Worker attrition in the contact center industry front line can be a costly and frustrating problem. The attractiveness of outside offers as well as management issues inside the organization can both contribute to difficulty in holding together a strong team. Fortunately, through a balanced and strategic approach, it is possible to create an environment that encourages better worker retention and positive results.

1. Resolving the Riddle of
Retention

2. Labor shortages hit companies across all
verticals and job levels

3. Low Unemployment Fuels Wage
Increases

4. Contact Center Attrition
 Average Contact Center attrition reported by ICMI at 33% in 2017, up from 29%
reported in 2016
 Accepted averages are;
 Captive centers = 20% per annum
 Outsourced centers = 100% per annum
 But your mileage may vary;
 365% turnover in six months at an outsource BPO
 65% in an inhouse center

5. Impact of High Attrition
 High Costs
 Direct cost
 Degraded service performance
 Performance related costs
 Eroded reputation
 Failure to meet business goals
 Depressed QA and CX scores
 Staff with less tenure and low pay attrite at a high rate than experienced and
better paid staff

6. What are organizations doing to tame
attrition
 Many organizations attempt to tackle
attrition by employing some or all of the
following tactics;
 Improving new hiring assessments
 Improving agent on-boarding training and
nesting
 Increasing communications in training
 Improving coaching processes
 Creating mentor programs
 Increasing salaries, benefits and compensation

7. What are the Causes of High Attrition
 There are multiple root causes influencing attrition in the contact Center
Staffing and
Scheduling practices
Dysfunctional
Progressive
Discipline
Absence of agent
profiles
Absence of
meaningful tests in
Training
Extended Nesting
QA practices reduce
likelihood of staff
being coached
and/or improving
Absence of proper
performance
reporting
Lack of Training for
Center leaders (TL’s
and Managers)
Unstable incentive
program

8. Common Staffing & Workforce issues &
Scheduling Practices
 Not leveraging WFM for
Scheduling RTA, and
Forecasting
 Not fully understanding the
capabilities of your WFM
solution
 Forecasting is complicated –
Often it is not properly
designed
 Shift bidding is dysfunctional
 Ineffective forecasting and
scheduling leads to high
Occupancy & Attrition

9. Absence of
Agent Profiles
 Without knowing the profile of successful agents, it is
very difficult to know the skills, competencies and
personalities that will allow agents to succeed
 Profiling allows job descriptions, the recruiting
process/candidate assessment, training, nesting and
coaching to be better aligned and continually improved

10. Dysfunctional Progressive Discipline
 Many organizations have biased and dysfunctional Progressive Discipline processes.
Common examples include;
 HR has an out-sized role in the center, where it should be playing a supporting role
 PIP- is not operating as an improvement process, but rather serves as an agent
warning system
 Delays in implementing progressive discipline makes the process ineffective and
undermine the credibility of center leadership
 The process for Disciplinary Action is too time-consuming, often requiring many levels
of sign-off (center, HR, senior management etc.)
 Absence of Service Level Agreement with HR to provide Disciplinary Action approvals
in a timely manner

11. Progressive Discipline Recommendations
A Service Level Agreement between HR and contact center ensures that issues such
as disciplinary actions and terminations can be dealt with in hours and not weeks
HR should provide training and guidance to contact center leaders
HR should play a supporting role to the contact center

12. Inconsistent Training Process
 Training often delivers different instructions than Nesting
 The absence of a Knowledgebase increases new agent confusion
 No feedback loop between Nesting and Training
 Trainers have no experience ‘on the phone’, may not understand the agent and floor
perspectives or Trainer may have experience on the floor but not training on how to train
 Center Leadership (Managers, Supervisors, Teal Leads) don’t participate in trainings
 Training is not scheduled at times matching future agent schedules
 There is limited soft skill training content
 There are no assessments or quizzes employed in Training which could identify agent progress
and where they may be having challenges
 There is no resource to develop Training content
 No tracking of agents and cohort performance post training to improve training and teaching

13. Training Process Recommendations to
improve effectiveness and reduce attrition
Create and maintain a
reliable knowledgebase.
Eliminate the dichotomy
between Nesting and
Training via a feedback
loop and/or rotating
staff between these
roles.
Train Trainers to train.
Have Managers and Team
Leaders spend regular
time in class observing
and assisting.
Certify Nesting Mentors
as to knowledge and
ability before allowing
them to lead Nesting.
Have Trainers work in in
the center periodically to
maintain understanding
and improve credibility.
Establish and employ
quizzes and tests through
training to confirm
understanding and
comprehension
Emphasize soft skills and
train on dealing with
difficult customers as
well as managing agent
stress.

14. Training Assessment Recommendations to Reduce
Attrition and Improve Agent Comprehension
Create meaningful training
assessments with consequences,
to weed out those for whom the
position is a bad fit.
Continuously track and analyze
agents’ performance from day 1
of training
Use assessments in nesting to
determine when people are ready
to move to the floor.

