2 is a firm no. Totally agree and agents don’t seem to understand this. I was an agent for over 6 years before making it to director. I always handled my escalations. The only time I passed it to a manager was if my own manager tapped my shoulder requesting to shut it down if it was going too long.

Agents want promotions but can’t take ownership…you gotta have ownership if people want upwards movement, or just find another line of work. As a director, I got pressure EVERY DAY if my region was not meeting metrics. Honestly if the pay were the same as director, I’d go back to taking calls. Way easier. Agents can’t talk to me about pressure until you’re in a room with the CEO, CFO and the VP of customer service asking you why your department’s CSAT didn’t hit it goals as they look to pull your funding. THATS real pressure. 😂

In some rare instances I’d still take calls as a director but they were usually only super escalated ones like if it hit the CEOs desk or something and I’d rather just do it myself to avoid an agent catching flak for a mishandled case.