Top 4 Ways to Reduce Call Center Employee Turnover

Written by KOVA Corp

Everyone knows that losing contact center agents to turnover is expensive. In fact, according to Quality Assurance and Training Connection, replacing one frontline agent can cost anywhere between $10,000 and $12,000. And when you multiply that by the high numbers of agents who end up leaving their jobs within a couple of years—between 30 and 45 percent—the costs become almost astronomical.

So what are the most effective ways to reduce call center agent turnover? Here are a few steps you can take to make sure your best agents decide to stick around.

  1. Analyze your hiring practices, and change them if necessary. It should come as no surprise that one of the most important ways you can decrease employee attrition is to make sure you’re hiring the right people in the first place. The first question to ask yourself about your hiring process is whether you’re giving yourself a chance to evaluate your candidates’ skills before you make the job offer.
  2. Although this kind of pre-offer skill evaluation is gradually becoming more standard, many contact centers are still sticking to the typical resume-interview-offer order of things. While this can give you some idea of whether the person is a good fit, it’s nowhere near as useful as actually asking the candidate to perform a simulated call (with, of course, enough information about your company and the job requirements to help them succeed).

    Consider incorporating some kind of test assignment into your hiring practices—it will not only help you weed out those who are obviously unfit for the position, but help you identify people with outstanding abilities, too.

  3. Give employees the resources to resolve issues the first time. According to a 3CLogic article, for every 1 percent improvement in first call resolution rate, employee satisfaction goes up 1 to 5 percent. That’s a pretty positive correlation, and since a higher first call resolution rate also means your customers will be happier, it’s something you can’t afford to ignore.
  4. One way you can help your agents achieve this is to make their software easier to use. No one wants to have to toggle in and out of 10 different programs to get their customer the information they need. Consider implementing programs that integrate all the data your agents use.
    The same is true for those on the supervisory or management level. Workforce optimization programs like the Verint Media Recorder Workforce Management system can help your managers gain insight into every area of the organization, so they can staff appropriately, automate time-consuming tasks, and more.

  5. Offer variety in work tasks, flexible scheduling, or even allowing employees to work from home. Doing the same thing without variation, day in and day out, is enough to make even the most dedicated employee feel downtrodden. Show your employees that you know they’re not robots by offering a change of task on a regular basis—maybe pull them off the phones to assist with another agent’s training, for example.
  6. Another way to increase your employees’ job satisfaction is to offer flexible scheduling, like allowing them to work from home for a certain amount of time per week or month, or offering three-day weekends at regular intervals.

    And if you really want to increase employee retention, seriously consider using at-home agents. According to studies, contact centers using at-home agents experience a 35-50 percent lower employee turnover rate than those that don’t.

  7. Offer opportunities for career advancement. Without the prospect of a better position and higher salary, how can you expect agents to stay with your contact center for more than a couple of years? Agents need to know that if they perform well, they will be rewarded—and not just with incentives like a Starbucks card or extra vacation time, as nice as those things can be. It’s important for agents to feel that they can continue to grow with your organization. If they don’t, chances are they’ll leave as soon as they can find a place that will offer them that growth.

Are you working to reduce employee turnover at your contact center? If you’re looking to make your agents happier by implementing better software, KOVA can help. Contact us about our workforce optimization solutions today!

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