AVERAGE pay for call centre managers now stands at £36,200, says a new report.
Following an increase of 1.2 per cent last year, there was a small rise of less than 1pc in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, mean average starting salaries for agents in are slightly up, from £14,604 to £14,735.
The figures are from the eighth annual report, The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide, from ContactBabel, on the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of UK contact centre operations.
The 250-page report is now, for the first time, free of charge. It can be collected on CD ROM from ContactBabel’s stand at Call Centre Expo or, from October 1st, downloaded from the company’s web site.
Taking a random sample of the industry, a detailed structured questionnaire was sent to 205 call centre managers and directors in April-June this year and analysis of the results was carried out in the summer. The result, says ContactBabel, is the eighth edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the UK call centre industry, including salaries, attrition, technology, investment, growth, location, strategy and budgets.
Points from the report: The average cost per call has risen to £4.08. Respondents expect the next 12 months to see a rebound in agent figures, with an average growth rate in staff numbers of 6.8pc. Public sector respondents are, unsurprisingly, the least bullish, along with the transport and travel and utilities sectors. Most respondents in the majority of retail and distribution, outsourcing, finance, TMT and services sectors expect significant increases in their number of employees.
The past 12 months has seen more of a step up in capital expenditure, with 40pc of respondents seeing investment growth and only 20pc a further cut.
The overall cost of agenthandled security and identification checking is £2.3bn per year The effect of the recession can be seen clearly in the jump in sales calls of all types (cold calls, renewals and crosssell/ upsell) from 34pc in 2009 to 47pc in 2010.
The economic downturn has continued to affect staff movement, with attrition levels dropping further to a mean average of 16pc and median of only 12pc.
Call Centre Expo stand No. E60