Can your agents eat and drink at their desks?

Last week’s topic on agents eating and drinking at their desks caused quite a stir (no pun intended). Responses ranged from lukewarm to boiling hot. The exploding coffee cup amused us most.

At the Contact Centre Planning conference Nigel from the Metropolitan Police outlined an interesting dilemma that his management team were faced with. Very simply, it was whether call centre agents should be allowed to drink at their desks. In the end the Met Police decided that they should let their agents drink what they wanted and provided their agents with spill-proof mugs.

I did a straw poll of a number of call centre managers and found the topic was a bit of a hot potato and one that occupied a surprising amount of management time. Some allowed just water, some allowed hot and cold drinks at the desks and others only allowed spill-proof mugs and bottles with sports caps.

What is your experience? What is your food and drinks policy – and how do you enforce it?