Call Center Quality Assurance (QA) Agent Training Process Checklist Template

In an ideal world, every employee at your call center would be trained to the max, experts in your business, and masterful customer-whisperers. 

In the real world, while you may provide exceptional training for your agents, humans are imperfect, corners get cut, and processes forgotten.

Make no mistake: training is an investment. You're putting time and money into an individual you hope will deliver a first-rate performance and bring back a hefty ROI. Nowhere is this more true than in quality assurance.

Your quality assurance (QA) agents need to have the most up-to-date training and knowledge in order to catch these slips, improve agent performance, and enhance the call center. 

This checklist focuses exclusively on the QA agent training process, with the assumption that your prospective QA agent has already completed the general training program (you can see an example checklist here).

With Process Street's super-powered checklists you'll be able to minimize human error, increase accountability, and provide employees with all of the tools and information necessary to complete their tasks as effectively as possible. 

Ready to optimize your workflow? Let's go!

Checklists should start like all good beginnings: establishing the who, what, when, where, and why.

This section deals with inputting all the essential information about the quality assurance audit.

Each task has a stop tasks in place to make sure nothing gets left out. 

A stop task stops a checklist at a particular point, preventing any task after that point from being completed until the stop task is complete. 

First thing's first: Add details of the trainee, their supervisor, and the trainer. Type them in the appropriate form fields below.

Using the tools on the right, you can customize this with as much or as little information as you need for each audit. 

If you want to edit this checklist template and its features (short text, email, dropdown, date entry, etc.) that's easy to do by clicking on the "edit template" button.

This checklist is divided into four training sections, followed by a quiz to ensure the you fully understand the material. 

The first section concentrates on what quality assurance means, and the benefits it has. 

As you progress through these tasks with your trainer, you will discuss:

• Quality assurance principles
• Quality assurance benefits
• Goals of the QA program
• Roles and responsibilities of QA agents

This checklist uses subtasks throughout.

Subtasks are smaller checklists which can be placed inside a task in your templates.

They are perfect for breaking complex tasks into smaller steps whilst still tracking your progress.

To better optimize customer experiences, call centers need to be constantly monitored, evaluated, and improved. 

Quality assurance is essential for:

• Evaluating agent performance
• Training your agents.
• Increasing operational efficiency.
• Collaborating internally and externally
• Elevating the customer experience.
• Ensuring customer interactions align with business goals

Review the following topics with your trainer:

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Quality assurance provides a number of benefits, not only for the call center and its customers, but the agents as well. 

Here are a few examples of areas impacted by QA audits:

• Clarify goals
• Culture of quality
• Identify flaws
• Better training 
• Customer retention
• Stronger workforce

To be a more effective quality assurance agent, it's necessary to understand the foundation of the program. 

The following texts will explain how the program was developed, the roles of those involved in the program, and what we hope to accomplish with the program. 

Policies guide individuals in decision-making and reaching desired outcomes. 

This ensures that, not only do customers receive a consistent experience, but all employees know what to expect when certain actions take place. 

The following section will cover these topics:

• the function of policies
• important company policies to remember
• how policies impact procedures
• what happens when policies aren't followed

While procedures are often based on policies, the two function very differently. 

Procedures are constantly being changed and improved to meet different needs. Policies, on the other hand, change infrequently and cover a broader statement of purpose.

Policies are best used as a guide when making decisions. Interacting with the public, by definition, entails a certain amount of unpredictability. Following company policies, however, allows you to make rational decisions in line with company standards and expectations. 

Policies cover every aspect of how the company operates. Fortunately, you don't need to memorize all of them.

There are, however, several policies specific to quality assurance, and it's important to remember these when conducting your audits.

Determining whether or not agents follow company policies is also an essential part of your role as a quality assurance agent. 

Discuss necessary company policies with your trainer and then answer the questions below.

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Roleplaying is an important training tool that allows you to build confidence with new skills. When it comes time for you to implement these policies during a real audit, you'll be assured in your abilities. 

This section covers the various procedures you'll need to perform as a QA agent, and their purpose in the program. 

Procedures are the practical application of policies.

Some of the procedures may seem unnecessary at first, but they have all been developed with the following in mind:

• satisfy legal regulations and guidelines
• promote safety and security
• ensure equality
• achieve the best results in the most efficient manner

We don't often think about it, but procedures exist in every aspect of our lives. These vary from informal procedures like how you get ready for work in the morning, to societal ones such as paying taxes or voting in an election. 

Procedures ensure tasks are done smoothly and without bias, miscommunication, or errors. 

Your role is to evaluate how well agents follow their procedures, but quality assurance has specific processes, as well. If quality assurance procedures weren't standardized, individual agents would not receive equal support. 

