Explore fresh, expert perspectives on customer engagement and innovation

A recent survey of nearly 20,000 employers around the world found that almost 70% of businesses are having trouble hiring new employees, which is the highest level in 15 years.

In the face of such a challenging recruitment climate, the contact centre industry is in a particularly tough position. Attrition in the UK industry – the rate at which people leave their jobs every year – has been above 20% on average for almost two decades.

That is one person in five leaving their contact centre job every year. And that 20 year average may even understate the current situation, with one US study suggesting 40% of agents plan on leaving roles within the next 12 months.

Such high rates of attrition translate into substantial costs for employers.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development outlines where the costs come from.

The most obvious ones are:

• Administration of the resignation
• Recruitment and selection costs
• Induction training for the new employee

Hidden costs are more difficult to calculate but more serious in the long term and include the drop in productivity of new employees relative to experienced staff who have left.

Faced with these challenges, how should contact centre operators go about getting new staff and keeping existing ones?

Why is contact centre recruitment and retention getting even harder?

There is a widespread perception that contact centres can be a demanding environment to work in, particularly for agents. This has a knock-on effect on recruitment, with recent UK research confirming that “Entry level roles such as customer service agents and claims handlers are the most difficult roles to fill”

If entry level roles are difficult to recruit for, operators are then hit with the double-whammy of a high turnover of staff. Many of the reasons are longstanding and well-known, including a perceived lack of career progression.

The shift to remote working in response to the pandemic has added another complication when trying to understand and reduce staff turnover, because younger workers, who are among the most likely to apply for entry level jobs, can be the ones with most to gain from being in an office environment.

The youngest workers, so-called Generation Z (born after 1997), which includes recent school and university leavers, are the cohort who most want to spend time with colleagues and whose mental health is most likely to be affected by the potential isolation of home working, according to IPSOS research.

Isolation from colleagues due to remote working can also have a negative effect on training and staff development.

A high turnover rate of staff can quickly become a never ending cycle. Research has highlighted that:

• 70% of employees say a friend at work is crucial to job satisfaction.
• 50% said it gives them a stronger connection to their workplace. When an employee leaves, the chances are that their closest workmates will follow them.

Recruiting great contact centre staff

It’s not enough to post vacancies on a few jobs sites and wait for the CVs to roll in. Recruitment strategies have to be proactive, and mix and match different approaches.

How will you stand out from other local employers and reach people who might not yet be considering a job as an agent?

A fresh pair of eyes

There are specialist contact centre recruitment agencies. Why not invite one or two of them in for a meeting, or, more likely these days, invite them to an online meeting, and hear how they interpret the challenge?

Highlight progression opportunities

One of the main reasons contact centre agents give for quitting is the lack of progression opportunities. However, the contact centre industry does promote from within, and managers who started as agents are not uncommon. Why not tell those stories? Not only are team leader and manager roles often filled by former agents, but there are other parts of the business that agents can move into.

Turn a perceived weakness into a strength

Contact centres are often seen as stopgap jobs, but if progression opportunities are properly highlighted, then that can become a strength. Not everyone knows what they want to do after school or university, and a job as an agent is a way to step straight into the world of work, with on-the-job training from the start and a chance to weigh up other roles in the same organisation.

Flexible working, for those who want it

Working from home has become a fact of life during the pandemic, with two-thirds of operators supporting a combination of remote and on-site working in summer 2021. While flexible working will help you attract and retain staff overall, be aware that it is less of an incentive for younger workers.

Values matter for younger workers

In 2025, the youngest workers, Generation Z, will make up 27% of the workforce. Business magazine Forbes reports that these new workers are more value driven than their predecessors when considering which companies they want to work for.

[Listen] Aligning Culture and Organisational Strategy to Nurture Employee Engagement with Danny Wareham >

Tactics for reducing staff turnover

Once you have found and recruited great people, you want them to stay. Here are some of the ways you can reduce staff turnover.

