The current labor shortage is anything but a myth. I ran headfirst into this reality the other day when I stopped by my favorite shoe store and found that it closed three hours earlier than normal because it didn't have enough employees to work the evening shift. I ended up ordering the shoes I wanted online, but this didn't satisfy the instant gratification I was initially looking for. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to wear my new shoes the next day.
What's been dubbed "The Great Resignation" has impacted consumers and businesses in all industries during the past 18 months, including contact centers. In September 2020, Tech Target reported that 35% of organizations were having difficulty finding contact center agents with the experience they wanted.[i] Given the trends in the labor market, it’s likely that percentage has increased.
But agent shortages have long been a reality for many contact centers, which are typically plagued by high employee attrition. In an article first published by Contact Center Pipeline in January 2011 (over ten years ago, then updated in 2015) called "Handling a Severe Staffing Shortfall,"[ii] it mentions why some contact centers have agent shortages, such as a new contact center opening its doors nearby. And sometimes staffing shortages are self-inflicted through budget cuts.
Given that agent shortages aren't new and aren’t going away anytime soon, contact centers can take the bull by the horns and gain the security and benefits that technology adoption provides. Modern contact center technology enhances agent skill sets and makes their work faster and more effective. Advanced tools also help agents proactively predict and address customer needs and provide them access to self-serve, reducing the volume of agent-assisted interactions.
Alarming statistics about current employee attrition
The pandemic fundamentally altered many things, but its impact on the labor pool took many by surprise. If you'll recall, unemployment shot up during the early months of the lockdowns. In April 2020, the unemployment rate peaked at 14.8%.[iii] Since then, it's steadily improved, but it's still not back to pre-pandemic levels.
With this information in mind, here’s the strange part: Despite the relatively high unemployment rate, U.S. workers have been voluntarily leaving their jobs throughout 2021. Some are merely job-hopping, but others are leaving the labor pool entirely. From April through June of 2021, 11.5 million workers left their jobs. In August 2021, a jaw-dropping 4.3 million resigned.[iv]
Overall, resignations are up 13% from pre-pandemic levels and are now at the highest rates on record. Compared to the time before the pandemic, the U.S. is down 4.9 million workers. This is fueled in large part by early retirements.[v]
To sum up, a labor shortage has developed due to people dropping out of the workforce, and those still working are more likely to job hop. Both factors have major implications for contact center staffing.
What is causing the Great Resignation, and is it affecting contact center agent retention?
Rather than one singular reason, several factors converged almost simultaneously to create a perfect storm of mass job resignations. The lockdowns caused people to reassess their priorities, and for some work moved down the list of what's important. Many people who prescribed to this vein of thought took early retirement or just flat-out quit.
Employees, particularly women, also left the labor pool because of children. Remote learning and the cancelation of after-school programs required someone to be home with the kids, which made work near impossible for some parents.
Of those who decided to continue working, many felt a different career path was in order. For example, the U.S. has experienced the largest increase in years of new business applications as people try their hand at entrepreneurship.[vi]
Remote work has also factored into the Great Resignation. As more businesses require employees to return to work on-site, those who like working from home better are switching to employers that can accommodate their preferences. But not everyone likes remote work. Remote workers who crave face-to-face interactions with coworkers are switching to jobs where they aren’t isolated at home.
Bottom line: it's complicated, and it's one of the most significant issues contact centers will face in 2022.
What else does the future hold?
Regarding CX, most consumers are no longer tolerant of pandemic-related missteps. In its recently published predictions for 2022, Forrester found that 56% of U.S. consumers believe businesses should have figured out how to handle the disruptions by now. This likely includes issues rooted in staffing shortages. [vii]
Salesforce also unearthed similar findings through its own research:
Forrester also reports that digital transformations are likely over; however, this doesn't mean businesses aren't still moving forward with technology adoption prompted by the pandemic. The new focus is on designing and implementing human-centered technical solutions—such as automation and prediction engines—that spur employee creativity. Forrester predicts that "[H]uman-centered technology initiatives that form a tight link between Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX)" will enable businesses to realize productivity gains of 3-5%.
