February 11, 2021

Call Center Reward Schemes – 20 Great Ideas for Your Agents Rewards

We have recently been looking at how we monitor your agents. This monitoring is an excellent way of increasing awareness of your staff’s performance and enabling targeted coaching depending on performance, and specific missed points.
However, in this article, we are going to take a look at a more fun side in which you can involve your agents. Call center reward schemes. Everyone loves recognition for doing a great job. There are a few ways in which you can reward an employee, some of them better than others. Here we will take a look through some of them:

Call Center Reward Schemes

There are going to be various ideas about what is the best way to reward agents for outstanding work. We are not claiming to have the best for every company; however, what we are trying to do is provide you with some ideas for call center reward schemes.

• Extra Payment. – An increase in payment may seem like the most obvious reward for outstanding achievement. However, there are some downsides to this:
  • There is often no ability to give an immediate award.
  • Performance monitoring needs to be over a more extended period of six months, for example. This time can be too long for an agent to keep the reward in mind.
  • It is difficult to remove a pay rise if the agent’s standards drop after the increase. This pay rise could lead to turmoil in call centers, as agents will see the gain in wages with the lowered productivity.
• Extra Holiday. – An additional day holiday will also seem like a great idea as a reward. However, as with the extra payment, there are downsides to this too:
  • An extra day holiday will cost the business a whole day of loss of productivity every year.
  • The performance monitoring period will need to be similar to the extra pay period.
  • It is also challenging to remove this extra day holiday.
• Immediate rewards. – Instant prizes are, in our opinion, the best option by far. They can be given for free, or for minimal cost. These rewards are going to be what we look at today.

Immediate Call Center Reward Schemes for Agents

As we have just pointed out, instant reward schemes are by far the best way to recognize exceptional work. If you get the rewards right, then they can even be used for single calls with a 100% score. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the options that you could use, or modify for your own company.

A Reward Cupboard

Having a reward cupboard is a great way to encourage your staff. You can fill it with various, low-cost items that can inspire your team to work towards winning.

As you can see from the image above, there are various items that you can put into the reward cupboard. You can make this as adventurous as you like. However, instead of having sections for different types of items, you could have different parts or shelves for varying levels of rewards. Let’s take this four-shelf cupboard for example.
You could label them Tier 1 to Tier 4. Tier one prizes could get used for an agent of the month, Tier 2 for the agent of the week, Tier 3, the agent of the day, and Tier 4 could be for individual calls that have scored at 100%.
None of these prizes need to be too expensive. They would probably work better when divided into cost value. Perhaps you could look at something like the following. (I have used Amazon for this list for ease, but I am sure that there are other places that you could get gifts from.)

Tier 1 Reward Schemes for Agents

I would not spend anything over $50 for these items. There is no real need to go over the top.

• A paid day off work.
• Luxury Hamper.
• Whiskey Gift Set.
• Pamper day (massage, sauna, etc.)

Tier 2 Reward Schemes for Agents

I would keep these to a maximum of $30.

• Oil diffuser.
• Vacuum flask.
• Morning/afternoon off work, paid.
• Team dress down Friday.

Tier 3 Reward Schemes for Agents

I do not think that these should cost more than $10.

• $10 Gift card
• One hour of the manager taking the agent’s place. (This reward can also be a great training exercise.)
• The manager pays for their lunch.
• Leave work 30 minutes early.

Tier 4 Reward Schemes for Agents

As these rewards are for individual calls, I do not think they should cost anything. They are often the most rewarding.

• A thank you card.
• A company pen.
• 10 minutes longer lunch.
• Lottery ticket.

As I said before this list, these are only some ideas that you could use. Some of the lower tiers are often best received. Although what I would suggest is to get to know your team and make their rewards as personal as you can. For example, a soccer fan would probably love some tickets to see their favorite team. Or, perhaps someone enjoys pampering themselves so you could buy them a make-over.
You could even have a lucky dip for the second or third tier where the agent gambles to win a tier-one prize. That can make it a little bit more fun. Or have an extra comfy “employee of the week chair” with lights on. The possibilities are endless.

Call Center Reward Schemes – Conclusion

Rewards are a great way to keep a team’s motivation. However, we have found that instant gratification is often the best received. All of the ideas that we have given here are just that, ideas. There certainly is no hard and fast rule as to what you should provide and when. You don’t even need to provide them at all. However, we believe that they certainly raise morale and team building.
However, one of the issues that you may have is that you require a great QA team.  Not only will a great QA team be able to monitor your staff, but they also need to do it in a timely fashion if your agents are to receive an instant gift. That is where Call Criteria come in. Our company, along with our system, can give you a 95+% accuracy in a matter of one day, and even minutes if it is required.
Make sure to contact us to find out how