The biggest impact to call center employee retention is not what you think

Agent retention is on the minds of most contact center leaders these days. However, you might be overlooking one of the biggest impacts on retention—and it’s an easy fix! It’s true that employees are looking for a flexible work schedule, positive company culture, and collaborative management style. But surprise—having a poor onboarding experience is a big factor in agent retention.

Call centers are notorious for high turnover rates, and that only worsened during The Great Resignation. Agent attrition is costly for a business, not only because of the monetary costs of hiring and training recruits but also in terms of morale. Turnover decreases the level of expertise and degrades the morale of those agents that remain.

Innovations in the call center space mostly target the customer experience. But The Great Resignation has made it abundantly clear that the agent experience is also critical. This post examines how a smooth onboarding experience impacts turnover and morale and why so many CCaaS providers are now prioritizing onboarding.

Providing a sense of purpose

There are myriad causes underlying The Great Resignation but an oft-cited reason for changing jobs today is the desire to do more meaningful work. Millennials, Gen Y, and Gen Z workers, in particular, are not satisfied with simply earning a paycheck—they want to help others and contribute in a meaningful way.

A Frontiers of Psychology survey showed workers would be willing to accept a 32% pay cut in order to find more meaningful work.

In fact, a Gallup study found that employees who are not engaged or actively disengaged in their work are more likely to be actively looking for a new job. This issue is a costly one for businesses. In fact, U.S. companies are losing $1 trillion per year due to voluntary turnover.

Call center employees have the potential to positively impact customers. At least that’s true when an agent is empowered to actually solve problems for customers in ways that use an agent’s knowledge, tools, and creativity. In fact, having an emphasis on “soft” skills, such as empathy, are even more valuable today. When interacting with customers in digital channels, tone matters because it’s interpreted by the reader.

But all too often, agents are left unprepared for the barrage of questions and complaints they receive. Without proper training, an agent is left to flounder all day, either deflecting questions to others or absorbing the ire of customers they are unable to help.

Every time a call reaches an agent, there’s an opportunity to satisfy at least two people. When a resolution can’t be reached, both the customer and the agent are negatively impacted. The customer feels annoyed at the waste of time and lack of a resolution, and the agent feels discouraged by their ineffectiveness and will likely question their value. This leads to agent turnover, and this negativity can spread like a virus.

The remote-work paradox

The allure of remote work seems to be another major factor driving workers away from their jobs en masse. Suddenly, many employees (especially younger people and knowledge workers) yearn for the freedom and flexibility of remote or hybrid work. This shift poses a challenge and an opportunity.

Simply offering remote or hybrid positions may immediately entice more applicants. But if the onboarding process has not been modernized, it can result in agents feeling neglected. It’s more difficult to proactively “see” the attitudes and frustrations of remote agents. Work-from-home can equate to struggle-alone, and it’s up to management to ensure agents have the resources to be successful. Neglected, disconnected, bored, and frustrated workers will eventually quit.

It feels like a “Catch-22.” Without remote or hybrid offerings, it can be hard to attract and retain top talent, but without in-person connections, estranged workers end up quitting. The solution is to embrace remote work by modernizing the role with the tools, including onboarding, that ensure agents receive the attention, feedback, and development resources to promote success.

HireRight increased agent engagement by 80% and job satisfaction by 15% through implementing Quality Management processes

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Onboarding is the key

The two major forces driving employees to abandon their roles are the desire for more meaningful work and the allure of remote-hybrid work. Both offer challenges and opportunities within the call center. Thoughtful onboarding practices can help address both issues directly while simultaneously addressing agent satisfaction.

70% of employees who had an exceptional onboarding experience say they have “the best possible job”

Effective onboarding is one of the biggest drivers of employee retention. Glassdoor found that organizations with a strong onboarding process will increase new hire retention by 82% and employee productivity by 70%.

It makes sense! First impressions are difficult to change. Just like a first experience fosters loyal customers, a positive onboarding process is crucial for agent loyalty and retention. And a positive onboarding process will also set the tone for an employee’s entire experience with the company.

No matter how engaging an onboarding process might be, it’s still overwhelming and isolating. Formalizing a remote-friendly experience can help agents feel like they are part of your company culture sooner. Make sure you incorporate regular team and manager communication and feedback early on to promote a sense of belonging.

Best onboarding practices to improve employee retention

Expedite their time-to-productivity by automating routine tasks and streamlining technology so they’ll spend less time training and more time helping customers sooner. The quicker an employee positively contributes, the more valuable they feel. But, not giving them sufficient information to feel prepared has just as much penalty.