Related resource: For more information about improving the customer and agent experiences, watch Uplevel your customer and agent experiences using VOC.
Forrester also weighed in on hybrid work models, in which some employees work remotely and some work on-site. They report that 60% of businesses are moving to a hybrid model and that one out of three work-from-anywhere attempts fail, mainly because businesses continue to design things like meeting formats and promotion opportunities on face-to-face interactions. Forrester considers this an indictment of the execution, not the model itself.
As for the 30% of companies that insist their employees work on-site, Forrester predicts they will continue to experience 2.5% resignation rates in 2022. Employees want to have a say in where and how they work. [viii]
For more insights on what 2022 looks likes for contact centers, download the Forrester 2022 Predictions.
What can be done to minimize the impact on employee experience, customer experience, and your bottom line?
To be successful despite the Great Resignation, contact centers can move forward with technology adoption designed to improve employee experience and optimize agent quality and productivity. The goal is to become the employer of choice and make the most of the existing contact center agent capacity. As a result, agent retention and customer satisfaction should improve. Think of it this way: happy agent, happy customer.
Contact centers can aid in their agents’ success by giving them the best technical tools available. Today's agents work harder due to understaffing and are at significant risk for burnout. At the same time, they're handling more complex interactions and are asked to make more meaningful connections with customers. But contact center leadership can easily help mitigate the mounting pressure with well-implemented solutions.
- Automation. Robotic process automation (RPA) can relieve agents of tedious administrative tasks, such as making address changes and activating new accounts, which increases both capacity and morale. When applied to repetitive, predictable tasks, RPA robots perform the same processes as humans five times faster, and with no errors. These robots can be the helping hand agents need to be more productive and to focus their energy on delivering exemplary CX.
- AI-powered agent assistants. Bots aren't just customer-facing; they’re also used to help agents resolve issues more quickly, which is another way to increase capacity. These smart assistants can listen to and understand voice interactions, which enables them to provide helpful support to agents such as retrieving knowledge base articles and recommending the next best steps.
- Real-time interaction guidance. Even the most skilled agent needs a helping hand now and then when it comes to soft skills, such as empathy and active listening. These skills are the secret to satisfying connections with customers. Real-time interaction guidance software leverages artificial intelligence to analyze each voice interaction as it happens, and coaches agents to improve the conversation. With so much on their plates these days, agents appreciate the extra coaching that helps them be more successful.
- Self-service. A great way to handle staffing shortages is to reduce demand for agent assistance by helping customers answer their own questions and resolve their own issues. Effective self-service is a must-have for handling labor shortages. Removing heavy volume from agents' shoulders reduces burnout and improves employee satisfaction.
Equipping your contact center with technology that can increase capacity and improve CX and the agent experience is the silver lining in the labor shortage raincloud. The right approach to technology adoption will help contact centers finally solve the problem of staffing shortfalls.
Learn more about onboarding and retaining contact center agents
The way you hire and treat your agents influences their engagement and loyalty. One of our latest eBooks is full of ideas to help you optimize the agent experience and keep your valuable employees. Download The Ultimate Guide to CX Agents: Hiring, Training, Onboarding, and Measuring Contact Center Agents in a Post Pandemic World to get started.
[i] Tech Target: AI improves customer experience, call center efficiency (2020)
[ii] Contact Center Pipeline: Handling a Severe Staffing Shortfall (2015)
[iii] Congressional Research Service: Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021)
[iv] CNBC Financial Advisor Summit: There are millions of jobs, but a shortage of workers: Economists explain why that’s worrying (2021)
[v] The Washington Post: Why America has 8.4 million unemployed when there are 10 million job openings (2021)
[vi] The Washington Post: Why America has 8.4 million unemployed when there are 10 million job openings (2021)
[vii] Forrester: Predictions 2022 (2021)
[viii] Forrester: Predictions 2022 (2021)