Ask people why?

The best way to keep people is to find out why they leave. Conduct exit interviews,

and make it as easy as possible for people to be honest, even if you might not like what you hear. That means the exit interview shouldn’t be conducted by the agent’s line manager, and you should make it clear that the answers won’t affect future references.

Make sure people know how they can progress and learn

Is it clear to agents how they can progress within the organisation? Do they know what is expected of them in order to be considered for new roles? Do they have opportunities to upskill? Make this clear to staff members in order to give them a clear path and something to work towards.

Giving agents opportunities to increase their knowledge and learn new things is vital. A programme of regular training achieves two goals. It helps staff to be more successful, and it shows them that you take their career progression seriously. In an uncertain world, skills are an employee’s insurance against obsolescence. Help agents attain new levels of competence and they won’t feel the need to find them elsewhere.

[Watch] How to improve staff wellbeing and engagement in your contact centre >

Team building

Employees feeling part of a team is one of the signs of a company with high retention rates. Team building can begin on day one for new employees with a well thought through onboarding process. As new agents settle into their careers, team building should continue. This means making people feel valued and enhancing the social aspects of work.

Time is often tight in busy contact centres, but giving agents opportunities to meet and communicate with their colleagues is essential for morale. With remote working, social breaks in the kitchen and quick conversations across the desk are no longer possible, so it’s vital to put regular time aside for colleagues to get to know each other. If having a friend at work is critical to job satisfaction, then opportunities for staff to make social connections can be a driver for better retention rates.

Show younger workers that values matter to you as a business

You could support local charities and community groups, and why not let agents nominate where the money goes? This needn’t break the bank. A donation of new gardening tools for a community orchard, for example, could make a huge difference while creating positive word-of-mouth marketing for your business. And that will help with hiring the right people in the future.

In addition, show that your values also include protecting the wellbeing of your workforce. That might mean appointing a mental health champion, or arranging mental health awareness training. Team leaders should use regular one-to-ones to ask agents about stress and workload, and look out for signs they might be struggling. Show you care about the wellbeing of employees and you’ll be rewarded with greater loyalty.

Give agents the tools to do the job well

It can be frustrating to have the right training and motivation to do a great job, then feel let down by the software you have to use. In one survey 80% of agents said having up-to-date software was critical to their engagement with the job, but only 30% said it was available in their current job. That gap speaks for itself.

The key ingredients in your recruitment and retention strategy

The fact is, recruiting and retaining good agents isn’t easy at the best of times, and it may be particularly difficult during a time that some have dubbed the “Great Resignation”.

But contact centre businesses can help themselves in this regard, creating the conditions that make them more appealing to a broader range of potential employees. Highlighting opportunities for progression, offering flexible working for those who want it and creating a caring and values-led environment are clearly key ingredients in any recruitment and retention strategy.

In other words, contact centre work may have an image problem, but confound expectations and you can attract and retain the professional workforce your business needs.

National Stress Awareness Month, run by the Stress Management Society every April, is dedicated to raising awareness of the modern stress epidemic and aims to help everyone find ways to cope with the pressures of daily life.

This year the theme of the month is ‘Community’, highlighting the importance of social cohesion to our mental health.

A focus on stress is always important, because stress levels have been rising for years. But finding ways to alleviate stress and reduce anxiety may be even more crucial in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

The pandemic affected us all, and continues to do so. Many workers were hit hard by a combination of factors. As well as health anxieties, changing models of work and staffing shortages forced many employees to do more with less.

As we emerge from the pandemic (or at least from pandemic lockdowns), the simple truth is that many workers across the nation feel they are no longer able to cope with the demands of their jobs.

As MaxContact’s own research shows, customer-facing staff are feeling that pressure as much, or perhaps even more, than most. Our Customer Engagement burnout report reveals that 72% of customer-facing employees feel they are burnt out or will be soon. That figure rises to 83% for those who work in contact centres.

