
Table 10.2
The UK Contact Centre Industry - contact centres, 1995-2007
Year
Contact centres
% increase
1995
2515
n/a
1996
2740
9%
1997
3070
12%
1998
3470
13%
1999
3990
15%
2000
4470
12%
2001
4825
8%
2002
5065
5%
2003
5320
5%
2004
5535
4%
2005
5700
3%
2006
5845
3%
2007
5980
2%
Sources: Collation and analysis of data from Gartner Dataquest, Data monitor and ContactBabel based on the DTI report, The
UK contact centre industry - a study 2004
These numbers were subsequently reduced by the on-going monitoring carried out
by Contact Babel shown in Table 10.3. However, the results still reflect continuing
growth through to the 2011 forecast. It is also significant that the forecasts indicate
a growth in the average size of each centre meaning that the growth in employment
will be greater again.
Table 10.3
Year
Growth of UK contact centres 2007 - 2011
Contact centres
% growth
2007
5180
2.8%
2008
5250
1.4%
2009
5300
1.0%
2010
5350
0.9%
2011
5400
0.9%
Source: - UK contact centres in 2008 - The state of the industry; ContactBabel, 2008
Average centre size
(agent positions)
123
128
132
136
140
Further collated and analysed data based on the DTI report extended reporting from
centre numbers to employment numbers by measuring the agent positions for all
centres. It should be noted that this reporting still does not cover all employment in
the sector because the figures do not include management and support positions.
Indeed it is estimated that there is one additional post for each two agent positions
making the total employment in the sector in 2007 over one million.
Table 10.4
UK Contact Centre Industry - Agent Positions, 1995-2007
Year
Agent positions (000s)
% increase
1995
143.9
n/a
1996
169.8
18%
1997
203.8
20%
1998
264.9
30%
1999
331.2
25%
2000
387.5
17%
2001
430.1
11%
2002
460.2
7%
2003
494.3
7%
2004
538.7
9%
2005
581.8
8%
2006
616.7
6%
2007
647.6
5%
Sources: Collation and analysis of data from Gartner Dataquest, Data monitor and ContactBabel based on the DTI report, The
UK contact centre industry - a study 2004
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 95 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
From 1995 to 2007 predicted growth in agent positions was in the order of 350%.
Once again the Contact Babel figures for 2007 were somewhat lower than the
collated analysis in Table 10.4 above. Their estimates for 2007 - 2011 are shown in
Table 10.5 below. It should be noted once again that only agent positions are
measured and thus that using the 2:1 ratio of agents:support total employment for
the sector in 2011 may be in the order of 1.1 million.
Table 10.5
UK Agent positions 2007 - 2011
Year
Agent positions (000s)
2007
638
2008
673
2009
702
2010
730
2011
755
Source - Contact Babel - UK contact centres in 2008 - The state of the industry
% growth
7.8%
5.5%
4.2%
4.0%
3.5%
Once again these statistics are in marked contrast with ONS figures showing a
decline in outsourced services. However, they do reflect the evidence of
qualification take-up presented later in this report and on-going growth is certainly
the pattern that should be heeded in relation to qualification strategies.
The final analysis in this section reflects the apparent growth in average size of
contact centre. It highlights the importance of the concentration of employment in
the industry within the largest units despite the significant number of smaller
operations.
Table 10.6
Agent positions and contact centres by size of contact centre
Agents per centre
Contact centres
% of contact centres
Agent positions
10 - 50
304
62.1%
51 - 100
904
17.0%
101 - 150
303
5.7%
151 - 200
165
3.1%
201 - 250
138
2.6%
251 - 500
277
5.2%
501 - 1000
170
3.2%
1001+
59
1.1%
Total
5,320
100%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study
69,228
56,721
34,364
27,348
29,748
83,520
105,125
88,200
494,254
% of agent
positions
14%
11%
7%
6%
6%
17%
21%
18%
100%
Given that there may be very different patterns of recruitment, attrition, training,
career progression and skills between large and small centres, this data is important.
It has not been possible to source any more recent data but there is no evidence of
major changes other than the rising average size of centre reported above. Most
significantly the data indicates that not all contact centres are very large operations
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 96 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
10.2
UK contact centres and employment by sector
10.2.1 DTI and independent evidence
Contact centres are spread across many sectors of the economy. Several sectors
have been dominant since the early days with retail and distribution, financial
services, transport and travel and general services most notable. The 2004 DTI study
of UK contact centres provided a detailed breakdown shown below together with a
2011 update projection by Contact Babel.
