High Agent Attrition Plagues Contact Centers

Written by Rick Luhmann

A new study sponsored by Intele­media, Syntellect and VoiceVault attributes call centers’ agent retention rates to decreased customer satisfaction.Says Steve Morrell, author of The U.S. Contact Center Opera­tional Review: “Excessive agent attrition rates are preventing many U.S. contact centers from taking strategic and valuable action, such as focusing upon increasing customer satisfaction and improving first-call resolution rates. Many contact centers wat to be able to increase their headcount and take the next step in providing high-quality customer contact, but are frustrated by the rate at which they are losing staff and skills. This is made worse by the way in which the wider business usually measures the success of the contact center. In many cases, the contact center is the main place at which the customer meets the business — however, the purpose of the contact center is too often seen by senior management as simply being to cut costs and increase call throughput. Although the contact center is a strategic asset to many businesses, this lack of understanding, support, and investment from the highest levels of an organization means that the full potential of many contact center operations are a long way from being met.” The study found that of the 200 contact centers surveyed, two-thirds reported having problems retaining their staff, with the average agent attrition rate at 33 percent. Compensation was reported by the highest proportion of contact centers as being a principal issue, with 22 percent citing it as a major cause of attrition. (According to the study, the average starting salary for new agents is less than $28,000.) In addition, the lack of opportunity to move up the career ladder was marked, on average, as being the greatest cause of staff attrition. (See the table below for the top causes of attrition.) As the report points out, a considerable concern about these figures is that “although most contact centers admit that attrition is a problem for them, there is no agreement on why staff are leaving in such numbers. As such, how is it possible for the industry to address this issue in a coherent and effective fashion?” Source: The U.S. Contact Center Operational Review, www.contactbabel.com