After the fun and celebrations of National Telephonists’ Day this month, Huma, Operations Manager, shares why it’s such an important date in our ComXo calendar:
Working behind the scenes to keep the business world running, is no easy feat. It’s a job which requires resilience, empathy, patience and an abundance of personality!
It would be easy to assume that the role of a switchboard operator, is to answer calls and simply connect them through. Yet this assumption isn’t entirely accurate. ComXo’s switchboard answer over 700,000 calls each year; each of these calls is handled proficiently, professionally and seamlessly.
Our operators form the most vital part of the business; they are quite simply the gatekeepers tasked with ensuring that every single call delivers a valued outcome to the caller, the client and ComXo. So, it makes sense to celebrate these individuals, for whom the most important thing is to deliver such a service.
This celebration comes in the form of National Telephonists’ Day. A day to recognise and reward telephonists, for the importance of their role. For my team and I, it allows the opportunity to show our appreciation and spoil our staff – namely through an endless supply of food and drinks!
Held annually in March, National Telephonists’ Day, coincides with the anniversary of the very first telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. With the first event being launched in 2014, it has since been celebrated by businesses across a wide range of sectors each year.
From breakfasts to hot drinks, raffle prizes and a charity car wash, massages and a pancake van, sweet station, games room and relaxation station, ComXo celebrations during NTD 2024 set the bar high. This was, in the words of one operator “the most superbly organised event in my 9 years working here”.
As a 24/7 business, the priority has always been to ensure our staff feel just as valued at 2am as they do at 2pm. This year as always, the office was the venue for an evening and night of food and games for those working on our out of hours teams. The low-key, less visible telephonists who diligently work in the background whilst we are tucked up asleep, can often be taken for granted. Their initiative and quick-thinking reaction on crisis escalations and high value calls, have to date, resulted in some of our greatest success stories. It’s for those very reasons, we raise our glasses and say thank you.
To all our operators, I speak on behalf of everyone when I say, you are exceptional. Your effortless handling of our switchboard calls has allowed us to be at the forefront of what we do. We are setting the standards high and paving the way for the next generation. We thank you and celebrate you, today and every day.
Huma Ghazanfar, Operations Manager
