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Starting with the first telephone customer service representatives in the 19th century\u2014and spanning to the now ubiquitous voices of Alexa and Siri\u2014women have always played an intrinsic role in making the consumer economy run smoothly.<\/p>\n
According to a 2019 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, women make up 61% of all the country\u2019s customer service representatives. Yet, in 2020, McKinsey & Company found that women account for only 39% of the industry\u2019s director and manager roles worldwide.<\/p>\n
These figures show that there is a huge opportunity to bring women into retail leadership roles. It\u2019s not just about equality\u2014women have unique perspectives and skills that are proven to improve outcomes and business performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was the topic of discussion for a recent Women in Retail Pavillion Leadership Chat at Shoptalk, where Principal and Founder of Retail Strategy Group Liza Amlani and I spoke\u00a0 about women in leadership. Keep reading for my thoughts on how women are transforming the future of customer service.<\/p>\n Women have been the first choice for customer service since the job was invented. When Alexander Graham Bell needed to find support staff for his new product the telephone, he hesitated to hire men because teenage boys often had \u201cbad attitudes\u201d and women were cheaper. Women\u2019s reputation for being more courteous made them a natural fit.<\/p>\n During the World Wars and with the onset of switchboards, customer service jobs remained solidly in the women\u2019s sphere. But the reasons aren\u2019t really different from today.\u00a0 Women were available, less expensive, and didn\u2019t need benefits. Even today, the flexibility and ability to work from home continues to draw women to this field. The gender pay gap, unfortunately, also persists.<\/p>\n But women\u2019s value in retail extends far beyond pay inequity. Bell hired them for their ability to speak to the consumer in a way that men couldn\u2019t. Today, women make 80% of all purchases, so it\u2019s essential that the people who are actually speaking to these consumers share their voices.<\/strong><\/p>\n Women in customer service leadership roles are promoting more inclusive cultures and hiring practices to create more representative teams that can better serve a diverse customer base. This is an example of what\u2019s often called \u201cleading with empathy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Women have led with empathy and compassion since well before anyone coined the phrases<\/strong>. And they don\u2019t just bring that value to their customer service roles\u2014they also carry it into executive suites.<\/p>\n As a self-described retailer gone tech, I started working in stores at just 18 years old. It was in those early years where I learned that good service matters. To this day, I still have no patience for poor customer service. In fact, my adoration for customer service is at the root of why I joined Talkdesk in the first place: I wanted to create conditions for everyone <\/em>to love what they do each day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Customer service is emotional labor. <\/strong>Sociologist Arlie Hochschild first defined the concept of emotional labor in the workplace in 1983, referring to any job that requires workers to display certain emotions or manage their feelings and expressions.<\/p>\n Professions typically dominated by women also tend to be those that require lots of emotional labor\u2014think nurses, restaurant wait staff, childcare workers, and office assistants. Customer service has a rightful place on that list.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because shopping is, inherently, emotional. <\/strong>Loyalty<\/strong> is not just points. <\/strong>Instead, buying decisions are about feeling a connection with a brand\u2014and generating that connection requires strong emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve worked to build the groundwork to foster these emotional connections through Genesis Miranda Longo\u2019s Culture of Compassion initiative at Talkdesk. The idea is that company leaders show compassion to their agents, the agents show it to their customers, and the customers, in turn, show it back to the agents and the brand overall. This is just one example of how women can use their innate strengths to change how the industry works.\u00a0<\/p>\n While women have always been the ones behind the phones in traditional customer service jobs, the dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) has created new niches and opportunities where women can play yet another transformational role.<\/p>\n Conversational and generative AI includes everything from the simplest chatbots to virtual assistants, all the way up to the much-discussed ChatGPT. Women can use technology and data to make an immediate impact on humanized and personalized experiences that meet evolving customer needs. <\/strong>Women\u2019s empathy makes them a key asset in this exciting new field.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t have a background in science or tech? Don\u2019t stress. Technology doesn\u2019t have to be a barrier to pursuing many of the opportunities in this emerging field. Women can play a role in developing the emotional code, not just the computer code.<\/p>\n I consider myself lucky to work at a tech company like Talkdesk where the entire retail leadership team and 50% of overall leadership are women. But when I think about what will enable all <\/em>women in retail to grow professionally and reach the top of the field, mentorship is key.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not enough to become a leader yourself\u2014you have to think about what it means to leverage the village. That means spending time with the customer service reps in your contact centers, talking to them, and helping them grow as women as well.<\/p>\n Show up as a leader. Take up that space. Be confident.<\/strong> Consider this your call to arms and sisterhood as well as a call to unleash the transformative potential of women as retail leaders.<\/p>\nLeading with compassion since day one.<\/h2>\n
Turning emotional labor into a superpower.<\/h2>\n
Driving innovation as only women can.<\/h2>\n
Mentoring the women leaders of the future.<\/h2>\n
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