4 Factors That Help Call Centers Retain Their Best Agents

A contact center agent’s job doesn’t need to be filled with overtime and repetitive tasks. The right technology can transform the nature of an agent’s responsibilities from boring to rewarding. Modern technology can also ease the frustration of working with outdated tools, ensure agents are engaged and well managed wherever they work, and provide training that leads to better performance and CX.

4 Factors That Help Call Centers Retain Their Best Agents

1) Reinvent The Workforce Model For The First Digital Agents

The events of the last few years have fundamentally changed how and where call center agents work. When pandemic-related lockdowns began, companies scrambled to rearrange agents to work from home so clients would receive proper attention.

Now that agents and organizations have experienced the benefits of remote work, it’s safe to say that it’s here to stay. In a Forrester survey of more than 1,000 call center decision makers, it was revealed that 70% of them expect agents to continue working from home after the pandemic. While the remaining 30% will do it from the office, adopting a hybrid work model.

Thus, companies can take advantage of this opportunity to reinvent workforce models and keep digital first agents engaged and performing well.

What Can Call Center Leaders Do To Include a Reinvented Agent Experience (AX) Model?

• Implement flexible online learning programs that provide on-demand multimedia training to all agents, regardless of location.
• Make an instant messaging application part of the agent’s desktop so they can see who’s logged in and get quick assistance when they need it.
• Have regular individual video coaching sessions.
• Provide all agents with easy access to individual and team performance data so they can better self-manage while staying connected to the team.
• Have agents experienced in telecommuting orient new employees and offer advice on the effectiveness of this way of working.

2) Implement Unified and Integrated Technology

When the different systems call center agents use aren’t integrated, agents can’t work as efficiently or effectively, and such a disparate mix of resources negatively impacts both the agent and customer experience.

Contact center technology that integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) applications enables several capabilities and benefits:

• Reduces post-call work by automatically updating the CRM with user interaction data.
• Reduce agent effort with a unified CRM desktop that eliminates time spent navigating between separate applications.
• Improves customer service time by automatically providing a holistic view of your history right on the agent’s desktop so you can quickly determine the next best action and personalize the conversation.

There is still a lot of work to be done with the integration of all the systems used by call center agents. A recent Salesforce study found that only half of agents report that they can find all the information they need to do their job on one screen.

3) Improve The Agent Experience With Automation

Historically, 10-15% of an agent’s time is spent on post-call recap, which can be reduced by automatically documenting interaction details in CRM systems. Automation can further reduce both this time.

Relieving agents of these mundane tasks allows them to focus more of their energy on delivering a superior customer experience. It also changes the nature of their jobs. Their responsibilities are less focused on tasks and more on solving complex problems.

Salesforce found that 51% of agents want more challenging work, and 77% of agents say automating routine tasks allows them to focus on more complex work. Leveraging automation can be an effective way to improve the agent experience and decrease employee burnout.

4) Empower Agents With Real-Time Personalized Training

According to a CMS Wire article, 27% of employees strongly agree that feedback helps them do their jobs better. A fairly low percentage, considering that professional development is usually quite important for high-performing employees.

AI-powered real-time engagement guidance can increase that percentage by giving agents contextual feedback as interactions occur, allowing them to immediately improve the outcome.

Additionally, the use of sentiment analysis allows the tool to determine if the customer is feeling negative, in which case the software advises the agent on soft skills that have been shown to increase customer satisfaction.

An Example of Sentiment Analysis That Drives The Use of Soft Skills

If the customer and agent are interrupted in a phone conversation, the software will interpret this as negative sentiment and prompt the agent to engage in active listening. Receiving consistent, real-time training will help agents achieve their customer satisfaction goals (CSATs) and become increasingly proficient at building rapport and delivering successful CX.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can not only improve the agent experience, but also improve business results. In this way, companies that use AI have higher customer retention and satisfaction than those that do not.

In conclusion, call centers cannot afford to lose their best employees, but today’s job market has added even more urgency to reduce and prevent their attrition. Implementing these 4 factors can help companies improve AX and reduce the number of agents, particularly high performers, leaving their jobs.