A call center supervisor is tasked with overseeing the operations of a call center, from the physical building to its personnel and clients. The supervisor typically manages staffing, including scheduling work hours and breaks. The supervisor is also responsible for making certain the needs of the center's clients are being served professionally, efficiently and satisfactorily. When an opportunity for improvement or streamlining a process is discovered, it is often up to the call center supervisor to initiate changes.
Hiring, training and scheduling workers are tasks which typically fall to the call center supervisor. The supervisor is required to stay abreast of company policies and changes, and relay those changes on to appropriate call center staff members. The supervisor is also typically responsible for preparing production reports, work schedules and related administrative duties.
Human resource tasks, including disciplining, firing or promoting call center staff, is often performed by a call center supervisor. It is also the supervisor's responsibility to ensure the work environment is safe for employees, and that employees have the equipment they need to safely and successfully perform their jobs. The supervisor will typically need to work within a budget at the center, which includes managing expenses for staff, utilities and supplies.
Call center workers typically handle sensitive and personal information, such as credit card and bank account numbers. It is often the responsibility of the call center supervisor to make sure that employees are protecting customers' privacy and are not stealing or selling this information to outside sources. Many call centers are paperless in order to avoid this problem and discourage employees from writing down information that should not be shared with others. Some call centers, such as those dealing with insurance and cell phones, often have celebrities and government officials on their customer list, so call center supervisors typically closely oversee the center's security.
Typically, a call center supervisor will be required to measure and evaluate employee performance in an effort to increase efficiency. They will also routinely listen in on workers' actual calls to ensure company policies, procedures or scripts are being adhered to. It is critical for employees to successfully meet the customers' needs in a timely and professional fashion, and the supervisor will often use phone monitoring as an evaluation tool. The call center supervisor is often called upon to deal with unsatisfied customers, so it is typically a best practice to make sure the call center phone workers are well-trained and following established rules and procedures.