30 Ways to Make Your Agents Smile

Here are some great ideas to help improve morale in your contact centre.

1. Ask the management team to do something silly like “dance in a conga line”

A fun and free way to push agents to reach their targets is to say: “If today’s target is reached, the management team will dance in a conga line around the office.”

Then reward agents with the funny spectacle when they achieve their target!

With thanks to Max

2. Reward agents with a “free jeans” pass

We regularly reward our agents with a “free jeans” pass, which gives them permission to wear jeans to work for a whole week.

Everyone loves it!

With thanks to Les

3. Hand out new name tags

When I last handed out new name tags for everyone’s desks it generated a lot of excitement.

Everyone was so happy about having new names tags that displayed their name in a star.

With thanks to Jennifer

4. Have 2 pay reviews each year

We have 2 pay reviews a year, which is a great morale boost.

With thanks to Denise

5. Play a knock-out survivor game on your sales floor

We’ve seen great success with a “survivor game”.

Pitching teams against each other, with every successful call or sale, a staff member can knock out a member from another team.

If you have been knocked out, you can come back into the game after you have made a sale or a successful call.

With thanks to Bob

6. Speak to your team about their family

I speak to my team and get to know them.

Asking them about their families makes them feel that they matter – and this is a fabulous motivator!

With thanks to Denise

7. Award 10 days’ paid holiday to people who haven’t used any sick leave

In the last call centre I worked at, if you had no sick days for a year, you got 10 days in LIEU (compared to 5 paid sick days).

It was an incentive to come into work and a reward for not “pulling a sickie”.

Only one or two people ever got it, but it was a good incentive and rewarded the people who did turn up to work every day!

With thanks to Katy

For more incentive ideas and guidance, read our article: How to Make the Most of Your Staff Incentives – With Examples

8. Ask the MD to regularly drop in and do a motivational speech

Ask the MD to do a motivation speech every few weeks, or some kind of meeting to show their face.

With thanks to Helen

9. List agents’ achievements on a “wall of merit”

We have a wall of merit where we have every staff member’s name up alongside what they have most recently achieved.

With thanks to Jenny

10. Save up all the great customer feedback until the end of the month

Every month I publish appreciations from customers about our service and our agents on our staff intranet.

Publishing it all in one go is quite a big hit!

With thanks to Shona

11. Promote staff in a way that is fair and clear to everyone involved

Promote staff by using a fair and clear process that is in place to reward consistent performance levels.

Progression opportunities should be visible to everyone.

With thanks to Paul

12. Have a superhero theme on the contact centre floor

We have a superhero theme, where we encourage our staff to behave like superheroes to assist the clients.

Capes are optional.

With thanks to Shalandra

13. Celebrate your contact centre’s anniversary with a free buffet

We celebrate the anniversary of the company opening, offering a free buffet, drinks and entertainment.

It is really motivating.

With thanks to Denise

14. Host team-building activities to create more opportunities to socialise

Agents enjoy team-building activities, as they get to socialise outside their normal working environment.

“Cook offs” between different teams always go down well.

With thanks to Ryan

15. Take agents out to lunch during the working day

We take our agents out to lunch during the working day just to say “thank you” for all their hard work.

It is an even better reward if it is a surprise!

With thanks to Helen

16. Mix up your incentives to make the most of a fixed budget

I think it’s best to change it up in terms of the incentives used to reward the team. Keep the same budget, but mix it up with vouchers and fun events.

Keep the team guessing!

With thanks to Alex

17. Bring in pizza takeaways

I get pizza takeaways.

The team love being fed together, as it gives them the opportunity to chat too.

This also works well to keep everyone motivated on a Friday night shift.

With thanks to Helen and Clint

18. Reward top performers with a Gold status

We have a Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.

Staff can receive extra money by achieving the next level in relation to targets and behaviours.

It stops things from becoming too stale – and keeps everyone happy and motivated – between official pay reviews.

With thanks to Janice

19. Save up your fun budget for bigger events like go-karting

Save up the team “fun budget” to take the full team out on karting days, bowling nights out, etc.

It’s a great team-building exercise and has worked brilliantly!

With thanks to Denise

For more fun ideas like this, but designed for remote teams, read our article: 15 Great Ideas to Make Remote Working Fun

20. Regularly change the end goal for winning a prize

Try changing the end goal for winning a prize to help keep everyone motivated by competitions across the year.

For example, focus on the best call quality, then switch the focus to highest levels of attendance, and so on.

With thanks to Colisha

21. Walk around the floor and say “thank you” to your agents for their hard work

I used to get a thank you every day from my previous boss.

It was really appreciated and we definitely all noticed if he missed a day!

With thanks to Jennifer

22. Hand out free coffee to everyone who is on time for their shift

We say thank you to our agents for being on time by rewarding them with free coffee at the start of their shift.

With thanks to Jaime

23. Recognise progress not perfection

A great way to keep the whole floor motivated is to recognise progress, not perfection.

With thanks to Alex

24. Send top performers out for a posh dinner with the management team

We take all our top performers out for a posh dinner at the end of the month with the management team.

We also give them certificates, personalised jumpers and put their face up on a “VIP brag board” – motivating the others to get to the top too!

With thanks to Jennifer

25. Reward additional bonuses for those exceeding targets

We get a bonus based on hitting our monthly targets – and then there is a higher bonus for exceeding our targets.

With thanks to Bianca

26. Everyone loves subsidised coffee

We have subsidised coffee, which everyone loves!

With thanks to Ryan

27. Run a peer recognition scheme to reward those going above and beyond

We’ve run a scheme in the past where anyone (managers and agents alike) could recognise a staff member for going above and beyond.

Those selected were formally recognised as being pioneers of the company.

With thanks to Denise

28. Pass a trophy around between your Agent of the Month winners

Reward a trophy to your Agent of the Month winner.

The trophy can then stay on their desk for a whole month until the next winner gets announced.

You could also engrave it across the year, and place it in the trophy cabinet as part of your Christmas wind-down celebrations.

With thanks to Alex

29. Friday BBQs

Our department does BBQ Fridays for their team.

It really works to put a smile on everyone’s faces before heading home for the weekend.

With thanks to Ryan

30. Bulk buy crisps, sweets and cans of drink for an on-floor snack store

One idea from our morale committee is a snack store.

We buy items in bulk like cans of drink and bags of sweets. We then charge a £1 for everything and the profit is put towards the office social fund.

With thanks to Colisha

For more interesting ideas for helping your team to find their smiles at work, read our articles:

• Remote Staff Engagement: 9 Strategies to Make Your Team Smile
• 11 Creative Tips to Boost Morale in the Contact Centre
• Six of the Best Games for Your Contact Centre