Improve Agent Retention for Long-Term Investment

Do you have $6,440 to spend—and then lose—on an agent?

Here’s a pricy industry statistic worth remembering. And it’s one I that cite in my Contact Center Pipeline viewpoint.

IBM Watson• reports “the overall turnover rate for the call center industry is between 30–45%, and each individual turnover can cost a company upwards of $6,440.”

“The overall turnover rate for the call center industry is between 30–45%, and each individual turnover can cost a company upwards of $6,440.”

IBM Watson•

Now, let’s extrapolate that cost, based on starting with 100 agents on a client program. A 30–45% attrition rate ends up running between $193,200 and $289,800.

That’s a lot of money to lose. To say nothing about the negative impact on sustaining excellent service.

To avoid high turnover and low morale, doesn’t it make good business sense to treat agents as a valued investment—and not just a business expense?

Retaining a high-quality, on-demand workforce requires several things:

1. Fostering a caring culture, which creates the right environment to attract and onboard great agents.
2. Using degreed instructors, with the know-how to educate and engage agents in a client’s business.
3. Investing for the long term, protecting your agent assets and ensuring a client’s return on investment.

Without the right people and processes, top performance in any contact center is tough to achieve. Best to invest wisely in agents all along the way—from recruiting to onboarding to ongoing development.

To read the entire Contact Center Pipeline viewpoint, please go to Investing in you Agents.