Table 10.7
Economic sector
Contact centres by sector 2003 - 2011
Contact
% of all
Contact
% of all
% change
centres 2003
contact
centres 2011
contact
2003 - 2011
centres 2003
centres 2011
Retail and distribution
621
11.7%
780
14.4%
25.6%
Finance
818
15.4%
630
11.7%
-23.0%
Transport and travel
569
10.7%
510
9.4%
-10.2%
Services
578
10.9%
490
9.1%
-15.2%
Outsourcing / telemarketing
398
7.5%
460
8.5%
15.6%
Manufacturing
437
8.2%
440
8.1%
0.7%
IT
345
6.5%
415
7.7%
20.3%
Public services
274
5.2%
350
6.5%
27.7%
Publishing and printing
269
5.1%
265
4.9%
-1.5%
Entertainment and leisure
157
2.9%
185
3.4%
72.5%%
ISP
171
3.2%
160
3.0%
-6.4%
Telecoms
241
4.5%
150
2.8%
-37.8%
Food and drink
110
2.1%
135
2.5%
22.7%
Motoring
107
2.0%
110
2.0%
2.8%
Medical
71
1.3%
105
1.9%
47.9%
Utilities
152
2.9%
95
1.8%
-37.5%
Engineering and construction
n/a
n/a
70
1.3%
Recruitment and training
n/a
n/a
50
0.9%
Total
5,320
100%
5,400
100%
1.5%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and Contact Babel - UK contact centres in 2008 - The state of the
industry
These statistics reveal considerable variation between the different sectors as
service offers, and style and fashion for service delivery change. A further reason for
the variation is that some sectors have made far greater commitment to off-shoring
than others. In relation to employment, variations in average size of centre can also
make these figures misleading but they provide valuable guidance on the number of
employers involved in contact centres from each economic sector.
The pattern of employment shows similar variations and is tabulated below drawing
once again on the 2004 DTI report updated with 2011 projections from
ContactBabel.
Table 10.8
Economic sector
Finance
Outsourcing / telemarketing
Retail and distribution
Transport and travel
© Institute of Customer Service
Agent positions by sector 2003 - 2011
Agent posts
% of all
2003
agent posts
2003
125,983
25.5%
49,244
10.0%
64,816
13.1%
42,169
8.5%
Page 97 of 115
Agent posts
2011
% of all agent
posts 2011
% change
2003 - 2011
318,905
115,365
111,652
68,958
18.4%
15.3%
14.8%
9.1%
153.1%
134.3%
72.3%
63.5%
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
Table 10.8
Agent positions by sector 2003 - 2011
Agent posts
% of all
Agent posts
% of all agent
% change
2003
agent posts
2011
posts 2011
2003 - 2011
2003
Services
32,024
6.5%
45,446
6.0%
41.9%
Telecoms
36,150
7.3%
42,658
5.6%
18.0%
IT
24,175
4.9%
41,515
5.5%
71.7%
Utilities
30,740
6.2%
32,205
4.3%
4.8%
Entertainment and leisure
16,226
3.3%
27,986
3.7%
17.2%
Manufacturing
15,948
3.2%
24,165
3.2%
51.5%
Public Services
14,620
3.0%
23,529
3.1%
60.9%
Motoring
11,989
2.4%
20,100
2.7%
67.7%
Printing and publishing
9,858
2.0%
18,465
2.4%
87.3%
ISP
10,439
2.1%
15,245
2.0%
46.0%
Medical
3,038
0.6%
11,590
1.5%
281.5%
Food and drink
4,897
1.0%
8,925
1.2%
82.3%
Recruitment and training
n/a
n/a
4,545
0.6%
Engineering and construction
1,898
0.4%
3,985
0.5%
110.0%
Total
494,254
100%
755,239
100%
52.8%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and Contact Babel and UK Contact Centres in 2008 – The State of
the Industry, ContactBabel
Economic sector
10.3
UK contact centres and employment by region
10.3.1 DTI and independent regional employment evidence
The DTI Report of 2004 provides an analysis of total employment in contact centres
by English region together with figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Those figures for 2003 are updated to 2007 by Contact Babel and both sets are
shown in Table 10.9 below.
