How to Stop Call Center Agents from Leaving
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How to stop Call Center Agents from leaving this job pays you a lot of money for your people skills. There is no other way of looking at this. You can work at a call center without a college degree as long as you are proficient with computers (and in this day and age, who is not proficient with computers?) also, you have to be good with people.
However, the qualities of a call center agent extend to more than people skills. Before you get to be a regular call center agent, you have to undergo a lot of trainings and tests that examine not just your English proficiency but your technical and problem-solving skills as well.
A lot of aspiring agents get kicked out in the first few months because of lack of productivity and their inability to keep up with the changing schedules.
In this kind of job, most agents feel stressed. This is partly attributed to the fact that 50% of call center agents do not exactly choose that career path. They would most likely jump to a better opportunity when it presents itself despite their current pay being higher than industry standard. So it is important for call center companies to keep their agents happy and satisfied with their jobs.
How do you keep quality call center agents from leaving?
• Improve testing and hiring practices
It is always wise to start with the process of hiring. You can hire all the wrong agents and have them turnover before they get regularized. If you start smart with the testing of applicants up to the process of hiring them, you’d have fewer problems to worry about in the long run.
Managers usually test and interview the applicants, however this job should be filled up not by the managers who should spend their time focusing on employee development but by well-seasoned or the company’s top agents. Only those who are already good at what they do can decipher what is a potentially good agent.
• Increase training period
Most companies rush through the application process because of the high turnover rate so much so that they spend less time training their agents. Ideally, the agent’s training period should be around 3 to 4 months. Anything less than 3 to 4 months would be cutting it short and sacrificing quality management. In the training period, concentrated team system should be closely monitored for better results. Also, during this training period, the management can see which agents are comfortable with their work.
• Pay attention to Employee Morale
Experience shows that call center agents respond positively to immediate monetary rewards. If once in a while the company holds a little contest that pushes agents to reach their quota in the fastest time possible in exchange for monetary rewards, agents would have something new and fresh to aim for in that given day.
Aside from monetary rewards, recognition of job well done and accomplishment of goals is also necessary. Nothing will make an employee happier than to have his efforts recognized. Creating a good atmosphere on the floor boosts employee morale and would make him work harder.
Kristel Nicole Eniego is part of VONCORE’s creative writing team. If you want to learn more about Call Center jobs in the Philippines and business viewed with expertise and related in an easy to digest manner, visit Great Business Planning
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Retaining call center agents has been a topic of discussion it seems like forever. And everything discussed in this article is correct. The job as an agent can be quite stressful and in many instances the compensation does not warrant the demands on the agent. Appreciation for a job well done goes a long way to boost morale in any situation.
for now i’m glued on creating a universal rewards program for the center i’m in. it’s a socially inclined program influenced by web 2.0 since i do believe agents are glued to social networking and the fun that this technology is giving them. with that in mind, since various info are also telling us that rewards really count then the said initiative might hold a few more heads for the next year.
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