Retirement is considered a phase of perpetual relaxation and something that is sought after by industry veterans. But how far is it true? According to a survey conducted by Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 73% of the respondents responded by saying they were not satisfied with not having to work after retirement. 27% of the respondents said they preferred working after retirement because they felt a sense of accomplishment and purpose. 34% said that it keeps their brain alert and 56% said that they work after retirement due to financial reasons.
While these statistics stand to be true, let’s introduce you to Mr Selvamani who signed up with VOIZ a year ago, two years after his retirement to feel a sense of accomplishment and to be active and be financially stable during his later years. Mr Selvamani lives in Mangalore in a gated community for the aged. With his children in the States and a wife who passed away ten years ago, all he had was his work to look forward to. For fifteen years he worked in the hospitality industry, and for the next ten years, he worked as a manager of a 5-star hotel until he finally retired. Mr Selvamani was everyone’s favourite while he worked at the Hotel and that translates to how happy he keeps our customers.
Mr Selvamani chose the 8:00 am to 12:00 pm slot after which he takes off for the day. He starts off his day after a short walk around the gated property and logs into the CX dashboard customized for his project. Being a customer support agent, Mr Selvamani’s schedule between 8.00 am and 12.00 pm is pretty much packed. At 8:00 am sharp, he attended his standup conducted by his supervisor to discuss the KPIs set for the project and the way the team is going. He takes his time with each customer, making sure to listen to what each customer has to say and then helping them out with the resolution of their concerns. Initially, Mr Selvamani had to face the challenge of keeping up with the required volume of calls. But once he got accustomed to the process, he was not only one of the highest-rated agents in CSAT but also one of the top performers based on the NPS score of the calls he managed.
Ten minutes later, Mr Selvamani logs in and marks himself available for calls. The moment he gets his first call, he goes over the customer history using the data on the CRM. He listens intently and resolves the query in less than four minutes. He marks the NPS and gets on with his next call. Mr Selvamani, aware of his lack of speed when it comes to using the laptop, makes up by completing his call volume target by sitting through the entire four-hour session and, he enjoys it. No matter how typical or atypical the day gets for him, he always shows up, or in this case, logs in. Mr Selvamani stands out because of the two most important qualities he possesses; punctuality and the patience to listen. He always makes it a point to regularly seek feedback from his supervisor to understand how he’s performing and how he can get better. He also actively gets a real-time view of his daily performance and reviews metrics consistently so that he can uplevel his skills as an agent. After he finishes his four-hour shift, he quickly gets on a call to connect with his granddaughters in America. After which he logs in the reasons the customer reached out, describes the outcome of the conversation and schedules the follow-up actions and further conversations.
At the moment, Mr Selvamani is working on improving his total handling time or wrap-up time. He makes his personal notes and jots down where he can save up on time. He says, “I am the oldest agent on the team but that only makes me want to do better because I feel like the youngsters will always automatically look up to the oldest ones in the room and I want to be better for them and me. VOIZ has given me the opportunity to connect and interact with so many people during this time of the Pandemic. Being an agent here not only helps him to keep his mind occupied but also is helping me age slower and helping me build a small nest egg.”