Working as a Contact Center Agent

Mark

Updated September 12, 2026 00:17

From answering and transferring calls to setting call dispositions and statuses, let's dive into the basics of working as a Contact Center agent.

Go on duty

To receive calls, you'll need to go on duty by adjusting your availability status to Available and setting your on-duty status to Active.

Beside Contact Centers, select Off Duty
Select Available

Next, it’s time to set yourself to Active.

Select the Contact Center from the sidebar, then toggle the Active slider on.

Agent view to toggle on or off their active state

Answer a call

Answer a call from the Dialpad app or by using the floating notification.

To answer a call, select Accept.

Incoming call view for an agent in a contact center

While you're being rung, and during an active call, you cannot change your availability status.

As soon as the call ends, you can modify your availability status again.

Contact Centers ring out to agents based on routing rules, which are set by the contact center's admin(s). If no agent answers, the call gets moved into the hold queue or a fallback option.

Declined and missed calls

When you decline or miss a call, Dialpad automatically sets your availability status to off-duty.

We'll alert you via pop-up and push notification, so you can decide whether to stay in that state or return to Available. Depending on your contact center's settings, you may also hear an audible notification to signal that you have been placed into an off-duty state.

Note

If the caller hangs up before you're able to answer the call, you will not be set to off-duty, and the call will display in your missed call statistics.

Keep in mind that agents cannot block a number; only admins can block a number for a shared line.

Call recording

Many Contact Centers will enable automatic call recording. If a call is being recorded, you'll see a notification at the bottom of your active call.

If your admin has enabled it, you can stop the recording by selecting the Stop rec button.

Note

Contact Center calls inherit the automatic recording settings as defined by the Contact Center Admin. An agent cannot manually record calls.

Place a call

Agents can place calls using the Contact Center's number rather than their own direct number.

From the Dialpad app:

Select the Call icon
Navigate to New Call From
Select the Contact Center you want to call from
Enter the number or contact name, then press Enter

Both primary and secondary numbers belonging to the shared line can be used to place outbound calls.

The selected number will remain as your caller ID until changed again.

Note

An agent's queue position remains unchanged if they are in a meeting or make/receive calls using their personal number, Department, or Coaching team, and their status will show as Busy. However, if they use the Contact Center's number, their status will show as Occupied, similar to when they answer an incoming call.

If you are off duty when placing the outbound call, you will remain off duty for the duration of the call.

Wrap-up time

Wrap-up time is the period between the end of an agent's last call and an open opportunity to receive a new call; think of it as a moment to breathe and jot down any additional notes.

During the post-call wrap-up period, you'll see the banner at the top of your screen.

Post call wrap time in a banner above the open customer interaction feed

Once you've entered the details in the wrap-up window, the banner will disappear, and you can enter your Call Dispositions.

The call disposition window to describe what the overall theme of the call was about

Note

Post-call wrap-up time must be enabled by your supervisor or admin.

Call labels are also documented in your analytics CSV call log exports under the call_label column.

Transfer a call

Contact Center agents can transfer calls to another shared line or person.

To transfer a call:

Select Transfer
Enter a name or number to transfer the call to
- If a Contact Center name is abbreviated in the transfer list or Contact Center dropdown, hover over it to see the full name
  
  Note
  
  By default, only internal contacts are shown. To include external contacts, select Include External Contacts.
  
  3. Choose the transfer type (Ask First or Transfer Now)

Recipients of a transferred call have the option to answer or decline.

When a call is transferred between multiple Contact Centers, the incoming transfer displays only the Contact Center name from which the call is being transferred, not the details of previous transfers.

Note

Calls can only be warm transferred to a Contact Center or a Department if they already have an assigned number.

Agents won’t be able to transfer to off-duty agents unless this is enabled on the Global Contact Center Settings page.

If enabled, agents can transfer calls to other agents who are in an off-duty state, including a custom off-duty state. However, transfers to agents in a wrap-up state aren’t supported.

Tips

Transfer now

When an agent makes a blind transfer to another available agent on the same Contact Center, the call goes straight to that agent and keeps the same Contact Center line settings.

When an agent blind transfers a call to another operator in a different Shared line (Contact Center, Coaching team, Department, or Main line), the call follows the settings of that Shared line. If the receiving agent is unavailable, the call goes to that Shared line's voicemail.

Ask first

When an agent makes a warm transfer to another available agent on the same Contact Center line, the call keeps the Contact Center line's settings. But when warm transferring to a different Shared line (Contact Center, Coaching team, Department, or Main line), the call follows the settings of the receiving Shared line.

Send a message

Agents can send and receive messages from any lines they've been assigned.

During an active call, type your message in the text box and press Enter to send.

Sending a message to a customer from a contact center

Contact Center inbox

Contact Center inbox displays the hold queue, live calls, agents and their statuses, new notifications, all notifications, voicemails, and recordings.

To access your inbox:

Select Contact Centers
Select the Contact Center
Select New

Note

Inbox notifications are visible to all agents and supervisors assigned to the Contact Center.

