This award will recognise non-managers working in a frontline role within a contact centre, who has been in post for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months. The judges will be looking for evidence of exceptional vocational competence, achieving great results and making a difference within a short period of time, plus excellent interpersonal skills.

This category is open to non-managers employed in a support role within the contact centre in any function, for example: IT, Resource planning, administration, operations, logistics, facilities management, human resources, catering. When completing the entry consideration should be given to professionalism, performance, initiative and personal development. The support person of the year will be a shining example and entries will demonstrate how the contact centre would not the same without this person.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade in a sales capacity. It is appropriate for agents/advisors who have demonstrated exceptional levels of sales and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an agent/advisor, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade who have demonstrated exceptional levels of service and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The winner will be someone who goes above and beyond his or her day-to-day responsibilities to provide excellent customer service and support to their colleagues. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an adviser, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is open to individuals who have been employed in the role for a minimum of six months and who demonstrate exceptional leadership, first-line management skills and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The Team Leader of the Year is a professional and inspirational person who leads by example and takes responsibility for the team. They ensure their colleagues’ experience of work is always a positive one. Entrants must demonstrate strong leadership, be results oriented, with a commitment to staff development, and have evidence of guiding their team to consistently high performance.

This category is seeking a professional trainer or coach who applies best practice in learning theory to deliver training and development that achieves organisational objectives. The winner will take their role extremely seriously, training is meticulously planned and learning theory is applied with precision in order to get the best out of the people. Activity is tailored to the individual’s needs but also helps achieve departmental group objectives. This person’s training programmes have made a difference not only to individuals’ career objectives and the organisation, but also the participants’ quality of life and outlook. The winner is not averse to trying innovative new techniques to train and coach employees in a controlled environment.

Open to individuals who have been managing a support team or function based in a contact centre (eg finance, marketing, HR, IT with the exception of Complaints as this is an individual category for 2022 ), for a minimum of six months, in either a full or part-time capacity. This award will recognise an individual who has shown exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence. The winner demonstrates consistently high performance of the support team, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the team and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of staff and self.

This award will recognise your shining star – someone who has gone over and above the call of duty to enhance the smooth running of the operation. Finalists in this category will not have to attend panel judging as the winner will be selected from the written entry.

This award will recognise companies that successfully address ongoing development needs for individuals, departments and whole organisations to see that business needs are met. The judges will be looking for examples of how people development affects the company ethos and how it is embedded in the company culture.

From a support function team based in a contact centre (eg finance, HR, IT), this award will recognise an initiative delivered by teams or departments. The entry needs to outline the process, the driver(s) for implementation, key performance indicators and provide evidence of positive outcomes. It must also include evidence of the impact of the initiative on the objectives and performance of the business.

This category applies to all ‘Frontline Teams’ who sit directly within the contact centre and whose primary role is to engage with customers (B2B or B2C) service or sales. This may include (but not exclusive to) a specialist team such as escalations or a team of advisors within a larger centre, a team looking after a specific account, product or service. Consideration should be given to team spirit, performance against targets and objectives, the team’s biggest achievements in the past 6-12 months, innovation and leadership.

This award recognises how you deliver exceptional levels of service to your customers and should include details of how you measure customer engagement – targets, performance against targets, KPIs, etc. Evidence can also include details of a multi-channel approach eg: via digital, social, voice and web.

This will be presented to a centre that puts its staff at the heart of the operation. The successful centre shows that front line people are the focus of the business. Your entry should include details of:

• Special initiatives to promote employee engagement
• Health and wellbeing practices
• Evidence should include photographs, KPIs on performance improvement through engagement, plus sickness and retention rates.

This award recognises how an organisation has embraced and delivered a transformation programme which covers all aspects of the business including managers who have led such transformation, IT programmes, people and processes. Evidence will be required of:

• The objectives behind the transformation
• How the transformation was planned, implemented and monitored
• Effective use of internal communication channels to inform staff about the transformation programme and its aims
• The positive impact on customers, staff and operational/business performance
• Overall results and how the transformation fits into the long-term future strategy of the business.

This category recognises organisations who have truly invested time and resources into providing an open, supportive and educational environment for their team members who have experienced Mental Health challenges – personally or professionally. Those who have gone above & beyond to drive Mental Health & Wellbeing initiatives from a human-led perspective – not just a tick box exercise. The winner will be an organisation that see promoting positive Mental Health as a must – proactively – not just reactively.

This award recognises contact centres that best attract, select and retain talent. Centres that can show their recruitment and retention strategies give them an advantage in this highly competitive region whilst helping to uphold a career of choice status for contact centres. The judges will be looking for examples of how your centre’s strategy not only gives a great candidate and new starter experience but ensures that your company’s values, behaviours and visions are reinforced throughout the processes