Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

Job purpose

To operate the organisation's telephone and communication systems, relaying incoming, outgoing and internal calls, recording and routing messages, monitoring alarms and receiving visitors, so that calls and messages reach the right person promptly and emergencies are passed to the right place without delay.

Skills

• Working knowledge of telephone business systems, switchboards, intercom, paging, two-way radio and public address equipment, of the alarm and emergency-call arrangements they carry, and of office procedures for message handling, directories, filing and word processing, together with clear written and spoken English. Secondary-level education is the norm for almost all incumbents, with a few days to a year of on-the-job training.
• Answers and places calls, greets callers and visitors, provides information from reference files about the organisation or its clients, and pages or contacts the person wanted. Records messages and rewords them for clarity, and stays composed with callers who are discourteous, angry or in open disagreement.
• Judges what each call is for and where it belongs, distinguishing routine enquiries from emergency and alarm traffic that must be routed or announced without delay, and checking that information given out is correct. Decisions are frequent and guided by established procedure, with referral available.
• Handles a steady flow of calls, messages, appointments and room bookings, keeping directories, call records and schedules up to date under some time pressure. Exercises a degree of freedom over the order of work, but the flow of calls sets the pace.
• Work is carried out seated at a console, operating switchboard and radio equipment and a keyboard, with repetitive hand movements in typing, keying and filing. Also handles incoming and outgoing mail, packages and deliveries.

Responsibilities

• No supervisory responsibility. Serves callers, visitors and colleagues throughout the organisation, coordinates with others to locate the person needed, and contacts security staff or emergency services when circumstances require.
• Performs cash handling duties, including collecting payments, managing petty cash and making bank deposits, and keeps records of calls placed and charges incurred. May place orders for equipment, supplies or catering. Holds no budget and works to set procedures and limits.
• Care of the switchboard, telephone, radio, paging and public address equipment and of the alarm monitoring position, reporting faults and tampering. Logs visitors in and out, issues security badges and arranges escorts, and processes mail and deliveries.
• Maintains message records, call logs, telephone directories, schedules and files, stamping and filing messages and typing or proofreading documents. Accuracy is important because messages and emergency details are acted on by others, and the format of the records is set by the organisation.

Effort required

• Sustained alertness to a high volume of telephone and face-to-face contact, with frequent decisions about routing and the need to hear, record and repeat names, numbers and instructions exactly. Alarm and emergency traffic must be recognised for what it is among ordinary calls, and there is some time pressure.
• Regular contact with people who are dissatisfied, discourteous or angry, and with situations of disagreement, calling for an even manner and self-control. The work is repetitive and its pace is set by callers rather than by the postholder.
• Extended periods seated at a console with repetitive hand and keyboard movement, and occasional handling of mail, packages and deliveries.

Working conditions

• An indoor, environmentally controlled office or switchboard position with no material physical hazards, worked in close proximity to visitors and colleagues. The exposure is psychosocial: a high volume of contact with the public and with employees, a proportion of it hostile or in dispute.
• Almost all incumbents work a regular established schedule; shorter working weeks are more common than full ones, and weeks beyond the standard are rare. There is some latitude in ordering tasks and making decisions, but the work is governed by set procedures for call handling, message taking and emergency routing.