Table 10. 9
Country/Region
UK contact centre employment by region
Contact centre
Contact centre %
Contact centre
Contact centre %
employed
of total
employment
of total
employment
employment
2003
2003
2007
2007
Northern Ireland
13,351
1.80%
19,330
2.47%
Scotland
92,925
3.92%
125,197
4.94%
Wales
26,935
2.13%
35,687
2.68%
East Anglia
30,376
1.68%
38,432
2.07%
East Midlands
47,313
2.35%
62,853
2.93%
London
47,755
1.39%
62,437
1.68%
North East
47,466
4.31%
61,916
5.29%
North West
129,524
4.26%
172,079
5.37%
South East
152,143
3.03%
195,421
3.78%
South West
40,093
1.68%
51,616
2.00%
West Midlands
69,653
2.85%
94,434
3.77%
Yorkshire
93,271
3.99%
120,946
4.92%
Total
790,806
2.83%
1,040,348
3.53%
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study and Contact Babel - UK contact centres in 2008 - The state of
the industry
These statistics clearly illustrate the growth of the sector and its growth as a
proportion of the total working population. Growth has been evident in every
country and region but has generally been stronger the further north one goes.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 98 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
The figures make it clear that in terms of straightforward size Scotland, Yorkshire,
the West Midlands and the North West and North East of England dominate
together accounting for over 70 per cent of employment in the sector. However, the
South East continues to have the highest numbers of contact centre staff employed
of any single region.
The contact Babel analysis goes further by using all available sources and growth
trends to predict sector growth in employment from 2007 to 2011. These are shown
in Table 10.10 below.
10.10
Country/Region
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
East Anglia
East Midlands
London
North East
North West
South East
South West
West Midlands
Yorkshire
Total
Source : Contact Babel
UK contact centre projected employment changes by region 2007 - 2011
Predicted growth in contact centre
% growth in contact centre jobs
employment
2007 - 2011
4,760
25%
28,151
22%
8,159
23%
7,060
18%
14,231
23%
9,904
16%
14,111
23%
36,095
21%
41,160
21%
11,761
23%
19,056
20%
26,454
22%
220,902
21%
Anticipated growth is clearly significant in every area with only marginal changes
anticipated in the existing balances between the regions except for a predicted
decline in London’s share of the sector’s employment.
There is also variation in the distribution of contact centres of different sizes as
revealed in the DTI 2004 report and shown in the Table 11 below. No more recent
data is available but there is no evidence of major changes other than a steady
increase in the overall size of the average contact centre.
Table 10.11
Country / Region
Contact centres by region and size band
51 101 151 201 251 100
150
200
500
500
Northern Ireland
31
5
2
2
4
Scotland
219
72
21
13
11
33
Wales
82
22
6
6
7
East Anglia
170
40
13
11
5
13
East Midlands
198
45
13
9
11
30
London
375
85
23
9
13
13
North East
85
26
9
2
6
13
North West
295
113
28
28
30
51
South East
1,032
256
89
56
25
38
South West
168
63
30
9
8
21
West Midlands
362
130
47
11
13
26
Yorkshire
286
48
23
15
6
27
Total
3,304
904
304
167
136
278
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study
10 - 50
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 99 of 115
501 1000
5
32
7
4
5
5
15
33
26
7
12
19
168
1001+
Total
1
8
4
1
4
1
7
12
4
1
16
59
50
414
135
256
314
519
164
599
1,516
310
605
438
5,320
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
The main interest of these figures lies in the way that the larger contact centres are
concentrated in a few regions. This also means that East Anglia, London, East
Midlands, the South East and Yorkshire are heavily weighted towards quite small
centres.
The DTI report further sets out the implications of this distribution for agent
numbers employed by region and size band and this is set out in the table below.
Once again there are no equivalent figures available for more recent years but Table
10.12 below provides a clear indication of the importance to employment patterns
of each size of contact centre.
