Issue 38, April 2009
IARE Events Benefit Members
Submitted by Paulette Hawkins, Carlson
Hotels Worldwide, Phyllis Burckhard, Choice Hotels International
Co-Chairs, IARE Conference Committee
IARE is extremely pleased to
announce an opportunity to benchmark with other IARE members in the
comfort of your office! We will be conducting a FREE, member’s only
webinar on April 22nd at 3:00 pm (eastern). The topic of
discussion will be "Managing Costs in Tough Times" and promises to be
enlightening and information packed! Be sure to mark your calendar for
this important benchmarking event. If you aren’t already a member, check
out our website at
www.iare.com for more information and become a member today. All
participants will be required to register for the webinar on our website
prior to the session.
Hopefully, you have
marked your calendar for the IARE 24th Annual Conference and
Exhibition. This event will be held at the beautiful Chase Park Plaza
Hotel in St. Louis, September 20 - 23, 2009. The conference promises to
be action packed with opportunities to benchmark and network with the
best in the industry.
The conference committee is
currently lining up speakers and vendors to help call center leader’s
deal with today’s challenges. Now more than ever, it’s important to
benchmark with other leaders in the travel industry, as we are all faced
with changes in the economic environment. The IARE Conference offers
opportunities to learn about new and exciting ideas and products to keep
your costs down and your teams engaged and motivated!
The 2009 IARE Conference is
the perfect place to meet new and familiar faces in the industry.
You’ll have a chance to experience networking and idea-sharing, product
demonstrations and educational workshops, facilitated call center
discussions and exciting teambuilding activities – all in ONE place!
IARE is
the networking place for benchmarking current challenges and real
solutions in our industry. Join us for our
upcoming Benchmarking Webinar on April 22nd and the Annual Conference on
September 20-23. Experience what IARE has to offer!
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Utilization of Trainers - When You Aren't Hiring
Submitted by Ronda Trog, Best Western
International
IARE President 2008-2010
It's not newsworthy that the
economy is bad, nor is it newsworthy that travel is down. We all know
that. What is worth noting is that keeping the staff we have spent a
lot of time and money to recruit, hire and train is still an important
part of our jobs.
We have hired only two classes of
reservations sales agents this year. I have not added to my supervisor
headcount or support staff headcount to help coach and manage these
additional employees. I have utilized my trainers to help coach,
mentor and support these new folks. The regular supervisors are
monitoring all the performance metrics and reporting on those. They are
also conducting their routine one-on-ones with each rep throughout the
month. But it is the training staff that is conducting most of the
extra coaching and performance discussions with the new staff.
The trainers have adjusted their
schedules to work nights, weekends, whatever makes sense to help the new
staff perform at or above expectations. Like most of you, my staff at
all levels in the contact center have a "whatever it takes" attitude to
help the company succeed. I know that if we can't justify hiring a
supervisor due to budgets and we have few new classes that any of my
trainers are capable of stepping into the supervisor role and doing that
job full-time if necessary to help us succeed.
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Creative Scheduling
Submitted by Leesa Williams,
Senior Director,
Accor North America
Chair, Communications Committee
Many of us in the hospitality
industry have dramatic swings in our call volume. Our forecasts are
also being impacted by today’s economic conditions.
Our goal is to handle peak
volume and revenue generating potential yet manage our labor dollars.
Some of the ways we try to maximize our efforts are:
- Reduce the number of
hours offered for schedules in the off season and conversely offer
more hours in the summer. This can allow your full time staff to
retain benefits yet reduce your overall labor dollars.
- Schedule your refresher
training in the off season offering development time to your staff
but not taking them off the phones during busy season.
- Review your Workforce
Management parameters to make sure they are following your current
call trends. Re-check your shrinkage factors, talk time and post
call work figures.
- Hold weekly or bi-weekly
staffing updates so your entire team is on the same page with your
staffing level compared to your call volume forecast.
- Get involved in your
Workforce Management’s user group.
These are just a few of the
procedures we have adopted that have helped us!
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The Membership Committee
Needs You...
Submitted by
Jenifer Gibson,
Director of Operations, Accor North
America
Chair, Membership Committee
... To Renew Your
Membership!!!
Times are tough for everyone across our
industry. Renew your membership with IARE today to take
advantage of the great benefits your membership offers!
Some of our newest membership benefits include -
FREE access to our upcoming Benchmarking
Webinar to be held on April 22. During this webinar, you and your
industry peers will discuss best practices for managing costs during
these tough economic times!
PLUS - By renewing your membership by
April 15, your company will receive a discounted rate for our annual
conference September 20 – 23 in St. Louis
Once
you have your membership renewed don’t forget to join our
networking group on Linked In.
Time
is running out! Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of a great
organization!!!
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Saving Money
Submitted by Ronda Trog, Best Western
International
IARE President 2008-2010
My contact center budget is 95%
salaries and telephone expenses. Here are two things we did in
March to help manage expenses:
1) All hourly staff in the contact
center that are full-time are being scheduled for a 40 minute lunch.
The purpose of the 40 minute lunch is to eliminate overtime expense. We
"pay to the minute" and all those extra minutes on each side of the
"clock in/clock out" process add up to big dollars over the course of a
month. When we introduced this change to the staff we were careful to
emphasize that the purpose was to eliminate all overtime.
2) We have put in place an
incentive program to drive down talk time while maintaining or improving
conversion rate. Needless to say this is a change in our approach, but
the calls were getting longer and there seemed to be no end in sight. We
let staff go to our website to help the customer, but they are being
held accountable for conversion rate and now incented on conversion rate
and talk time. The staff are awarded with points in our loyalty
program, which they love. I made available big point values, more than
usual, to try and drive the type of performance without sacrificing
behavior.
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Advertise on the IARE Web Site
Looking to reach
top decision-makers in the hospitality contact center industry? The IARE
web site
will now accept banner ads! The IARE web site is the place
where IARE Members go for industry information and is, of course,
accessible to thousands more
seeking information on this unique industry. Don't be left out,
click here to access a rate
sheet and order form.
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