How to Maintain the Commitment of Call Center Agents in a Hybrid Work Model

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted organizations, including call centers, to function as a hybrid workforce model. This model offers virtual and office work options, promoting flexibility and the opportunity to still are in work situations at a safe distance. However, one of the biggest challenges for those implementing a hybrid work model is keeping employees engaged and connected with shared and individual goals.

In 2020, most contact centers quickly made the decision to send employees home without a long-term solution of what would come next. Now, many companies have decided to have some employees return to the office, while others work remotely.

Many call centers are looking for help exploring this new territory and creating an agent engagement strategy that works in 2021 and for years to come.

Engagement is very important because according to McKinsey & Company, engaged and satisfied contact center employees have:

• 5 times more likely to stay than to leave in a year.
• 4 times more likely to stay than dissatisfied colleagues.
• 16 times more likely to recommend your company to their friends.
• 3 times more likely to feel empowered to solve customer problems.

Certainly, agent engagement can have an effect on your bottom line and customer loyalty.

How to Maintain the Commitment of Call Center Agents in a Hybrid Work Model

1) Corporate Culture

Company culture is critical to agent engagement, regardless of work model, because for many employees it is the reason they choose to work for an organization in the first place. Even before COVID-19, call centers struggled to maintain a strong and consistent culture due to the notoriously high turnover rates plaguing the contact center industry.

Now, with employees more geographically dispersed call center leaders face an even greater challenge in cultivating a strong company culture. The elements of a good corporate culture include things like purpose, community, and recognition, among others.

2) Rewards and Recognition Program

According to an ICMI study, the number one factor that contributes to agent satisfaction is rewards and recognition.

There are many ways to keep agents engaged. Within a hybrid work model, it is best to have an automated strategy that can reach both all workers equally and consistently.

By using gamification to challenge KPIs within teams, supervisors see happier agents. The challenges between the different departments generate a healthy competition that involves the employees.

Some reward ideas include: paid overtime (days or hours), movie tickets, or gift cards, among others.

3) Establishment and Monitoring of Objectives

In a hybrid work model, it’s easy for employees to get off course if they don’t have clear goals to meet and don’t have the physical presence of their supervisor as a continuous reminder to stay on task. Creating goals with rewards attached can make call center work feel more positive and doable. Whether agents are at home or in the office, equipping them with individualized dashboards that display real-time data can help give them a sense of confidence and satisfaction.

Not only are personal goals important to agents, but company-wide goals can also help them have a sense of belonging no matter where they are working. Giving agents access to team or organization statistics through dashboards in the office and at home will help each agent feel welcomed by the company.

4) Team Building Activities

Team meetings are a great way to build morale among call center agents, but they shouldn’t be long and tedious, but fun and different. For example, they can break into new groups each week so that agents can meet and talk with people on the team they have never met or met before. It is important to conduct these meetings with a combination of remote and office employees.

One of the most popular activities is “Happy Hour,” in which all employees have a drink on Friday afternoons, together, although each from home.

5) Agent Comments

More than anything, employees want to be heard. Even if it is a simple request that is fulfilled, such as having a new taste of coffee in the break room or worrying about your personal life, agents will feel understood. By regularly submitting engagement surveys and agent feedback and considering them, morale will increase. Supervisors should be equipped with the tools to create, send, and analyze surveys of their teams, such as job satisfaction surveys, agent engagement surveys, or manager evaluation.

Each survey can provide information on what needs to be improved. Working in a hybrid work model makes it difficult for managers to have visibility into the issues that arise. Surveys can provide the information and clarity needed to understand agent concerns and act on them before they become a bigger problem.

6) Coherent Communication

A key to keeping employees happy is having constant internal communication. Building trust can seem impossible if everyone says different things and follows different rules. Therefore, the same message must be sent on all platforms so that agents can trust leadership and feel safe in their work environment.

Applying these six aspects of engagement can lead to better employee morale, lower turnover, higher performance, and higher customer satisfaction.

The hybrid work model is here to stay. Agents love the flexibility and convenience it offers. But like everything else, it comes with its own unique challenges as you try to keep employees engaged in their jobs.