Table 10.12
Country / Region
Agent positions by region and size band
51 101 151 201 100
150
200
500
Northern Ireland
638
314
240
307
Scotland
4,594
4,557
2,403
2,151
2,509
Wales
1,723
1,414
721
1,434
East Anglia
3,573
2,514
1,442
1,844
1,075
East Midlands
4,147
2,828
1,442
1,536
2,509
London
7,848
5,342
2,643
1,536
2,867
North East
1,787
1,571
961
307
1,434
North West
6,189
7,070
3,124
4,609
6,451
South East
21,630
16,026
10,093
9,218
5,376
South West
3,509
3,928
3,364
1,536
1,792
West Midlands
7,593
8,170
5,287
1,844
2,867
Yorkshire
5,998
2,985
2,643
2,458
1,434
Total
69,228
56,721
34,364
27,348
29,748
Source : DTI 2004 - The UK contact centre industry - a study
10 - 50
251 500
1,106
9,956
2,212
3,872
8,850
3,872
3,872
15,487
11,615
6,637
7,744
8,297
83,520
501 1000
3,218
19,309
4,291
2,145
3,218
3,218
9,654
20,381
16,091
4,291
7,509
11,800
105,125
1001+
Total
2,520
12,600
5,040
2,520
5,040
2,520
10,080
17,640
5,040
2,520
22,680
88,200
8,344
58,078
16,835
18,985
29,571
29,847
29,666
80,953
95,090
25,058
43,533
58,295
494,254
Large contact centres are the most significant employers in Northern Ireland, the
North East and Scotland. London and the South East in particular rely much more on
employment within small centres.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 100 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
11
Priorities and the next steps
11.1
Identifying priorities
The findings of this extensive Labour Market Information (LMI) indicate the need for
three priority areas which will provide the basis for the development of a Contact
Centre Qualification Strategy (CCQS) and subsequently a Contact Centre Action Plan
(CCAP). The (CCQS) and the CCAP will give detailed planning and direction for the
future of contact centre National Occupational Standards (NOS) and qualifications.
Contact centre priorities:
1.
2.
3.
11.2
Repositioning understanding of contact centre skills needs to establish the
correct balance between specialist contact centre skills and broader
customer service skills
Flexibility, credibility and direct relevance to job roles now and in the future
Identifying and monitoring contact centre trends that will impact on
continuousdevelopment of sector qualifications.
Vision of future qualifications
This report has gathered together extensive evidence regarding the current state of
the contact centre labour market and its skills needs. The evidence covers the needs
of employers and learners and the implications for future approaches to training and
qualifications. The research has been carefully analysed in order to draw conclusions
about priorities for action. These priorities will form the spine of the ICS strategy for
developing qualifications in the contact centre sector. They are not listed in order of
preference or implementation but they do represent a complementary set of action
areas that together will advance the recognition and use of contact centre
qualifications. By giving due recognition to the customer service focus of contact
centres without losing key technical and specialist contact centre skills, the new
qualification strategy will enable Awarding Organisations and training providers to
make real inroads into an extensive market.
11.3 Priority 1 - Repositioning understanding of contact centre skills needs to
establish the correct balance between specialist contact centre skills and broader
customer service skills.
At the time of the LMI research, some 50 per cent more learners taking
M/Apprenticeships in the contact centre sector chose a customer service Framework
than those who chose a contact centre framework. The combined annual
certification is in the order of 3,000 out of total employment estimated at over
700,000 in the sector counting only agent/operator positions. Taking just this one
indicator as a guide to activity levels, there is clearly considerable scope for
additional use of accredited training and qualifications.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 101 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
The ICS conclusion from current trends and primary research is that increasing the
emphasis on generic customer service skills within qualifications for the sector will
increase the attraction of those qualifications for both employers and learners. This
increased acceptance can come only from awareness of the options available and
the potential benefits on offer to organisations, employers and learners.
The ICS report outlining LMI for the customer service sector in June 2008 identified
the importance of service industries in general and of customer service skills to the
UK economy. Its importance to the UK’s international competitive position surely
stretches to the importance of the contact centre sector with its very significant
number of employees. There can be little doubt, given the UK sector’s disadvantages
on cost that the high quality of customer service offered by contact centres in the UK
will be of major importance in relation to international competition for the sector.
The aim of the CCQS will be to ensure that this competitive advantage can be
exploited fully.
To achieve this, key issues must be addressed as components of priority in that:
 The recognised language of customer service developed by the ICS must be fully
integrated with new contact centre qualifications.
The term ‘customer service’ used by the ICS has developed over more than 15 years
following extensive research and consultation. The intention is that the term
denotes respect and positive action. The contact centre sector formerly used ‘Call
Handling’ standards and has moved towards the partnership concepts of customer
service in which the formation of an appropriate relationship between supplier and
customer is a crucial component. This change is particularly important in the light of
the more complex support being provided by contact centres. The time is therefore
right to draw the language and terminology of contact centres and customer service
closer together.
 More reliable and more complete statistics are needed about contact centre
occupations and organisations.
