In the increasingly demanding call centre market, businesses are under considerable pressure to make and process more customer calls without increasing overheads. In an effort to meet these demands, call centre desk design has advanced considerably in recent years and the days of cubicles are long gone.
Modern call centre desks need careful design to allow for both privacy when making a call and team interaction for effective communication and team morale. To achieve these objectives, office furniture designers are moving away from the lone working style of banks of cubicle desks and they are creating communal circular desks for up to eight operatives. With a cleverly designed central hub, to accommodate power and data cable supplies, they offer a neat and stylish office furniture solution for call centres. Dividing screens, available in bright fabric colours, are either curved or wave shaped, to allow both conversation with work colleagues and a degree of sound proofing during calls.
Careful consideration should be given to the desk space required for each workstation. Generally, the more workstations a unit has, the less desk space is available. Desks units can often be linked to create further stations if required. The pedestal drawer units are narrow in design to maximize leg room and fit neatly over the leg frame of the desks. Semi-circular versions of the desks are also available to enable the most efficient use of wall space.
When choosing screens for call centre desks, there are a number of options. MFC (melamine faced chipboard) screens are very cheap but offer little sound absorption properties. Contract screens are available in a wide range of fabric colours and dampen the sound to reduce echo. Top of the range system screens are thicker, heavier screens with excellent sound dampening qualities and have surfaces which can accept pins.
An added bonus is the cost. Often, a multi-user desk unit offers an excellent cost per workstation price when compared to stand-alone desk units. In an office of several hundred employees, office furniture is a major investment. By choosing a compact call centre desk system, companies can realise massive savings in comparison to conventional desk systems. With many colours available for the desks and hundreds of screen fabrics to choose from, they look fantastic too!
Finally, don’t forget the chair. Call centres often operate around the clock 24/7. Investment in a good quality ergonomic office chair is beneficial to the employee and your business.