A Day in the Life: Collections Agent

The pandemic has had a real impact on a huge range of job roles across the world, and here at Debt Recovery Plus it’s no different. In our first ever blog, we caught up with Trish, a Collections Agent who has worked with DRP for three years, to find out how her routine has changed in the face of COVID-19.

Working from Home
My day-to-day has changed considerably since the start of lockdown. Working for DRP, I’m usually based in the call centre, where I’d be sharing the space with lots of other Collections Agents and the atmosphere would be noisy and vibrant. As soon as the government advised us to work from home, DRP closed the office and now the whole team work remotely every day. Now, I have a much quieter space to work in, and I’m able to organise my day differently, so I get all my admin and call-backs out of the way at the start of the day, which means I can be taking calls all day. For me it’s a more efficient way of working, and it has boosted my productivity.

Time for Me
Before lockdown, I used to drive to work on the motorway. It’s only a few miles but depending on the traffic it could take anywhere between 15- and 45-minutes door to door! Since I don’t have to commute anymore, I’ve started running in the mornings. It’s a new thing for me, I used to go to the gym occasionally, but my morning run has become my stress reliever. It gets me out of the house and helps me to mentally prepare for the day. It has always been my dream to run a marathon, and now maybe I will; I could barely run 2k without stopping at the start of lockdown, but recently I reached 7k!

Ups and Downs
Working from home wasn’t easy straight away; at first, I had some problems with equipment, and also with the quality of my broadband. These issues were really frustrating, because I pride myself on hitting my targets and it was difficult to do that while my systems weren’t working properly. However, DRP helped me to get my equipment sorted and now I’m back to my normal call levels.

A Different Outlook
The way I’ve handled calls has changed as well. Everyone is so uncertain about the future at the moment, so people who want to settle their debts are having to be careful about what they commit to. I’ve found the best way to deal with the uncertainty is to be more flexible about what we can take as a minimum monthly payment; it’s better to help the caller commit to an achievable change than to push them to agree to something they won’t be able to keep up to.

Life After Lockdown
I don’t mind working from home, I like the flexibility and it has definitely made me rethink my work-life balance. On the other hand, I think people can struggle to remain focused when they’re away from their usual place of work, and I definitely miss seeing my colleagues. I’m really looking forward to the end of the restrictions on socialising, I can’t wait to go out dancing with my friends! We’ve been doing Zoom calls every week but it’s not the same. I was disappointed to have my birthday during social distancing, but my friends threw me a surprise party in a field near my house: there were balloons and banners and everything!