The presence of some excellent private sector research data is the result of a DTI
initiative in 2004 and the weaknesses of official government ONS figures on
employment in the contact centre sector. The difficulties result from both the grey
areas of definition in the softer skills such as customer service and the confusion
about whether the business of a contact centre should be grouped with other
contact centres or with the main business of the products or services the Centre is
supporting.
If there is to be successful integration of contact centre and customer service skills
the ICS will need to have access to readily updated employment statistics for the
sector. Private research depends on subscription and extrapolation from a high level
of participation provides a good confidence limit for the available statistics.
© Institute of Customer Service
Page 102 of 115
Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010
Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
It is important that the combined economic significance of the contact centre and
customer service sectors is not lost because of under‐estimates of employment.
 Recognition of higher skills needed in contact centres must be maintained
alongside focus on the agent/operator role.
The influence of numbers of ‘seats’ on thinking about employment in the contact
centre sector can cast a shadow over higher level skills and specialist roles. The
customer service sector has experienced similar symptoms with an emphasis on
front‐line delivery roles detracting from employer interest in higher level
organisational skills. At the higher levels there are inevitable overlaps with generic
management skills. Proposed actions to implement the CCQS must include steps to
address contact centre and customer service integration at all levels.
 Consistency of standards must be established and maintained to ensure that
customer service skills are integrated at the right levels and retain their generic
functions within contact centre qualifications.
The success of generic customer service qualifications across many sectors, not least
of the entire contact centre sector, is well recognised and easily quantified. There
has always been pressure to tailor customer service standards and qualifications to
the needs of individual sectors and those pressures have been resisted to maintain
the generic integrity of customer service skills. The unique position of contact
centres as organisations whose main business is the provision of customer service
means that integration of customer service standards is totally appropriate in this
case. However, it will be important to ensure that the integration which takes place
does not result in undue prominence for either the technical and specialist contact
centre skills or the generic customer service
skills.
To facilitate the issues raised in Priority 1, detailed Action Plans will be prepared that
are designed to:
 integrate the language of customer service more completely within contact






centre standards
and qualifications
establish a routine for updating the collated contact centre employment data
held by the ICS
give more emphasis to the higher level and specialist skills that are a vital part of
contact centre organisations
develop understanding of the mapping and equating of contact centre specialist
skills with customer service skills
extend the pattern of recognition for contact centre career paths through the
further development of qualifications and progression routes
ensure that contact centre skills are clearly identified on qualification training
and occupational databases.
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
These outcomes will require a wide range of actions involving close co‐operation
with other stakeholders and partners.
11.4 Priority 2 - Developing contact centre qualifications that meet employer
and learner needs for flexibility, credibility and direct relevance to job roles
The ICS recognises that ongoing actions are needed to develop qualifications that
truly meet employer needs. There are two key routes for networking with contact
centre employers that are open to the ICS. Contact and engagement through
Government funded training schemes provides strong connections with employers
who already use contact centre qualifications. It is harder to identify specific
employers who use customer service qualifications in a contact centre environment.
However, steps can be taken to begin the collection of that data.
A second networking opportunity is presented through ICS relationships with contact
centre trade bodies. Initial connection has been established following the transfer of
the contact centre NOS to the ICS early in 2009. This has been developed through
the primary research carried out for this LMI project. It will be important to build on
those relationships by establishing clear co‐operative roles that provide proper
industry opportunities and space for all concerned.
Linking current take‐up figures for accredited qualifications in contact centres with
primary research revealing interest in flexible relevant smaller qualifications, it will
be important to provide choice and credibility in any new qualifications.
This can be achieved only with full use of the contacts formed with employers and
through indirect engagement via the market mechanisms for training and
qualifications. In the customer service sector much of the engagement with
employers is through training provider contacts because of the pan‐sector features
of customer service. Whilst the same is not true of the contact centre footprint,
training providers must be a valuable conduit for contact with employers in the
sector.
Many employers currently make the choice of limiting their training and assessment
offer to in‐house, company specific activities at least partly because of the flexibility
with which it can be delivered. The problem is that the quality and transferability of
learning from that source are unknown and largely immeasurable. It is reasonable to
assume that a new offer of smaller and more flexible qualifications could add to the
overall stock of learning.
Another related issue for employers and learners is the narrow age‐group to which
funding is applied.This can exclude groups of employees and in particular may
impact on the ability to provide career progression opportunities.
