Minimum Rest Periods

mattaiuseire

Hi Guys,

Is a call centre company allowed to change their staffs break as per the following:

If someone is on a break at 11am for 15 mins, but finds themselves stuck on a call with a customer and doesn't go on their break until 11:05, would I be within my rights to have them return to their desk at 11:15 and take the other 5 minutes at another point during the day - or do they have to have an uninterrupted 15 minutes?

My staff work 9am-5pm 5 days a week with an unpaid lunch break of 1 hour at 1:30pm.

Cheers.

seamus

The company is already fulfilling their legal obligation in the 1 hour lunch break. So this 15 minute break is discretionary and as such is not required to be uninterrupted.

So basically yes, the employer can ask staff to take that five minutes at some other point in the day.

Mrs OBumble

You're within your "rights" - but is it really worth the hassle and trouble that this could cause?

How are you going to react when someone drops a call or handles it wrong because doing properly would cause they to lose the break which they'll see themselves as entitled to.

If your call centre is ambulance communications or something else life-critical where to-the-minute timing matters, then I have some sympahty. But if you're doing non-life-critical stuff, then I'd really wonder what you'll gain by getting them back on the dot of 11:15am

mattaiuseire

It's a good point Mrs OBumble and one that I will consider.

seamus

Actually it's a great point, I could see it happening a lot, especially in support call centres;

Clock says 10:59. "Eh, how about you try restart it there and then call me back if that doesn't fix it". *Goes on not ready until 11*. Ah, breaktime.

titan18

If you do that, you're going to have staff not take calls from about 10.55 on. They'll find a way to kill time then incase they get a call that takes them past 11. You'll kill productivity around their break times whilst also making the staff unhappy cos such a rule has been brought in. It's not a good idea imo

Tbh, I think you're defeating yourself by even considering it. I work in workforce management for a call centre (about 60/70 staff) and attrition is a huge problem (which I'd imagine it is in nearly every call centre). Treating the staff as a resource to be used isn't a good thing to be doing. Whilst calls needs to be answered/service levels need to be met, you really need to balance it with keeping the staff happy enough they're not always looking to leave. Looking for ways to have your staff only take the minimum amount of breaks legally possible isn't a good way to keep them happy and working for you. Just my opinion, but to me, a happy staff is a more productive staff. Killing them for going a few minutes over a break isn't good.

mattaiuseire

Thank you. Does anybody else have any input?

bee06

I don't think it's a good idea either. In addition to the points made above it would be an absolute nightmare to manage. You'll have to schedule the 5 mins as well and what happens if they are stuck on a call at that time as well? Unless you have a small team it would be very difficult to keep track off. I used to work in WFM as well and usually I scheduled the breaks one after another. Chances are if one person gets stuck on a call is late for their break by a few mins then the next person will be too so it all balances out anyway.

mattaiuseire

bee06 wrote: »

I don't think it's a good idea either. In addition to the points made above it would be an absolute nightmare to manage. You'll have to schedule the 5 mins as well and what happens if they are stuck on a call at that time as well? Unless you have a small team it would be very difficult to keep track off. I used to work in WFM as well and usually I scheduled the breaks one after another. Chances are if one person gets stuck on a call is late for their break by a few mins then the next person will be too so it all balances out anyway.

Thank you and yes the team is only small at the moment and for the forseeable future - I have 5 or 6 on the phones full time.

titan18

Could leave a 5 min gap between breaks just to try ensure people are back. Schedule one at 11, next at 11.20 etc. Or, doesn't work for us, but in a smaller team it might, could have a ball and leave the breaks unscheduled. Person takes the ball when they go on a break, no one else can leave until the ball is back.

bee06

titan18 wrote: »

Could leave a 5 min gap between breaks just to try ensure people are back. Schedule one at 11, next at 11.20 etc. Or, doesn't work for us, but in a smaller team it might, could have a ball and leave the breaks unscheduled. Person takes the ball when they go on a break, no one else can leave until the ball is back.

I think with small teams this can work well. We had a team with about 10 people and we let them pick when they took breaks within certain windows and no more than two at a time. It made the agents feel they had a bit more control over their day as well.

mattaiuseire

My business can be quite unpredictable. There are 4 full time perm staff within this particular section of the business and we add one or two temp during busy periods. Everybody takes outbound and inbound calls, but the inbound are unpredictable - one day you might have 50 inbound but the next could be 150.

All input is welcome as it is a fairly new business which is doing well but I'm lacking ideas to make it better, both profit wise and for the employees.
I can only have one at a time on the morning break.

thesimpsons

does 10 minutes even give them time to go get a coffee? I also think the same as the other poster - productivity could lessen off dramatically at 10.55.

P_1

The only thing this will achieve is to send all your staff straight onto the job sites

bertsmom

I agree that perhaps it would be detrimental to staff productivity around break times and and staff turnover but I think it shows you are a good boss to be asking for opinions and ideas and not just bull dozing through with a like it or lump it attitude. Fair play for looking for other views etc