How does stress affect contact centres?

Good employers want to reduce stress for staff because it’s the right thing to do. But it really is win-win. Research shows that employees who feel looked after are more loyal to the companies that employ them and are more committed to their roles.

Right now, contact centre leaders need to go the extra mile to realise these benefits. Their staff are facing a perfect storm, thanks to growing customer expectations and the need to adjust to new ways of working.

A growing body of evidence suggests that customer expectations soared during Covid. With stores and offices closed for long periods of time, contact centres became the front line of customer experience.

They remain so today. The current cost of living crisis also means contact centre staff will continue to face a high volume of difficult conversations, as customers struggle to meet payments or comply with contract terms.

At the same time, customers have become familiar with interacting through a variety of different communication channels. That’s great, but it means in some cases that staff are juggling more concurrent conversations, adding to their levels of stress.

Home working and hybrid

On top of it all, many staff are now working from home, at least some of the time. The benefits of remote work have been well discussed, but we should also acknowledge that some employees find it difficult to adapt to home working.

That’s true physically and psychologically. Some homes are simply too small or noisy to make satisfactory office replacements. In addition, many employees miss the social buzz of office life, and the support of colleagues.

Some of this can be replaced by virtual alternatives, but not all. Clearly, the shift to remote or hybrid work has increased stress levels in some workers.

A results-based business

It’s also true, of course, that contact centres are a results-based business.

Productivity metrics are collected and analysed continually. When you feel you’re already doing more with less, this monitoring culture can add to existing work-related anxiety.

That’s reflected in our research. The vast majority of respondents (84%) said that they feel under pressure from management to deliver quantity over quality. And that’s despite most (88%) saying their current responsibilities have expanded since the pandemic.

Many companies invest in technology to help employees do their jobs. But if the equipment is too complex, or too dated to meet modern requirements, it can have the opposite effect.

Reducing work-related stress

If this looks like a bleak picture, it needn’t be. While it’s true that many contact centre agents want to leave their roles (62%, according to our survey), it’s possible to operate customer service which maximises both worker wellbeing and customer experience. Indeed, the two tend to go hand in hand.

Here are some ways to reduce stress in your contact centre:

• Don’t invest in any technology – invest in the right technology

Specialist tech can automate manual tasks, reduce manual inputs, simplify omnichannel communication and allow customers to self-serve for basic requests. It can be a huge time- and hassle-saver for staff, and good for customer satisfaction levels, too.

• Promote a positive work culture

What do staff want? They want support. They want training opportunities to get better at what they do. They want a clear path to career progression. They want social opportunities. All of this is within your power.

• Make work easier

Difficult customers or tricky problems can make working life miserable. So give your teams the tools they need, whether that’s powerful scripting or easy ways to escalate issues. Lay out logical pathways for every eventuality so that agents never feel out of their depth.

• Feedback positively

Contact centre leaders need to know that KPIs and targets are being met. That’s a given. But the key to staff wellbeing is to help them meet these targets, rather than punishing them for failure. Make feedback sessions a positive experience, by offering training and advice where necessary, and creating a culture of support rather than one of blame.

Contact centres are facing a recruitment crisis, so they can’t pay lip service to employee wellbeing any longer. Use stress awareness month to make positive changes to your own company culture, and start exploring ways to help agents do their jobs in better, more fulfilling ways.

Our Burnout report is a great place to start. You can download your copy here.  

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Before the pandemic, employees at MaxContact would meet regularly outside of the 9-5, for informal get togethers, team nights out and other social occasions. We also used to support charities together, whether that meant volunteer days or fundraising events.

Of course, all that changed a bit during the pandemic. We had virtual quizzes and distanced get togethers, but – great though these were – they weren’t the same. We realised we missed the buzz of being together, whether that was for a quick drink after work or to help fund a worthy cause.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the team at MaxContact doubled in size between 2020 and 2021, rocketing from 30 to 60+ employees. In other words, half our current team joined during the pandemic, which means we mostly know each other virtually.