To facilitate the issues raised in Priority 2, detailed action plans will be prepared that
are designed to:
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
 improve delivery, employer satisfaction, achievement rates, employer
engagement and flexibility of delivery for existing qualifications
 develop new contact centre qualifications that are credible, flexible, cost
effective, meet employer and learner needs and complement current
qualifications without threatening their success
 ensure that contact centre qualifications become more accessible to a broad and
diverse group of learners
 develop a clear progression path based on credible and innovative qualifications
for young people in schools and learners already working or preparing to work in
contact centre customer service roles.
These plans will require a wide range of action involving close co‐operation with
other stakeholders and partners.
11.5 Priority 3 - Identifying and monitoring contact centre trends that will impact
on continuous development of sector qualifications
The contact centre sector is innovative, responsive to technological change and
subject to regulatory pressures in many different sectors. The result of these and
other external influences is that features of occupations in the sector may change
relatively rapidly. Government statistics, trade associations and private research
organisations seek ways to monitor and track aspects of these changes and attempt
to predict the direction of travel in the industry as a whole. The international spread
of contact centre services makes this task no easier and many one‐off innovations
can be misleading.
Training and qualifications have a development lead time and must then be
launched onto a market that may already have moved on. By comparison, the world
of customer service generic skills arguably changes more slowly. Because it is
generic, pathfinder organisations or sectors can be identified which enable the ICS to
promote best practice through keynote research. Developments in contact centres
are both faster and less easy to identify as trends that will have industry‐wide
effects. It will be equally important for the ICS to avoid creation of qualifications in
response to short term innovations which do not extend across the industry and to
respond quickly enough when real trends become apparent.
To facilitate the issues raised in Priority 3, detailed Action Plans will be prepared that
are designed to:
 establish a formal framework of sector consultation that will enable the ICS to
track trends and changes in the sector that will impact on qualifications and
training
 devise an internal monitoring system to track developments on an annual or
half‐yearly basis in order to support a rolling three year qualifications
development plan
 link the business case for development of new contact centre qualifications with
clear evidence of industry changes.
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
11.6 The next steps
11.6.1 Support for priorities and proposed actions
The ICS has identified priorities for the next phase prior to the development of
detailed Action Plans. Each priority presents a number of challenges and target
outcomes that are outlined earlier in this section. Confirming these outcomes will
require full consultation on the final draft of the CCQS with representatives of all
stakeholders. Following that consultation detailed Action Plans
will be prepared for implementation by 2011.
11.6.2 Reposition understanding of contact centre skills to establish the correct
balance between specialist contact centre skills and broader customer service skills
When finalised, the CCQS will:
 engage with key employers and key customer service ‘champions’ in





Government Departments to promote the importance of combining customer
service and specialist contact centre content in training and qualifications offers
to staff
work with key employers to promote the contact centre case to the UKCES
develop case studies of contact centre career paths that rely on broad skill sets
that include customer service and specific contact centre skills
review the contact centre NOS and NVQ/SVQ structures with a view to detailing
them clearly so that employers and learners have many options
review the contact centre Apprenticeship framework with a view to providing
broader customer service options and recognising different career routes
explore opportunities for developing links between contact centres and the 14
‐19 curriculum which will introduce young learners to the possibilities of contact
centre and customer service careers.
11.6.3 Develop contact centre qualifications that meet employer and learner
needs for flexibility, credibility and direct relevance to job roles
The ICS will:
 carry out a range of actions and support to improve delivery and assessment
through guidelines of best practice which will improve retention and
achievement rates especially on extended programmes
 engage with key partners and stakeholders to devise ways of promoting
participation by different age groups, different ethic backgrounds, part‐time
employees and male employers
 engage with employers to encourage the integration of in‐house training and
development programmes and CPD activities with accredited qualification
options through unitised offers on the QCF
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
 investigate options for development of specialist qualifications covering resource
scheduling and team leadership specifically related to the contact centre
environment
 develop smaller qualifications at each stage of progression to encourage
participation which may lead to longer term industry and qualification
commitment.
11.6.4 Identify and monitor contact centre trends that will impact on continuous
development of sector qualifications
•
•
•
•
review the available mechanisms for partnering with industry stakeholders
devise internal monitoring systems to identify and report on contact centre
developments that may influence training and assessment activities
devise regular updates of a business case for developing contact centre
qualifications that link with current sector developments
analyse current best practice in learning and development activities that make
most contribution to sector progress.
11.7 Future evolution of the CCQS
11.7.1 From development to implementation
Development of the CCQS has been overseen by a Project Board of four senior
managers and the Chief Executive representing every aspect of the ICS operation.
