Over the years, one of the biggest challenges of contact centres is agent retention. Working in a call centre can be extremely stressful and job-related stress is one of the biggest factors that can contribute to at least a 50 percent turnover in staff every year.
Agent retention is nothing to ignore, irrespective of the enterprise you represent— a start-up or a large enterprise. With the use of call scripting at companies’ disposal, this can help reduce the stress levels of employees and improve staff retention.
This article will divulge some of the ways how employee retention can be improved in call centres and how call scripting software can help.
1. Establish and Train Clear Goals Effectively
As opposed to just 12 per cent of those organizations with a rating of “good, 41 percent of employees plan to leave organizations with a “poor” training score, according to the Emerging Workforce Study Call scripting software, virtual assistance, and in-depth training sessions through e-learning, clearly establish the organization's expectations, goals and provide agents with the confidence to handle any initiative.
2. Identify Great Performers
Compared to companies with no employee recognition programs, companies with employee recognition programs experience a 22 per cent lower turnover rate. Promotions, one-on-one praise, and public recognition create an environment in which agents feel valued and appreciated.
A great way to drive productivity is a little competition between peers, but it shouldn't be the main means of measuring the contribution and performance of agents.
3. Look Beyond Metrics
Although, it is very essential to have an eye on agent performance metrics (customer satisfaction, average handle time, call resolution, agent schedule adherence, service level), however, it shouldn't be the sole metrics to define employees potential and capabilities.
A lot of contact centre employees always point out the narrow grading metrics of contact centres as one of the causes of lack of productivity and in-office stress.
Supervisors must understand that many factors could contribute to the performance of an agent. Reach out to each and review what is working and what is not, regardless of whether employees are performing “well” or “poorly.” Your discovery could offer you some insights that wouldn't have been available using traditional KPIs.
4. Create a Growth Opportunity
“Absence of career development opportunities” is a common reason for contact centre employees leaving their work. If you fail to present and offer opportunities for advancement, as a supervisor, your employees will fail to see the long-term benefits of staying.
You have to frequently communicate and establish development opportunities for your agents. This is what will encourage them to strive to reach those elevated opportunities.
5. Adopt At-Home Agents
Compared to those in the office, studies have shown that employee turnover to be 35-50 percent lower. Proven to improve productivity and reduce stress, the flexibility of the workforce is an easy way to accommodate employees who leave very far, require a flexible hour, caring for children, or are addressing a family emergency.
It is also worth noting that the ability to use an at-home agent increases a company hiring pool as positions open or vacate. Even though it is not plausible or ideal for every contact centre, it is an idea worth considering, as it continues to gain global attention.
From working at home, call centre agents can have some of the stress and pressure taken away from them as call scripting software focuses solely on providing outstanding customer service.
By working remotely, call centre agents can operate in the same manner as if they were at the office and it’s important to provide call centre agents with the necessary tools and working environment that they feel comfortable in.
6. Encourage Collaboration and Vary Work Activities
Call centres have employed call centre scripting software, repetitive tasks, and processes for agents to adhere to, in an attempt to increase employee productivity. Even though it's effective, the unfortunate byproduct is often the cause of agent boredom, prevents critical thinking, and generally inhibits employee stimulation.
Create team-building exercises, encourage collaboration, switch up your agent tasks on occasion. It will facilitate interest and enthusiasm, while at the same time keeping them on their toes.
Additionally, with call scripting, this can reduce staff training time because this type of software drives the customer conversation and so this will allow agents to only focus on dealing with one topic at a time, thus enabling the agent to provide better customer service and get to know each customer better.