Due to business growth and the challenges of working remotely, in 2021 we thought we’d make our informal activities official. We wanted to keep the virtual socialising going during lockdown, and then be ready with a timetable of great things to do when it ended. And so, the MaxContact Social, Charities and Culture (SCC) team was born!

Here’s what our SCC volunteers – representing every part of the business – are focused on most of all.

Getting to know you…

First off, the SCC organises all the usual stuff – drinks, team building events, and fun out of the office activities like escape rooms, as well as helping to get people together who share hobbies and interests.

And we’re determined to help everybody in the business get to know each other – not just people who work in the same teams. That’s why we’ve created social mini teams, which are made up of small groups of people from different parts of the business whose paths wouldn’t normally cross too often.

These mini teams get together from time to time for a variety of different activities, and compete in our mini team leaderboard – we love a bit of friendly competition!

SCC member Lily says: “We know socialising is a huge part of team bonding and having fun away from work, but we wanted to do it a bit differently. That’s why we came up with the idea of cross-departmental mini teams. And we’re making sure there’s a wide variety of activities to suit all tastes.”

Creating a culture

At MaxContact, we all push in the same direction. Everybody plays a crucial role in the success of the business.

We wanted to reflect and celebrate that by mixing departments (so everyone knows what everyone else does, and can understand their challenges), embedding our company values, and recognising achievements. We’re doing that through staff awards and shout outs in company updates, and in 2022 we’ll be introducing a buddy system for new starters, to help embed our values from the beginning.

SCC member Pip says: “Nurturing a positive, consistent company culture is essential, for the good of our colleagues and our clients. We want everyone to know what MaxContact stands for.”

Giving back

Through the SCC, MaxContact is supporting three charities every year, chosen by the team. We’ll support them through fundraising and volunteering. In 2022 our focus is on homeless charity Barnabus, Cancer Research and the WWF. For Barnabus, we’ve already donated food and clothing, and three team members have volunteered at the charity’s Manchester Hub. Much more is planned through the rest of the year.

Another focus in 2022 will be on sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint. We’re working on creative ways to do that now. Our role is also to promote diversity in the organisation. We’re already a diverse bunch, but we know there is more we can do.

SCC member Greg says: “As a growing organisation, we’re committed to giving something back. We’ll achieve that through a timetable of fundraising and volunteering for our chosen charities.”

The SCC

We hope that gives you a flavour of what the SCC is and what we aim to achieve. MaxContact has been through an impressive period of growth, and that means we have to work a little bit harder to make sure we all get to know each other inside and outside the office, and to promote a positive work culture. We also want to give something back.

If you’re interested in joining the MaxContact team, check out our careers page for current opportunities.

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That’s according to our new study, Customer Engagement Burnout,¹ which surveyed 750 UK workers in customer-facing roles, including contact centre agents and those whose jobs regularly involve talking to customers over the phone.

Customer engagement workers play a vital role in the UK economy. The contact centre industry employs over 800,000 people, with millions more working in other roles talking to customers regularly on the phone, for example box office staff or sales professionals.

However, 72% of these workers say they are ‘burnt out’ or will be burnt out imminently, rising to 83% of those working in contact centres. As a result, the industry could be facing a similar talent crisis to the 2021 HGV driver shortage. Nearly half (49%) said they dislike their job and would be looking to move in the near future, rising to 62% of contact centre workers.

The reasons for this burnout are clear:

• 52% say their workload has increased dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, and 43% are faced with long working hours
• 88% say the responsibilities within their existing role have expanded since the beginning of the pandemic, without a pay rise or promotion.
• On average, staff have taken on between one- and two-people’s work in addition to their own, with 10% even stretched to the capacity of three or more people.

