The repetitive nature of this job, lack of career progression opportunities, inflexible shifts, and demanding targets regular cause employees to turn to other sectors. In 2020, more than 1 in 4 contact centres named high attrition as their no.1 problem, and 16% said that they don’t have enough staff to handle workloads.
As more and more baby boomers retire and millennials/Gen-Zers enter the workforce, contact centre managers must relook at their employee retention strategies. These current generations are more open to frequently switching jobs, and are likely to be less forgiving to high-pressure work environments if it compromises work-life balance.
All of these trends make it vital to erasure and manage your staff attrition rate in a contact centre.
How to Measure Staff/Agent Attrition
The formula for calculating agent attrition is simple:
(number of agents who voluntarily left the job during a given time period ÷ the total workforce at the beginning of the period) x 100
Let’s say you started 2020 with 200 agents, and 50 agents left their job this year. You might have hired an additional 40 agents to replace them, but your attrition rate still remains (50÷200) x 100 = 25% for the 2020 fiscal year. Attrition rate cannot be offset by ramping up your hiring speed, as you’re having to invest in the recruitment, screening, onboarding, and training of new employees. These are direct costs resulting from attrition.
Is Agent Attrition Identical to Turnover?
In contact centre environments, attrition and turnover are often considered identical – although there is a subtle difference. Turnover includes employees who were terminated by the organisation, as well as anyone who retired. You can prepare beforehand in such scenarios and they have a less of an impact on productivity.
Turnover involves added costs like fresh hiring cycles and training. Attrition includes the costs of turnover and adds to it lost opportunity costs.
How to Manage and Reduce Staff Attrition?
A loyal, retention-friendly workforce is a huge asset for any contact centre. Not only do they help keep operational expenses under control, but they are also uniquely familiar with your product, your target customer pool, and the brand, being deeply entrenched in their work as brand advocates.
That’s why it is advisable to:
- Adopt a coaching culture – Invest in each agent’s development, assign mentors, and help to inspire them by providing a purpose.
- Craft a career progression trajectory – Clearly communicate the available career options for employees who perform well, add value to the brand, and display certain positive traits.
- Ease the pressure – Set achievable targets, opt for positive rather than negative reinforcement, and leave some room for flexibility.
- Invite agents to the table – Make staff part of strategic discussions and goal-setting so that they aware of then exact drovers behind the work and how they play a crucial role for the organisation
Finally, make sure that wages are competitive with some assured component so that agents can enjoy a steady quality of life.
