Latest Contact Center Best Practices

Agent attrition has been a long-standing issue within the contact center space, and continues to be a major pain point today despite recent advancements in technology and employee work environment. In fact, according to Contact Center Pipeline's recent survey, "Contact Center Challenges and Priorities", high attrition is said to be the biggest challenge for contact centers in 2016, especially for larger call centers over 500 seats. But what is causing these employees to leave? What are the costs that call centers are incurring as a result of high employee turnover rates? And more importantly, how can businesses help minimize this issue within their contact centers? Check-out our recent infographic “Agent Retention for Your Contact Center”!

Topics: call center, contact center, agent retention, agent attrition

Each New Year brings its own set of unique opportunities to the contact center space, both from a technological standpoint as well as an operational one. And as businesses continue to adopt the latest solutions and best practices to support their employees, customers, and organizations as a whole, many continue to run into challenges piecing everything together and making good use of it all. But what are some of the challenges contact centers are anticipating in the coming months? And how can businesses more effectively manage what they have and mitigate the risk of a potential issue? Let's check out the findings of Contact Center Pipeline’s recent survey, “Contact Center Challenges & Priorities”, revealing some of the biggest challenges for organizations today—and how to alleviate them in 2016.

Topics: customer service, call center, CRM, contact center, contact center solution, call center software, self-service, agent retention, knowledge management, knowledge base, contact center attrition, SLA, ASA, service level, high attrition, attriction rate

Stress on the job is inevitable, especially in the call center industry, where studies show that 58.3% of call center workers were significantly more stressed (58.3% vs. 19.3%), depressed (62.9% vs. 4.6%), and anxious (33.9% vs. 1.4%) than before they started their position. Running your business effectively includes making sure that your employees have the tools and training necessary to be at their most productive. Eliminating stresses not only helps agents to enjoy their work experience, but enables them to focus on their daily tasks instead of external frustrations. Below are a few tips to keep your employees from pulling their hair out…

Topics: call center software, best business practices, agent retention, best practices

Costing roughly $5,800 annually, employee acquisition and development is one of the more expensive and time-consuming line items on any company balance sheet. As it relates specifically to the call center space, an industry that has long been associated with extremely high employee turnover rates and low employee engagement, many managers have increasingly sought to mitigate the impact of low employee retention by enhancing the quality of their training programs. And with just a moderate 2% increase in employee productivity generally covering the entire cost of any training initiative, it’s hard to argue against the investment.

Topics: contact center software, call center software, best business practices, virtual assist, agent productivity, agent retention, agent training, agent turnover, business intelligence, gamification, employee turnover, employee engagement, agent attrition, agent coaching

Often considered an organization’s most valuable asset, employees are increasingly growing disengaged in the workplace, presenting businesses with a number of concerns relating to employee turnover, productivity, and customer satisfaction. In fact, a recent Gallup poll has found 70% of Americans are not engaged in their jobs, costing an estimated $350 billion in lost productivity each year—and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. As it relates to contact centers specifically, agent turnover rates currently average 35% across all call centers, 50% in larger ones, and 60% in those performing outbound campaigns, costing anywhere from 60-200% of an employee’s salary. And as employee satisfaction continues to play a pivotal role in both profitability and the overall customer experience, the need for call centers to create a more engaging work environment quickly becomes clear.

Topics: customer satisfaction, customer experience, agent retention, engaging work environment, gamification, employee turnover, employee engagement