Workers aren’t just overworked, they’re underappreciated. Nearly two thirds (63%) say their company thinks the end-customer experience is more important than employee wellbeing and 84% feel under pressure from management to deliver quantity over quality when it comes to interactions with customers.

Workers are also reporting that the support measures put in place aren’t having an impact. While just over half (54%) are aware of mental health support initiatives at their workplace, only 32% of them said their managers follow them ‘all the time’. And while 61% have some kind of specialist customer engagement technology to help them do their job, this is much more common in contact centres and is having limited impact on job satisfaction.

We’re calling for a commitment from industry leaders to make 2022 the year of the agent by transforming working practices to put the wellbeing of frontline customer service staff on the same footing as customer satisfaction.  

Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact, said: “For those on the phone to customers every day, two years of working alone at the kitchen table, mounting workloads and little interaction with colleagues has taken its toll. People are telling us that they’re feeling overworked, under supported and aren’t hopeful that things are likely to change. Many are considering leaving their job, and even the industry, altogether.

“We need to make a change and fix the balance between customer satisfaction levels and investment in staff wellbeing.

“That’s why we’re making 2022 the year of the agent. While it’s down to each organisation to provide employees with competitive salaries, benefits and career progression opportunities to make these jobs attractive, we believe every part of the industry has a role to play.

“For us, this means putting workers’ wellbeing – the end-user of our platform – at the heart of everything we do. We’re making sure technology is actually helping staff, including reducing time spent on menial, repetitive tasks, increasing efficiencies of people and making it simple and easy to deliver great interactions with customers so they feel good about their work – without unnecessary stress.

“Those working in customer-facing roles are the hidden backbone of society – we need to make sure that we’re repaying their commitment with the support they deserve.”

1. MaxContact commissioned independent market research company, Censuswide, to survey a nationally representative sample of 752 workers employed in customer-facing roles, with 250 respondents that work in contact centres, and 502 respondents who speak to customers every day on the phone. The poll was conducted between 19^th and 26^th November 2021. Unless stated otherwise, all figures were drawn from this poll. 

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In the 1970s, big players in the burgeoning computer industry coined the phrase FUD.

It stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, and it’s what behemoths like IBM tried to sow in the minds of customers in relation to plucky young upstarts like Microsoft and Apple.

It’s fair to say that the FUD strategy didn’t work too well in that particular instance, but it’s still used today whenever a large enterprise wants to scare customers away from a smaller and often more nimble competitor.

FUD for thought

It’s easy to see FUD’s appeal. When an agile new company comes into the market with new ideas and innovations, it can be hard to argue with their technology, which is often leading edge.

So FUD attacks ignore the product, and focus on the business. Will a smaller Independent Software Vendor (ISV) have the resources to support your solution? If they’re not widely known, can you even trust them? Will they even be in business a year or two down the line?

Get your FUD attack right and the flipside hardly needs to be mentioned because it’s staring everyone in the face. With a big, long-established market leader you get security, longevity and a safe pair of hands.

The FUD attack works because nobody ever got fired for taking the safe option.

The problem is that the safe option is often the wrong option for businesses (small or large) that want the best technology combined with the best support.

ISV vs enterprise

MaxContact is an ISV, and we come across the “small supplier” problem a lot. A potential customer will ask why they should go with us over a big name contact centre supplier like Cisco or Avaya. Isn’t it safer to go with the big behomoths?

In response, we ask them why they think a large provider is better for them, and respond on a point by point basis. It tends to go something like this…

Customer:  A bigger supplier will have more resources

MaxContact: They will, but most of those resources will be pointed at large enterprise clients. A common complaint from customers who eventually make their way to MaxContact is that they were forgotten by the large players. For small and medium sized businesses using enterprise providers, it can be difficult to even get an engineer on the phone.

That’s because enterprise providers are focused on enterprise customers. Or as one of our customers put it, after leaving a multinational supplier for MaxContact: “At 250 seats we thought we were big enough to have some influence, but we came to realise that we were little more than a rounding error on the provider’s P&L.”