The importance of the CCQS to the organisation is well recognised and the Project
Board will therefore continue to oversee the transition through approval and
endorsement of the CCQS to Action Planning and early implementation of the first
actions.
The scrutiny of the Board has provided the research and writing team with a
valuable independent view and has initiated original lines of enquiry which have
extended the scope and vision of the strategy. The post‐implementation monitoring
structure that has been devised is intended to provide comparable support into the
future. This will also mean that the stakeholder networks especially of employers,
providers, SSCs and Awarding Organisations/Bodies that have evolved during the
CCQS research and the development phase can provide a solid foundation for
ongoing consultation during the monitoring and incremental development phase
which will follow.
11.7.2 Post‐implementation monitoring
The CCQS Review Group will be formed as soon as the strategy has received official
endorsement. The core of the CCQS Review Group will be provided by some or all
members of the CCQS Project Board and it will include representation from the ICS
Board, therefore also covering representation of employers.
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Section 10. Occupational change and employment projections in contact centres
Network contact with SSCs and Awarding Organisations/Bodies will be provided
through other Review Group members who regularly convene Awarding
Organisation Forums and other meetings to cover all stakeholder views. This of
course also means that the separate perspectives of England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland will be identified through representation especially from
qualification regulator representatives in those four Nations.
The ICS also plans to continue with its annual employer survey and to include
enquiries relevant to the CCQS in other periodic consultative activities such as that
carried out when National Occupational Standards are reviewed. The CCQS Review
Group will report annually on progress made with existing Action Plans and the need
for revision of Action Plans. The recommendations of that report will feed into the
wider ICS exchanges with Government about the ongoing development of contact
centres at a national level.
11.8
Summary
Based on the evidence of Apprenticeships, the contact centre sector has displayed a
significant preference for generic customer service qualification as shown in Figure
9.1. However, as a proportion of total sector employment outlined in Section 10 of
this report, the take-up of accredited vocational qualifications is low. Primary
research indicates significant commitment to closely tailored in-house training and
there is evidence that employers in the sector are happy to support commitment to
accredited professional qualifications delivered externally. This has led to ICS
concluding that there is potential for significant expansion of industry take-up once
employers develop a greater understanding of what is available. As a result of the
information currently available and the analysis set out above, it is anticipated that
the Sector Qualification Strategy (SQS) will prioritise further data collection and
monitoring in this area. It is accepted that low take-up as such does not
automatically indicate scope for additional use of accredited qualifications.
However, when combined with initial primary research indicating the current
strength of in-house training and willingness to commit to external professional
qualifications, it is reasonable to conclude that there is scope for significant
expansion after an effective programme of employer engagement and the
development of appropriate training programmes and qualifications.
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Appendix 1
Sandra Busby
Sharon Jones
John Wyn Jones
Mair Miskell
David Titley
Lisa Notley
Rachael Edwards
Daryll Newman
Kate Rutland
Katy Forsyth
Kevin
Gareth Berkley
Stephanie Martin
Carol Leworthy
Lynn Wilkinson
Annette Ritson
Emma Smith
Tom Kirby
Peter Betts
Gill Ashton
Barbara Blackburn
Joanne Barlow
Therese Eltringham
Caroline Cain
Michael Sweeny
Gill Huxam
Janette Morgan
Rachael Robinson
