As the importance of delivering excellent customer experiences has been magnified, customer expectations have risen and service interactions have increased in complexity, the typical customer service associate's job has become more demanding. They need to think and know more. They must draw more heavily on creativity to solve novel problems, cope with ambiguity and demonstrate empathy. Gone are the days of routine work that could be reduced to a set of instructions. Today's customer service associates are increasingly knowledge workers.

Performing this kind of work successfully demands more than just going through the motions. It often necessitates making extra effort over and above what is strictly required – going the extra mile. The willingness to exert this kind of discretionary effort requires an employee who is engaged in their work and motivated to succeed.

Employee engagement , however, has been a perennial challenge for many customer service organizations. According to the most recent research by the Gallup organization, engagement levels among service employees are among the lowest of any occupation they measured -- and have declined in recent years (while engagement for every other job category increased).

What strategies and practices aimed at motivating and strengthening the engagement of their customer service associates are UWEBC member companies pursuing in response to the trends and issues above? Join us for this interactive forum to find out. You'll have the opportunity to share and discuss experiences and practices with fellow contact center leaders

Participate in Customizing the Agenda: You’ll have the opportunity to play an active part in shaping the agenda for this session – and to maximize its relevance for you – by suggesting and selecting topics for break-out discussions. Once the agenda is complete, you choose the discussions you want to join. This will be a highly interactive session so come prepared to share your questions, challenges and insights!

Webcast Available: If you can't make it to the event in-person (or if in-person registration has reached capacity), you can still register to attend from your computer. This option allows you to view the presentations, while attending in person provides you with the opportunity to participate in break-out discussions, ask questions or take advantage of networking opportunities. To attend the webcast, click the "Register for webcast" button on this meeting's homepage. You will receive a confirmation email with the link to the webcast a week before the meeting.