C: A bigger supplier will have more and better skilled staff

MC: It will certainly have more staff, but SMBs are likely to spend most of their time in conversation with non-specialist support staff with limited technical knowledge.

The right technical people definitely exist, but getting to them can be a time-consuming and frustrating undertaking, especially for smaller businesses. In large providers, departments are siloed and staff roles have strict limitations. The person you’re talking to is likely to be competent in their area of work and no other.

By contrast, your small business isn’t an afterthought to an ISV. If you have an issue, you’ll get to the right people straight away. Every employee at MaxContact is aware that, when your organisation wins more business and adds more seats, we win too. We have a vested interest in your success.

As to skills, with an ISV you’ll be dealing with people who are closer to the heart of the business, who have an in-depth knowledge of the entire organisation. If they need an extra pair of eyes on your problem, they’ll call in an individual, not pass you on to a different department. It means issues get sorted more quickly and more completely.

And at least in MaxContact’s case, at the top of the business you’ll find industry specialists with long experience in contact centre software, who are still actively involved in the development of the solution. If you want to talk to one of us, just pick up the phone.

C: A smaller provider might get bought out

MC: While that’s true, it’s also unlikely to affect the customer experience. Businesses get bought because they’re successful, and why change a winning formula? It’s also the case – as with MaxContact – that when specialist investors take a stake in a company they bring business nous, but are happy to leave product development and customer service to the people who do it best.

And things can change just as easily at large providers, especially when shareholders want better returns. For example, one enterprise recently outsourced its entire first line support services to Romania. It’s a move that will look good on the balance sheet but might not seem such a great idea to an SME with a system outage.

C: Large providers listen to their customers more

MC: In reality, the opposite is true. When you deal with an ISV, you’re dealing with the people who make the product. We’re agile enough to listen to what you have to say and take suggestions on board. In effect, your feedback becomes part of our product roadmap.

When you go with a large provider, in many cases you won’t be dealing with them directly at all. Instead you’ll be dealing with a reseller that operates its own support team and is several steps removed from the development of the software. You can feedback all you like, but the team that develops your solution will likely remain entirely ignorant of your existence.

The takeaway

The takeaway here is that while nobody should be fired for choosing the safe option, nor should they be promoted for missing out on a solution that is a better fit for their business.

Innovation in contact centre software is often concentrated in ISVs where industry expertise still permeates from top to bottom. These businesses build great relationships with customers, go the extra mile, and strive to create mutual success, because it’s in their interests to do so. In an enterprise environment, SMBs are too easily ignored. Organisations that feel undervalued by their provider should remember that great things really do come in small packages.

MaxContact is a cloud contact centre solution provider, offering predictive outbound dialling and PCI-compliant omnichannel solutions built around your needs. Find out more about us. predictive outbound dialling and PCI-compliant omnichannel solutions built around your needs. Find out more about us.

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For contact centres, retaining top talent is the key to hitting performance targets. It’s no secret that high turnover rates can lead to poor efficiency, customer complaints and increased operational costs.

So, how can you combat this challenge? Well, staff retention can be tricky but there are some effective strategies you can implement to encourage a positive and supportive work environment.

What is the state of play in contact centres?

According to our latest Benchmarking Report, the average turnover in call centres is 30.2%. But before we dive straight into retention strategies, let’s take a moment to understand the factors that contribute to high turnover in contact centres.

1. Increased Workloads: 42.0% of call centres are experiencing a surge in agent workloads, which will eventually lead to burnout and job dissatisfaction.
2. Lack of Reward: Despite higher workloads and the cost of living crisis, 56% of agents have not received a salary increase. Underpaid staff negatively impacts job satisfaction and motivation.
3. Lack of Career Growth: Feedback and training are essential for performance growth and provide agents with opportunities for advancement. However, 22% of contact leaders share coaching tips just once a month.  

