Secrets To Attracting And Keeping The Best Call Center Agents - Business - Customer Service

Retention is an ongoing problem in most contact centers. The work is stressful and repetitive, the hours are often difficult, and customers can be less than polite. Each time an agent quits, another has to be located, recruited and trained, which costs the company money. It doesn't take complex call center analysis to see that improving retention reduces costs and increases profits.

Salaries

A common strategy is to increase wages. The idea is that higher paid agents are less likely to leave for other, less green pastures. Call center analysis shows that premium salaries help with recruitment, attracting more talented applicants, but the policy doesn't have much of an effect on retention. Despite what even the employees themselves may believe, it takes more than money to motivate.

Part of the problem is employees get the morale boost of a generous paycheck every two weeks, while they deal with the stress of the job every day. Certainly everyone wants to be paid a fair salary, but ultimately most workers want more from their careers than money. Managers need to dig deeper and find more creative ways to make agents feel valued every day.

What Really Motivates?

Why do employees respond to higher salaries? Because it makes them feel valued. However if this is not backed up by a genuine sense of appreciation from management, the checks become hollow motivation and ultimately have little worth.

Call center analysis studies show employees are more motivated when they feel part of a culture they can identify with. The values of the company towards its products, its customers and its employees do more to enliven workers than money does. Managers must recognize and communicate the value of the front line employees. This doesn't mean empty platitudes or reflexive "employee of the month" plaques, but a genuine appreciation of the role every employee plays in the success of the company. If agents aren't treated as valuable members of the team, they aren't inspired to excel.

Leading By Example

Managers must do, not say. All the carefully engineered speeches about quality and commitment and teamwork in the world aren't as effective as managers who demonstrate daily the values they demand from their employees. If you can't get the top level executives to live by these values, how can you expect anyone else to do so?

Leaders must command from the trenches to get a true appreciation of the hard work agents give the company, and the unique needs of the front line workers. Call center analysis software is a valuable tool that gives you the statistics, but without context the numbers have no meaning. Excellence must be recognized and publically commended to improve an agent's motivation.

You can't completely eliminate the tedium of the job. You can't stop the occasional irate caller. However you can treat your agents with respect, show them their value, and increase their desire to stay with the company.