I’ve worked for a good amount of growing companies out here in Las Vegas and have been a key part in taking them from a small company to a large or medium corporation. The most recent two have doubled or quadrupled in size within a matter of months.
One trait that I see over and over again from the small business owners (or as they like to call themselves CEOs), is what I refer to as the “churn and burn” mentality.
This started in Las Vegas from the gaming community where it is so easy to be a valet attendant, dealer, or cocktail waitress where just about anyone with a nice smile can do it. This meant that it was almost easier to replace someone than to keep someone. So the revolving door of employees was created, people would walk in as quickly as they would walk out.
Now that same mentality is in the Call-Center industry as well and it isn’t a good thing. I’ve even seen it reach up into Management positions. Where a small business owner thinks that everyone can be replaced and he can do every job. They also think that Recruiting is the easiest job there could be. It’s simply not true.
Five years ago Las Vegas was the number one spot to start a career in the nation. Today it has one (or if not) the highest unemployment and foreclosure rate. Quality applicants are leaving Las Vegas for jobs elsewhere and what we’re getting in return are what I call the Second Strikes. Second Strike are people from California that already have 2 strikes and don’t want to get their third so they come to Vegas to work in the Call-Center and unskilled markets. Those of you in management throughout the valley know exactly what I’m talking about.
So while the talent pool is drying up in Las Vegas, Employers are now faced with a huge majority of unemployed people and still think that they can treat their people like crap. What is going to happen to the Call-Center industry in Las Vegas is the same thing that happened to the Gaming industry, unions.
The unions were created for employees to band together establish rules that employers must follow in order to maintain employees. If the employer breaks any of the rules, all the union employees (90% of casinos) go on strike. The business pretty much collapses.
When a group of employees are treated poorly they group together and almost revolt against the employer/abuser. Then union stewards come in and set up standards in which the employer can treat the employees, how they can discipline them, etc.
If the Call-Center industry wasn’t so cheap to outsource, there would already be a Call-Center union in Las Vegas. They have one in the UK where businesses that outsource are taxed in order not to outsource. With the newly elected Barack Obama in office he guaranteed to eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource. So within a few years there will be Call-Center Unions in Las Vegas.
So if you want to keep Unions out of your Call-Centers you need to treat your employees respectfully. Give them decent wages, benefits, etc. if you don’t start doing that now, you are going to end up paying all of them $17 an hour with full benefits and have them going on strike once or twice a year.
I’m not going to even get into the cost involved with the revolving door that most companies have. Treat you people respectfully, pay them well, give them benefits, and watch your productivity soar through the roof.
Tags: Attrition, Call-Center, Career, Careers, Contact-Center, Emlpoyer, Employee, Employment, Job, Jobs, Management, Morale, Retention, Union Avoidance, Workforce Management, Workplace