Indeed recommends incorporating these 15 tips into your onboarding process in order to achieve the best results.

1. Start before their first day
2. Have activities on day one
3. Address essentials first
4. Help them feel welcome
5. Make the process fun
6. Ensure you have enough time
7. Plan out a schedule
8. Include senior leaders
9. Set clear expectations
10. Assign projects quickly
11. Provide plenty of resources
12. Talk about the company culture
13. Offer social experiences
14. Gather feedback
15. Include other employees

Employees who had a excellent onboarding experience are 2.6 times more likely to be extremely satisfied at work and, consequently, far more likely to stay.

Reinforce a newly trained agent’s skills through evaluations and AI-powered assistance. Ensure their preparedness through microlearning and bite-size training to fill any knowledge gaps. And reassure their preparedness by giving them any answer they need long after onboarding ends. 

Here are seven ways onboarding can improve the agent experience in your contact center and improve employee retention:

1. Develops a positive early impression of their role and their employer
2. Provides clarity about their objectives
3. Communicates early, ongoing education and demonstrates how to find answers
4. Conveys company mission and culture
5. Prepares the agent to be a public face for the company
6. Empowers agents to solve real problems with their knowledge and tools
7. Increases agent and customer satisfaction

21% of business improvements results from leaders who coach effectively

Onboarding practices have become even more important with the recent rise in distributed teams. Onboarding is now just as beneficial for supervisors and managers as for the agents. Supervisors and managers will have more time to focus on coaching instead of retraining. Lower turnover means they have more time to spend on other critical tasks instead of hiring.

Consider the following through the lens of distributed teams.

Supporting social connection

In an in-office contact center environment, basic communications and coordination are easy to achieve. If an agent needs assistance, they simply ask a neighbor, or get the attention of a supervisor. In a remote or hybrid work environment, strong communication across multiple channels is required to ensure interaction with colleagues. This is not natural for many people, so we need to deliberately teach these communication practices. A failure to do so effectively could lead to agent turnover.

An Achievers employee engagement and retention report found that 42% of employees say their company culture diminished during the pandemic. Most employees blame poor communication (26%) or a lack of company effort to make remote employees feel connected (25%).

The onboarding process provides an opportunity to put effective remote communication and engagement in place, ensuring agents are familiar with the available tools. It’s also a great place to showcase how they can connect with fellow employees remotely and feel like they are a part of the team.

36% of executives say the loss of corporate culture is the biggest challenge with hybrid work

This might sound like a daunting task, and it is. This webinar suggests some top-tier strategies and tips to help you built a world-class team of remote agents.

Setting goals to track agent performance

Having clear-cut goals in place will help agents understand their performance and progress. Supervisors and managers can help them set-up and clearly communicate these goals and milestones. This is particularly important during the onboarding process as it communicates a certain set of expectations. This helps new employees understand where their role fits into achieving company goals.

The No. 1 contributing factor to high employee engagement is knowing how their role, responsibilities, and job performance align with the business goals.

It’s important for contact center agents to set goals that align with the brand goals. This enables employees to feel like they are part of the big picture and that their contribution matters. In fact, ICMI found the No. 1 factor that contributes to high engagement is aligning the agent’s role, responsibilities, and performance objectives with the overarching business goals.

Providing feedback to improve agent retention

Onboarding is a start, but we still need to monitor and coach staff. There are many new options today to help you monitor and coach your agents on an ongoing basis. However, these practices will be more effective after a baseline expectation through onboarding.

Employees who receive daily feedback from their manager are 3x more likely to be engaged than those who receive feedback once a year or less.

Learn more about how providing feedback to your agents can foster agent purpose in your contact center and make you an “employer of choice.”

During the age of The Great Resignation, many people are leaving their careers to seek better opportunities. The best way to minimize turnover and improve employee retention is to create a better opportunity, right here and now—for current and new agents.

We’ve all heard the importance of first impressions, so let’s ensure that the agents have a great first impression of their new role via a streamlined and effective onboarding process. Give them the appropriate training and orientation to ensure they get up to speed quickly and start making positive contributions.

The onboarding process impacts job satisfaction, agent morale, customer satisfaction, and as a result, agent turnover. It’s all connected, and it all starts with onboarding.

Improve your remote agent onboarding and training processes with some help from the experts.

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[1] eBook: Ultimate CX Agent Guide: How to be the 'employer of choice' and not an internet meme - EMEA (highspot.com)