When a notification is marked as read, the notification clears for all other agents and supervisors.

Hold queue

Agents can view a list of all calls awaiting them in the Contact Center inbox.

From the Dialpad app, navigate to your contact center inbox and select Hold Queue.

View of the hold queue in a contact center

Callers are redirected to the hold queue only if no agents are available (e.g., if agents are already on active calls).

The caller will hear hold music until they connect to an agent, or it can be configured to allow callers to press a key to leave a voicemail.

If all agents are listed as off-duty, they'll be routed to the secondary handling option set by the Contact Center's supervisor.

Manage Contact Center activity in multiple Contact Centers

Use the Real-Time Contact Center Management page to view your Contact Center activity across all the contact centers you belong to.

An agents view when they belong to multiple contact centers
This view can display up to two sections, customized based on the types of Contact Centers you belong to.

My contact centers: Provides the complete list of Contact Centers to which the user belongs. Here, agents can easily update their active status across their Contact Centers or select a Contact Center name to see its real-time data.
My conversations: Displays assigned digital interactions and access to the agent’s conversation history.
- Agents will only see the My Conversations tab if they are assigned to a Digital Contact Center.

Enable email notifications

Choose how you'd like to receive notifications in addition to the types of notifications this Contact Center shares with you.

To update your notification preferences, head to Your Settings.

Select Emails and alerts
Navigate to Contact Center Reports and Alerts
Select the desired Contact Center from the drop-down menu
Check the boxes beside the desired notification type

Assigned calls

Supervisors and contact center admins assign calls to agents based on skill sets, call volumes, and individual preferences. When a call is assigned, whether you’re in wrap-up, on a call, or during break, you will receive a notification that you’ve been assigned a call.

When using Chrome, a notification will indicate a call has been assigned, from what queue, and by which supervisor. Chrome notifications must be enabled in order to receive the alert.

When using the desktop app, a message will be pushed, alerting you that a call has been assigned.

Note

You will not receive a notification when a call assignment has been removed.

Active status vs off-duty status

The Off Duty status prevents you from receiving calls from any Contact Center you’re assigned to, regardless of its Active setting.

The Active setting applies to individual Contact Centers. To receive calls, your availability must be Available, and the Contact Center must be Active.

How inactive Contact Centers affect badge counts

When you set a Contact Center to Inactive or turn on DND, its unread items are excluded from aggregate badge counts in the Chrome app, desktop app, and Contact Centers sidebar.

Individual Contact Center badges, including New and Monitor All, still show the full unread count.

When you make the Contact Center active again, its unread count is immediately added back to the aggregate counts.

Note

This behavior is automatic and doesn’t require any admin configuration.

Contact Center personal working hours

Personal Working Hours do not apply to Contact Centers. Even if you have determined your personal working hours and present as unavailable for personal, department, and mainline calls, you will still be able to receive contact center calls as long as you are on duty.

When set as on-duty, your status displays as available in the Contact Center, and you can still receive Contact Center calls.

To prevent inbound Contact Center calls, agents must set themselves to an off-duty status or DND for that specific contact center.

Note

When you ‘Sign Out’ of Dialpad, your agent state automatically updates to off duty.

If you do not actively sign out, your agent state will remain as available.

Interested in learning more about Contact Centers? Visit this Help Center article for more info.

Frequently asked questions

Why can I change my availability in some Contact Centers, but not all?

If you can't change your availability in a specific Contact Center, your Contact Center admin has likely enabled an agent availability setting. When this setting is turned off, you cannot set yourself to unavailable.

If you find yourself stuck in an unavailable state, please reach out to your Contact Center admin for help.

What happens if I change my availability status during a call?

If you switch to an off-duty status during a call, your status will automatically update once the call ends. This prevents you from receiving new calls after your wrap-up period—perfect for when you're finishing your shift or heading on break.

While on a call, you'll see a notification confirming the status you'll transition to once the call ends. An asterisk will also appear next to your active Contact Center state. Clicking on it will display a check mark next to the status you’ll move into after the wrap-up period ends.

Notyification for agent's when their next status change is about to occur

Will I miss unread messages when a Contact Center is inactive?

No. The Contact Center’s individual badges continue to show the full unread count. Only the aggregate Chrome, desktop app, and left-sidebar Contact Centers badges are suppressed.

Why does my global status change from Available to Unavailable after restarting my PC?

When a PC is restarted, any active Dialpad application sessions are terminated. As a result, the agent is automatically logged out of the Dialpad app.

Dialpad has built-in logic that updates an agent’s Contact Center global status based on their login state. Specifically:

If an agent signs out of the Dialpad app (manually or due to a system event like a PC restart),
The agent’s Contact Center global status is automatically set to Unavailable.

This ensures that agents who are no longer actively logged in are not marked as available to receive contact center interactions.

Dialpad App Logout Behavior:

The following behavior is intentional and working as expected:

Agent logs out of the Dialpad app (including forced logout due to PC restart)
Contact Center global status transitions from Available to Unavailable
Agent must log back into the app to resume availability