At its core, the Contact Center Employer of Choice (CCEOC) certification program is designed to address the challenges of attracting and retaining top talent. "When you have a great work environment that inspires employees to perform their best every day, you create a more successful, profitable operation," said Jeff Doran, president of CCEOC Inc.

Less Stress, Higher Productivity

Doran explained that his company has already been working with contact centers for the past 10 years to develop and certify employer-of-choice workplaces. As a result, he said, "certified centers have seen improvements of up to 80% reduction in stress and 50% improvement in productivity."

What's new is that CCEOC is now partnering with the Contact Center Association to expand its certification program.

Peggy Libbey, President and CEO of the Contact Center Association, said that aligning with CCEOC will enable the association to promote best practices with respect to hiring, managing and retaining the employees who are key to a successful contact center operation.

"The people are the foundation of the contact center business which strategically can be the competitive edge of any business," Libbey said. The new certification program, she said, fits perfectly with the association's other product offerings that are designed to help contact centers operate more efficiently, while maintaining the highest level of customer satisfaction.

How It Works

Companies will be evaluated on an annual basis to determine their CCEOC standing for that year. A contact center can achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level certification depending on the assessment results. Contact centers of any size, type or geographic location can become CCEOC certified.

Many regional, national, and international contact centers have already been recognized through CCEOC's designation.

Certified contact centers include FedEx, HILTI North America, Scotiabank, AIR MILES, ING Direct, Roche Diagnostics, and Davis + Henderson, among others.

Once the designation is achieved, the company is profiled on the CCEOC corporate Web site at CCemployerofchoice.com. Certified companies also receive a framed certificate and are promoted through targeted print and electronic media.

In addition to its work with the certification program, CCEOC also offers training seminars and workshops through its CCEOC Consulting group.

The Contact Center Association also offers a wide range of resources for contact-center managers and customer service reps, available 24 hours a day, with white papers, blogs, and webcasts, as well as a virtual global community called Knowledge Exchange Group (KEG).