Productive Downtime: Call Centre Entertainment

While call centre jobs are not idea for everyone, they do tend to have some benefits. Aside from decent wages and often good health benefits, depending on what kind of call centre you work at, there's the opportunity to be more productive than you ever thought possible.

I don't mean more productive in work-related matters, though those obviously are the tasks that ought to come first. But if you're lucky enough to work in a call centre that takes inbound calls, you'll find that there's sometimes a pause in between calls. This, I have found, is the perfect time to take advantage of when you have a portable hobby.

When I say 'portable hobby', I mean that there's something you enjoy doing that you can take with you on the go. Knitting, crocheting, drawing, writing, corssword puzzles, reading. Any number of small things that can go easily into a bag or pocket that you can take with you to work. if you're a woodcarver, then sorry, you're probably out of luck. But if your hobby is something that you can bring along with you wherever you go, then this might be the best time to double your productivity at work, without doing any actual work.

Now, before I get too far into this, I'd like to point out that some call centres don't allow downtime to be taken advantage of like this. They prefer that, if you aren't on a call, you sit there quietly and stare at your computer screen, or perhaps talk to people nearby. I have found, in my own personal opinion, that these are not the best places to work. They often pay more than other call centres, but their rules are often so strict that they become rather restrictive and unpleasant places to work in. Our job situations are all different, but if I have a choice, I always try to work in a place that will give me a little freedom.

Most call centres don't have a problem with you doing other things between calls, so long as you aren't being disruptive to others and so long as you aren't actually doing your hobby while you're on a call.Remember to bring along simple projects, too, since the constant interruption by your actual work can become frustrating if you're trying to work on a complex hobby.

Inbound call centres are the best kind of place to implement this plan, since there will often be pauses in your work, as you wait for somebody else to call in.. Outbound call centres will have no rest time between calls, so they're not at all ideal.

By doing things like crafts or puzzles or reading during your downtime, you are, in a sense, increasing your productivity, though not quite in the way that most businesses refer to. You're being more productive, though, and that much can't really be denied. You could, in between calls, sit there and stare are your computer screen, or talk to others, or you could be knitting a scarf, reading a book, writing another scene in a story. You could wait until you got home to do all these things, of course, but if you have the free time at work, and nobody has said you can't (especially if people have said you can), then there's no reason not to. Taking advantage of your spare time is the best way to get things done quickly and efficiently, all while still getting paid your salary or hourly wage.

I'll give you an example. Let's say you're knitting a scarf, and each row has 20 stitches. You may only be able to fit in 5 stitches between each call, but that's still 5 more than you would have if you hadn't brought the scarf with you to work on. Those 5 stitches add up over time, and before you know it, you've finished half the scarf on your work shift. In a sense, you just got paid for knitting. Read a page of a book between each call, and by the time you go home you may be three chapters further into the story. You just got paid for reading. Are you a writer? If your workplace allows it, write down the next scene of your story or your next article, and send it to your personal email so you can access it from home. Now you've just been paid for writing.

Now you've just made progress on your projects, and things can get completed that much faster. Again, it all could have waited until you were finished your shift, but it didn't have to.You spent your downtime produticely, actually doing something instead of sitting there doing nothing. Don't waste the free time you're given. You're still being paid for it, so why not get paid for doing something you love as well as something you have to do?

A lot of call centres allow this because it helps keep employee stress levels down. If an employee is allowed to do something fun, something they enjoy between their work assignments, then they get to detox a little bit, to relax and throw away any stress they just accumulated by taking another call that was just as repetitive and dull as all the other calls they take. It breaks up the cycle nicely, and allows some relaxation and stress-relief without the company having to lose an employee to stress leave. The employee will still be at their post, waiting for the next call to come in, and since allowing them to do small fun activites doesn;t harm anyone, 90% of call centres see no problem with it.

If you're really lucky, you might find a workplace that doesn't mind you bringing and playing handheld video games. I can't tell you how many games I beat (or at least advanced in) in between my class at my last job. It was fun, it was an escape from the working world, and even if I only got that escape for a few minutes at a time, it was enough to lower my stress levels and make the rest of the shift that much easier. And because I wasn't as stressed, I was happier, so the quality of my calls increased.

There are limits to how permissive places will be, even if they allow you to bring in your hobbies to work on between calls. If they find you're doing anything else while actually on a call, your privileges will be revoked very quickly. Don't make a mess, don't have too many supplies scattered all over your work area, and don't do something that will be disruptive to those around you. Remember that while there are recognized benefits to being able to take a little break and have some fun, it's a privilege and not a right, and abusing it will mean you no longer get to enjoy it.

If your hobby is a crafty one, such as fibre arts, drawing, and the like, you might find yourself with a sudden request or customer base, too. If your coworkers see what you're working on, they may become interested and might like you to make them a scarf or draw a portrait of them. It's not the most common result of bringing your hobbies to work with you, but it's not unheard of, either. You may find yourself with a little bit of extra income because of it, all from just taking advantage of the free time you normally have during the course of your shift. My advice in regards to that is to milk that for all its worth, provided you don't mind the extra work. If someone is willing to pay you for making them a hat or sketching their face, then it's a bonus. They might spread the word around to friends of theirs, and if you're very lucky, you might be able to bring in some steady money, alongside your regular paycheque. Never underestimate the power of exposure and word-of-mouth. People are often more likely to buy things, too, if they see the product being made right in front of them. If you have plans to make a small business from your hobby, this might be the perfect way to get your first clients.

There are many simple and effective ways to take full advantage of the time you're being paid for. Use it wisely, creatively, and you'll soon find that productivity on your hobby has increased, and your stress levels at work will go down, making your shifts less difficult to get through if you don't particularly love your job.It's saved me in the past, and I highly recommend it to anyone that is able to do it.