Wells Fargo is a great example. Their agents are well-trained and pleasant. As a result, I’ve remained a Wells Fargo customer for years. They are consistent in their approach and professional in conducting transactions. Come to think of it, I’d probably use the same phrases to describe Wells Fargo on the whole, as an organization.
That’s because contact center agents really are the face of the company. Period. If they aren’t happy, they’ll make customers unhappy. Soon, absenteeism will rise, they’ll become less and less motivated and they’ll leave. This revolving door syndrome is an expensive one.
According to a Benchmark Portal study, on average it costs companies over $6,000 every time an agent departs. For financial institutions, the average is over twice that amount.
Hiring, training and motivating are expensive!
The chart on the left shows the average cost of turnover by industry. This chart was produced by the Detroit News in 2005 from a study made by Benchmark Portal, Inc.
Employees need to feel connected to their goals. They need an offset to the stress of customer issues, in addition to sufficient training and, above all, strong communication from supervisors.
People also want to understand what they need to do to move up. That can equate to clear and attainable goals. Without that, especially in the hectic environment of the call center, they will quickly become disillusioned, complacent or downright hostile.
How do you think that translates to the customers? What is the most important to businesses?
Customers!
Okay, how do we squeeze inefficiency out of the workforce without cracking a whip? How to keep the team in place longer? Increasing salaries is not always the solution, by the way. Ever since Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was publicized in 1954, managers have known that “job satisfaction” is the most important factor in employee retention. With real-time performance management tools, providing targeted metrics can be very effective in communicating the here and now of the contact center.
You must start, however, with goals that are realistic. That may mean re-evaluating some of the current key performance indicators, or KPIs, you have in place. Are the thresholds realistic or are these metrics always green or always red? Nothing is more demoralizing to the workforce than the sense that management doesn’t care enough to adjust the performance metrics to meet the ebb and flow of the calling activity! So, take the time to make the adjustment. We have a customer whose agents actually help to create the thresholds for their KPIs. And they’re hard on themselves! They lowered their longest call waiting from 1:47 to :38 seconds!
Goal obtained! It can be and is done all the time.
Okay, how do we squeeze inefficiency out of the workforce without cracking a whip? How to keep the team in place longer? Increasing salaries is not always the solution, by the way. Ever since Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was publicized in 1954, managers have known that “job satisfaction” is the most important factor in employee retention. With real-time performance management tools, providing targeted metrics can be very effective in communicating the here and now of the contact center.
You must start, however, with goals that are realistic. That may mean re-evaluating some of the current key performance indicators, or KPIs, you have in place. Are the thresholds realistic or are these metrics always green or always red? Nothing is more demoralizing to the workforce than the sense that management doesn’t care enough to adjust the performance metrics to meet the ebb and flow of the calling activity! So, take the time to make the adjustment. We have a customer whose agents actually help to create the thresholds for their KPIs. And they’re hard on themselves! They lowered their longest call waiting from 1:47 to :38 seconds!
Goal obtained! It can be and is done all the time.
Look for our next post! "A spoonful of sugar." (part 4)
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