Without the right call centre staff retention strategies in place, call agent turnover will increase. So what strategies should call centre managers implement?

It starts with onboarding

Onboarding really does matter when it comes to reducing staff churn. Failing to welcome staff effectively and prepare them for their first weeks on the job is hugely costly.

Have a structured onboarding plan

Make sure you have an onboarding plan that makes full use of their time. Leaving new starters twiddling their thumbs or unsure of what they should be doing next is not a good first impression. It smacks of a lack of organisation.

2. Share essential company information

Before you get to the role-specific stuff, give them the essential business information they need. Show them where to get a cup of coffee, and where to turn for help when they’re locked out of the company intranet. Let them know of any perks the company offers, and how to claim them.

Help new-starters to network

Introduce new starters to key contacts and consider assigning a mentor for support. Make sure you give new starters the opportunity to get to know the people they’ll be working with.

Provide them with the right equipment

Make sure new employees have the right equipment and set up. Don’t forget to consider their needs based on their working agreement – are they office based, hybrid or fully remote?

Have a role-specific training plan

An onboarding programme should prepare new call agents for their specific role. It needs to be thorough, with time for questions and feedback. It’s important for new contact centre staff to feel confident about handling live interactions with customers, so incorporate mock calls and role plays.

Provide training on contact centre features

The best contact centre software is intuitive to use. But ongoing training is essential as new features are introduced. Start with basic functions and progress through more advanced features. At Maxcontact, we offer full training for our clients and their teams, for free, forever.

Create a positive work environment to reduce staff churn in your call centre

Even if you nail the onboarding process, there are still plenty of strategies you can put in place to make sure your workforce stays motivated and your call centre is a happy environment.

Prioritise the well-being of your staff

Investing in employee well-being is essential for a thriving contact centre. Here are some processes you can put in place to prioritise employee engagement and reduce burnout.

• Organise regular one-to-one chats and make yourself available for impromptu meetings.
• Measure satisfaction and engagement levels with surveys and questionnaires.
• Organise team social events to blow off steam.
• Train mental health champions and give employees access to wellbeing resources.
• Encourage a switch-off culture: employees should disconnect from work at the end of every shift.

NOTE: Even with all this in place it’s important to spot signs of staff disengagement and intervene early.

Pay attention to your recruitment strategy

It’s inevitable that employees will eventually move on. But it’s important to have a recruitment process in place so you can keep staffing levels up. If you’re understaffed, workloads increase and this leads to burnout.

But recruitment strategy doesn’t just apply to replacing staff – it’s much broader than that.

• Attract top talent through effective recruitment channels, including social media, job boards and employee referrals.
• Invest in talent development programs to identify and nurture high-potential employees within your organisation.
• Create clear career paths and progression opportunities to motivate agents and retain them long-term.

Prioritise continual learning

Agents are less likely to burn out if they’re confident in what they do. Well trained staff are less likely to feel overwhelmed. So provide your team with specific training and schedule regular feedback sessions.

Invest in the right technology

Investing in the right contact centre software and technology can ease workloads and increase job satisfaction. Software such as intelligent diallers can reduce manual labour, while self-serve IVR payments can reduce customer contact and free up staff time for more complex calls. Meanwhile, good scripting and on-call coaching can help agents deal with difficult situations.

Offer them a career path

Make sure every agent knows how far ahead the next step on the career ladder might be, and what they need to do to reach it.

It might be achieving better monthly figures, taking extra training or just making gradual improvements over time. If an agent can see a route to greater responsibility and better rewards, they’ll be more likely to stay with your company. If they feel trapped at their current level, they’ll be more likely to leave.

Some agents may show little interest in promotion; the job is a stopgap. That’s fine, as long as they do the job satisfactorily. But focus more time and resources on those agents that clearly see a future with your business.

By implementing these processes, contact centres can significantly reduce staff turnover rates and create a positive work environment. By prioritising employee retention and keeping their staff motivated, call centres can improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

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