Review the following procedures with your trainer and understand their importance.

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Now that you've had a chance to become familiar with our procedures, it's time to see them in action. 

Roleplay the following scenarios with your trainer, or a fellow trainee. 

Now that you have the basis for the how and why of things, it's time to learn the specifics of your daily duties. 

This section will review every aspect of performing a quality assurance audit, and prepare you for what to expect during your first call. 

During an audit, agents are evaluated based on several criteria. Some of these are easy to determine - adherence to policy and procedures, for example - while others - such as building rapport - may be harder to identify. 

It is vital that you apply the same standard to every call, however. In order to do that, you must have a thorough understanding of the expectations placed on our agents. 

Discuss the requirements for each criteria, and then answer the questions below.

The quality assurance program was developed over the course of a year by a committee that included supervisors, agents, QA agents, and department heads. 

Through several meetings and rounds of testing, the current program was created with the best methods for assessing agent performance. 

Review the following steps with your trainer and make sure you understand the purpose of each one:

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After the audit has been completed, you'll need to determine what the next steps are. 

The concept of quality assurance - provide feedback and guidance to agents - has been around for over 40 years.

In theory, it's a great concept. In practice, not so much.

More often than not, QA audits end up focusing more on telling the agent what went wrong without including what went right. 

The procedure we've established for relaying audit scores and feedback is designed to counteract this. By holding a face-to-face meeting, both you and the agent will be able to discuss the results, why they happened, and explore possible solutions.

Rather than becoming a punishment, this approach allows the agent to become an active participant in their own development.

Giving feedback is always a delicate process, but the following tactics will help you be more effective:

• Feedback should always be given in private
• Be specific about the behavior/situation
• Remember to acknowledge areas of success as well
• Don't use a feedback "sandwich"
• Focus on the behavior, not the person
• Prioritize actionable steps
• Make sure the feedback is appropriate and constructive
• Give the agent space to provide feedback on the audit

The last section includes a quiz on the materials you've covered so far. This quiz is merely to ensure you have a solid understanding of our expectations for quality assurance agents.

Don't worry if you get a question wrong; your trainer will review with you any items that you are still unclear about.

Once the trainee completes the quiz, the trainer will be asked to approve the results. 

An approval is a powerful feature that streamlines the authorization process. By approving the results, the trainer confirms the trainee has answered every question correctly. 

If an answer is incorrect, the trainer can reject the results and the trainee must perform the quiz again after a review.

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Once you have finished, your trainer will review the answers with you, and discuss any further questions you may have. 

Congratulations!

You have successfully completed the QA Agent Training Program!

Your trainer will now forward your results, and your new supervisor will coordinate with you for your first shift. 

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The final section is for the trainer to do. 

These tasks make use of several dynamic Process Street features: conditional logic, variables, and the email widget. 

Check out the video below for a brief overview of Conditional Logic!

(We also have an entire webinar on Conditional Logic that you can access here.)

After reviewing the trainee's quiz and overall performance during training, you must now recommend whether or not you feel they are prepared to join the quality assurance team.

Think carefully about your recommendation, and use the long text field below to document the reasons behind your decision. 

Once you've completed this task, you'll forward the results to both HR and the trainee's supervisor. 

This task utilizes conditional logic. 

If the training has been successful, then a task to send a positive recommendation will apear.

If the training has been unsuccessful, then a task to send a negative recommendation will appear.

In this task, variables have been used to populate an email from data entered previously in the checklist.

Variables can be added to text and email widgets to display 'variable' information unique to each checklist of a template.

The email widget allows you to send pre-written emails with the click of a button.

Only send this email if the trainee has passed the training program.

In this task, variables have been used to populate an email from data entered previously in the checklist.

Variables can be added to text and email widgets to display 'variable' information unique to each checklist of a template.

The email widget allows you to send pre-written emails with the click of a button.

Only send this email if the trainee has not passed the training program.

• GCS - The Complete Guide to Call Center Training
• EvaluAgent - The Ultimate Guide to Call Center Quality Assurance
• ScoreBuddy - How to Create a QA Framework for Your Call Center
• Jade Longelin - Why is Quality Assurance Important in a Call Center?
• Adam Henshall - Processes, Policies, and Procedures: Important Distinctions to Systemize Your Business
• BBC Bitesize Revision - Procedures and Functions
• Ben Mulholland - 4 Easy Steps to Perfect Your Daily Routine
• HRM Guide - The Importance of Procedures in the Workplace
• DMG Consulting - It's Time to Replace Traditional QA
• Robert C. Pozen - The Delicate Art of Giving Feedback

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