15. Nesting- Is it too long?
 A ‘No failure’ training approach results in agents with a
broad range of proficiency moving to Nesting
 This can result in the organization extending Nesting to
get agents to a minimum performance level needed to
move to production
 Creates an artificial perception of what to expect on the
production floor
 Creates the expectation of and/or on there being a
‘safety net’ that may not exist once in production

16. Nesting Recommendations
1
Allow agents to ‘Fail’ out
of Training during the
training period.
2
Use assessments in
Nesting to determine
when people are ready to
move to the floor
3
Movie agents from
Nesting to production
when they achieve
minimum performance,
limit remediation to
avoid a perceptions of a
‘Safety Net’
4
Ensure there are no
mixed messages and
confusion between
Nesting and Training

17. QA Practice Issues- Common Challenges
 There is often a schizophrenic and conflicted relationship between QA and TL re
observations and coaching
 Mix of ‘side by side’ and remote observations can create an uneven playing field
 Different coaching approaches between QA and TL’s (immediate versus delayed
feedback can create a dichotomy and reduces effectiveness of TL coaching)
 Differing standards for bricks & mortar and for WAH agents
 Not using a system to manage QA results and trends
 Inconsistent coaching and tracking, often tied to a lack of training on how to coach
adults
 No trend reporting or analysis in place
 Focus on agent vs center quality and overall performance or customer experience.
 Perceived bias in evaluations…easier to fail than to exceed
 Weak calibration process
 No ‘auto-fail’
 No connection to VOC or CSAT

18. Quality Process Recommendations
Move QA analysts to
100% remote monitors.
Schedule and conduct
coaching sessions,
reviewing trends from
all observed calls and
creating an
improvement plan with
agent’s input.
Revise the QA scoring
system so that doing
something especially
well can raise a score
as easily as doing
something wrong can
bring it down.
Trend reporting should
be used to determine
QA and coaching focus.
Connect Voice of the
Customer with internal
quality to assure
alignment.

19. Performance Reporting – Common Challenges
 There is no standard reporting/scorecards for agents, team
leaders, managers, directors, VPs etc. Different reporting for
different levels and purposes
 Reporting is mostly manual and time consuming.
 No data warehouse or data mart even though comprehensive
data may be available.
 Lack of trust in VOC/CSAT (too many touch points, too
infrequent, too general).
 KPIs at agent / TL level are not well-aligned with organizational
values (i.e. AHT employed, FCR isn’t)

20. Performance Reporting Recommendations
Create a structured reporting system to store all related data and provide various reports at
appropriate level.
Align and rationalize metrics to business objectives - Remove AHT as a KPI for agents/supervisors.
Employ FCR as a contact center metric.
Create a simplified survey (two or three questions) to be conducted (using automated IVR)
immediately after the contact and/or establish a post call email survey
Design and develop a balanced scorecard for agents, teams and centers.
Employ scorecard scores as main contributor in any bonus program.

21. Lack of Training for Center Leaders
 There is no specific training offered to Managers or Team
Leaders on Contact Center Management, Coaching and
developing staff or support specialties such as WFM, QA
etc.
 This creates inconsistent knowledge and practices
 Which increases variability, disparate experiences and
handicaps the effective management of agents, teams,
support functions and centers
 No staff progression and career path outlined

22. Recommended Training for Center Leaders
Provide detailed training to Managers and Team
Leaders on:
Contact Center Management
Coaching and Developing staff
Provide detailed training to support groups on:
WFM, theory and software administration
QA practices and coaching

23. Incentive
Program
Best
Practices
Ensure Bonus/Incentive program is well
understood to provide desired motivation.
Ensure any Bonus program is inclusive for 100% of
agents. First past the post programs only
motivate a small % of agents.
Ensure the program is based on continuous
improvement.
Don’t change program too frequently or risk agent
perception that program changes are to ensure
they can’t reach the desired performance.

24. Incentive Design Principles
Introduce the
program
properly
Which agents
can benefit?
Gap analysis
for each
individual
Time to adjust
Keep
measurements
simple!
Maintain
accurate
performance
data
Keep the
program
flexible
Support
company goals
Seek input
from agents
Add a benefit
for everyone

25. Playbook for Agent Retention
STAFFING
SCHEDULING
PROGRESSIVE
DISCIPLINE
QA PRACTICES,
COACHING, AND
REPORTING
TRAINING, TRAINING
TESTS & NESTING
CENTER LEADER
TRAINING
INCENTIVES

26. Questions
Colin Taylor
CEO & Chief Chaos Officer
The Taylor Reach Group, Inc.
Ctaylor@thetaylorreachgroup.com
416.276.9068
www.thetaylorreachgroup.com