A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development determines that the average cost for replacing call centre staff is £6,125 per agent.
At the industry recognised 26% turnover rate per annum your contact centre is completely changing staff every four years and it’s costing as much as £2.3 billion annually.
Investing in your staff through training and development is fundamental in terms of agent engagement, insights from The Shepell·fgi Research Group suggest. According to the study, training your agents to deal with a wider variety of problems, for example, can reduce stress and boost their performance. That tells us it’s about empowerment and trust.
Establishing an atmosphere of clear and open communication, both inward and outward, is another key driver for employee engagement, a recent study of the Dale Carnegie Institute indicates. Findings suggest that senior leadership should articulate a clear vision and allow employees to become part of it through their input. At the same time, employees should be allowed to have their own voice when communicating to the rest of the world. Authentic employee stories shared across social media not only deepen your agents’ engagement by giving them a sense of empowerment but also activate them as co-creators of the brand message.
Happy employees are those who feel valued and empowered to demonstrate their full potential. Within certain industries, including contact centres, low agent engagement is predefined due to certain job characteristics. These industries use standardised procedures which allow very little autonomy of the employees and limited use of their skills, hence making them feel stuck in the process. Job redesign that gives more freedom to staff is one way to improve that.
