How to pay CSRs? A mobile carriers call center study

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gain an insight of the compensation package of the call center agents of mobile companies’ call center agents and also to see how recognition is harnessed to keep them performing on the right track with required motivation level. Design/methodology – This is a qualitative study based on interviews, observations and textual analysis. Findings – In both call centers that were studied, keeping the agents on the right performance track is the main issue. While talking to a customer over the phone, the agent is being evaluated against a long list of criterions. Although the standards of evaluation do not generally differ, the evaluation methods are a bit different and the linking the results with compensation shows different trends. Research limitations – The research is conducted on the call centers of mobile service providers in Pakistan. Apart from the geographic limitation of applying the results to other countries, this study’s findings cannot be reliably generalized to the call centers that are involved in telemarketing and also the helpline call centers of a product/service that differ in nature with mobile phone services.