December 2013 | Vol. 6 Issue 4

Share this eBulletin

Facebook Facebook Twitter More...

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
Secrets of Success: Seven Ways to Elevate Agent Engagement & Retention



By Greg Levin
Founder
Off Center


If you stick a human being in a cramped cubical, tether them to a desk and pay them $9.50/hr to handle calls from demanding customers for 8-10 hours each day under fluorescent lighting…

…bad things are bound to happen. Bad things like burnout, poor performance, turnover, substance abuse, and most commonly of all – supervisor kidnappings.

Ever since the invention of the contact center, companies have struggled mightily with keeping agents inspired and in place. What’s truly disconcerting is that, in many organizations, low agent retention and engagement is in some ways part of the plan. That is, they view burnout and turnover as the “nature of the beast” in the contact center – accepting it as inevitable due to the repetitive, restrictive and stressful “nature” of contact center work.

Of course, not everybody has such a defeatist attitude. In the best contact centers, management strives to change (or at least tame) the nature of the beast. While they do acknowledge that frontline work is challenging and potentially monotonous, they also recognize that there are countless ways to counter that – to inspire agents not just to show up to work but to excel at it, and to relinquish any spray paint, drugs or weaponry in their possession before coming through the door.

I know this because I have seen it first hand, time and again – at leading customer care organizations during my two decades sneaking into contact centers and conferences.

Following are seven of the best ways to elevate agent engagement and retention:

1) Put your metrics where your mouth is. When your company tells everybody in the world that it’s a highly customer-centric organization focused on quality and issue resolution, you can’t then tell your agents (whom you attract with such proclamations) that their main performance metrics are Average Handle Time and Number of Calls Handled per Hour. Doing so will quickly sap staff of their enthusiasm and trust, thus resulting in high turnover, poor customer satisfaction and increased incidents of agent arson.

2) Provide meaningful rewards and recognition. When it comes to motivating agents, you don’t have to break the bank, but if you write off rewards and recognition entirely – or go at it half-assed – agents may break their computers, or your legs. There are plenty of fun, affordable and meaningful ways to reward/ recognize individuals and teams when they achieve key goals or come to work sober more than two days in a row.

3) Empower agents beyond the phones. Your agents possess a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience – assuming your center’s hiring and training programs don’t blow. Empowering staff to use their expertise and experience to come up with better ideas and approaches than you can think of yourself is a great way to better the center and keep agents engaged. In addition to improving processes and employee morale and retention, having agents help out on committees, task forces and special projects frees you up to spend more time on things like coaching and online poker.

4) Kick agents out of the contact center. Giving agents the opportunity and the freedom to work from home is the best way to retain them. In fact, in a study on contact centers using home agents that I conducted in 2010, nearly every participant (93%) reported that the use of home agents has had a “very positive” or “positive” impact on agent retention.

5) Invest in agent wellness. Fact: If you show agents you care about them by providing things like fitness amenities, healthy food options, de-stress areas and wellness courses, they will not only stay healthy and perform better, they will feel highly valued by and committed to the organization. If, on the other hand, you make no effort to improve wellness in the contact center, agents will die young, making it difficult to schedule enough staff during peak periods.

6) Covet community service as much as customer service. People are inspired by and want to work for companies that care about all human beings – not just customers and employees. You are much more likely to hang on to talented staff if you can show them the reason their wages are so laughable is that half of what they should earn goes toward feeding the hungry and housing the homeless. Also, be sure to give agents a few paid days off each year to volunteer for their favorite charity/non-profit organization; the time off the phones will help to minimize their whining about back pain and Carpal Tunnel flare ups.

7) Administer formal engagement surveys and act on the findings. The very act of measuring agent engagement can help to increase it – but only if agents see that the 15 minutes of their life they wasted filling out the engagement survey actually leads to some positive changes. According to a 2011 study on agent engagement by BlessingWhite, conducting an engagement survey and NOT visibly acting on the findings can actually decrease agent engagement levels.
comments powered by Disqus


›› Inspirational Roadmap: 10 Steps to the Ultimate Customer Experience
Dec 17, 2013, at 2pm EDT

›› Three Steps of Voice of the Customer Effectiveness
January 29, 2013, at 2pm EDT

›› Optimizing Your Unique Multi-touch Customer Support Strategy
Now On Demand

›› The Rising Cost of Customer Service: Delivering Higher Reliability and a Competitive Edge
Now On Demand

›› A Case Study in Customer Contact Transformation
Now On Demand

 

›› Competitive Intelligence

›› ConNEXTions

›› GIL Community Newsletter

›› Innovations in New Product Development

›› Medical Devices

›› Sales & Marketing

›› Click to subscribe to additional eBulletins