Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
3 Tips to Reduce Agent Turnover Rates
You’d be hard pressed to find a call center that doesn’t have a high agent turnover rate. Agents leave for a variety of reasons—no flexible work hours, too much pressure, the repetitive nature of the work, burnout, poor benefits, etc. Whatever the reason for their departure, every agent loss hurts the call center. Operations are thrown, no matter how briefly, out of sync as managers try to find replacements. Fewer workers means more stress on the remaining agents, which then causes more losses. It’s a vicious cycle—one that desperately needs to be broken. So how can call center management improve agent attrition rates? Let’s take a look at some tips.
Improve training programs. If agents aren’t trained properly from the very beginning, you’re setting them up for failure. If you have high agent turnover rates in your call center, it might be time to reevaluate your training programs. Sometimes organizations try to shove a variety of topics into one session, which is a lot to absorb. Why not try multiple short training sessions instead, with each covering a topic or two? This will give agents an opportunity to really concentrate on one aspect at a time, while also allowing them the chance to ask questions. This also leaves more time for acting out potential scenarios they may come across on actual calls.
Start recognition and rewards programs. Everyone likes to feel like they’re working towards a goal. For some people, that goal is a promotion. For others, it’s recognition and rewards. By implementing recognition and rewards programs, you’ll be giving agents something to work towards regularly. Receiving an “Agent of the Month” or “Most First Call Resolutions” award may be the incentive some agents need to bring their A-game to the call center every day.
Gamification. This aligns with the recognition and rewards programs idea. Gamification is all about making the workplace more fun while simultaneously building coworker relationships. You could set up teams and have them participate in certain games every week. Awarding points for first call resolution, for example, would be a great way to inspire agents to try their best during each customer interaction. The driving force here would be to help their team win an award at the end of the week. Incorporating some fun into the daily routine would undoubtedly break up the monotony and help foster relationships within the workplace.
These may seem like small changes but they can have a big impact on the way agents feel about going to work every day. Better training and a little fun certainly never hurt anyone. These are just a few of the changes managers should consider making in order to lower agent turnover rates.