Employment figures announced this week showed that UK unemployment fell in the three months to December, while the number of people in work jumped to a new record.  The figures from the Office of National Statistics indicate that more than 580,000 more people are in work than a year ago.  Worryingly, however youth unemployment continues to rise despite the overall drop.

 
At a recent meeting with DWP, we discussed a new initiative they have launched - a £1billion Youth Contract to help young unemployed people get a job. The Youth Contract will provide nearly half-a-million new opportunities for 18-24 year olds, including apprenticeships and voluntary work experience placements.
 
There are around 1m people employed in customer contact in the UK – a significant proportion of them in the younger age demographic.  The paradox is that most organisations are really trying to reduce voice contact and it is vital that schemes like these help prepare young people for what the future of work will look like.  With the increasing complexity of contact and challenge of communicating on newer channels such as social media, a different skill set will be needed to support customer service operations.
 
CCA has been working hard over the last year to understand what this future workforce might look like and developed a potential future scenario around the ‘Martini Agent’ – a flexible and adaptable resource where every service interaction results in a star rating either through direct feedback or through an assessment of the emotional tone of the customer.  This creates a very different dynamic workforce who are rewarded, rated and who create their own ‘demand’ by delivering an exceptional customer experience.  Something very different perhaps from how many of our employees feel today?
 
These are just some of the things we’ll be covering at our forthcoming event hosted at RBS Gogarburn in Edinburgh on 18 April.  For more information please contact Carol Walker.