Martin Stacey
Attendees at ICS Contact Centre / LMI Focus groups
The Welsh Contact Centre Forum
Zurich Insurance
Eaga Plc
Rhondda-cynon-taf
Caerphilly County Borough Council
Tesco
Admiral Group Plc
Computershare Investor Services
UCAS
Red Recruitment
Dix Capita
Brittany Ferries
BWBSL
CAM
Computershare
Expotel
Expotel
Call North West
University of Central Lancashire
Lancashire Police
BOC
Call North West
RK Connect
MIDAS
Good People
Riverside Group
Riverside
West Cheshire College
Call North West
Attendees at West Yorkshire Employer Consortium/presentation by the ICS
Sarah Ager
Best Ltd
Kathryn Aird
Remploy
Heather Barraclough
Job Centre Plus
Jo Bedford
first direct
Gemma Bishop
Ventura
Val Booth
Leeds City Council
Bernadette Clayton
City Region Employer Coalition
Les Clay
Directline/RBS
Hannah Compton
Leeds City Council
Beverly Dann
Institute of Customer Service
Julie Deeley
Jobcentre Plus
Sam Donaldson
City Region Employer Coalition
Julie Drake (JDr)
University of Huddersfield
Rachel Goodway
HSBC
Susanne Grinham
City Region Employer Coalition
Julie Harling
Ventura
Paul Johnson
LSC
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Appendix 1
Safia Sheikh
Sally Spawforth (SSp)
Paul Swain
Mark Walsh
Jill Wheeler
Chris Whitehouse
Provident
City Region Employer Coalition
Freeman-Grattan
HML
North East Coalition
HSBC
Attendees at ICS Contact Centre and Customer Service NOS / Skills /Qualifications
workshops
Jackie Walker
Scotland's Courts Service
Deborah Dickenson
DWP
Elaine Seaton
HMRC
Julie Randhawa
Heart of Birmingham
Alexandra Kustas
Heart of Birmingham
Anne Milne
DWP
Dawn Crow
DWP
John Norcliffe
HMRC
Martin Stacey
Call North West
Roger Kirkpatrick
HMRC
Tracy Brooks
Kent Police
Natasha Brown
Kent Police
Steven Horner
Account NI
Margaret Boyle
Working Age Benefit
Brian Cullen
Disability and Cares
Janice Barbour
DARD Direct
Colin Hart
DARD
Hayley Barr
Rutledge Joblink
Paula Dalton
Rutledge Joblink
Laura Burman
Her Majesty's Education Inspectorate
George Kane
DWP
Judi Erskine
DWP
Julianne Fraser
LAGTA Group Training
Margaret Jenkinson
City of Edinburgh Council
Maureen Stewart
NHS
Sandra Cohoun
NHS
Susan Donnelly
NHS 24
Jean Costello
CED
Audrey Heatlie
SAAS
Matthew Collins
Welsh Assembly Government
Duncan Hamer
Welsh Assembly Government
Jon Linford
Welsh Assembly Government
Marie Pennell
HMRC
Jason Thomas
HMRC
Susanne Rees
HMCS Court Service
Val Jasinski
Companies House BERR
Nigel Dumont-Jones
Companies House BERR
Kevin Keenan
DWP
Jill Belton
DWP
Stuart Cochrane
Department of Health
Patricia Taylor
OPD
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Appendix 1
ICS Project Team one to one consultation and visits to Contact Centres
Pete Carruthers and Isa Anderson
Registers of Scotland
Lynda Watters and Colin Gough
Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre
Jackie Mc Cammon
Student Loan Company in Glasgow
David Archibald and Elizabeth Taylor
Standard Life
Deborah Ashton
UK Borders Agency
Vicky Smith
Stannah Stairlifts
Richard Parker
Itex
Geoff Doyle
Government Skills
Attendees at UnionLearn/ICS Seminar/consultation on Contact Centre Skills and
Qualifications
Adrian Slassor
FBU
Ann Murphy
USDAW
Anne Goldsbury
Unison
Anne Hansen
Unison
Bill Miller
Aspect
David McEvoy
PCS
David Massey
BFAWU
Davinder Sandhu
Unison
Denise Linay
RCM
Gerald Crookes
Unity the Union
Helen Osgood
Unite
Ivor Riddell
RMT
Karl List
Prospect
Kate Elliot
BECTU
Kate Quigley
ATL
Laura Wright
CWU
Liz Salem
SCP
Lynn Ferguson
GMB
Marilyn Owens
NAPO
Michael Bond
Unite
Neil Rider
FDA
Paul Dovey
CWU
Peter Knight
PCS
Roy Wildgoose
POA
Stephanie Hague
Merseytravel
Steve Craig
UCATT
Teresa Williams
RMT
Trevor Shanahan
FBU
Yvonne Smith
BECTU
Marg Ben-Tovim
unionlearn
Judith Swift
unionlearn
Catherine McClennan
unionlearn
Pauline Murphy
unionlearn
Mark Rowe
unionlearn
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Appendix 1
ICS Expert Panel
Contact Centre and Customer Service NOS / Skills /Qualification Panel
Geoff Doyle
Government Skills
Lee Buck
Active IQ
Linda Orr
City and Guilds
Allen Kaye
Edexcel
Sylvia Simms
City and Guilds
Mike Dods
Edexcel
Jan Way
EDI
Paul Turner
NCFE
Mo Everett
OCR
John McLarty
SQA
Gillian Pope
OCR
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Contact Centre Employment and Skills January 2010