Is this your situation? Your call center frequently has high turnover, and you are training more and managing less. Call center jobs are solid, quality opportunities. They can be an excellent chance for many job seekers through customer service and call center staffing. Instead of falling into a cycle of constantly recruiting and training, focusing on retention can be a better use of your time and resources.
So how do you engage call center and customer service employees to be excited about your opportunities and want to stick around? Here are five ways to improve employee retention in your call centers.
Find the Right Fit
The first hallmark of strong retention is excellent hiring. You want to find the right employee for the job, not just a person in a seat. Instead of looking at experience alone, you need to judge by their traits and soft skills. That perfect match is around the corner, and you can uncover superstars with a little additional screening.
Start by asking situational questions. Also known as behavioral interview questions, this method uncovers more of how a person thinks. For example, ask them, “tell me about a time when you had to deal with an unhappy customer. How did you defuse the situation?” Questions like this encourage the candidate to think on their feet and give you a real insight into their thought process.
Recruiters in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Phoenix know that pre-hire assessments can accurately assess skills. Using skill testing, you can determine their software ability, phone skills, and data entry speed and accuracy, all of which are necessary for a call center environment.
Call centers are busy places requiring attention to detail, so a customer service representative isn’t distracted by the calls around them. During the hiring process, consider an opportunity for candidates to see the environment and even shadow a current employee.
You can also use role-playing and mock calls to see how they will respond to stressful situations. Exercises like this will help you determine if the candidate has more than just the skills on paper to succeed in a high-volume call center.
Spend Time Training
Step two is to focus on onboarding. Employers often provide a week’s worth of training and expect employees to thrive independently. Employment statistics show that it takes about six months for employees to be up to speed. About 30% of employees leave a job before their first 90 days. When you throw an employee from the frying pan into the fire, it can be disastrous. But you don’t have to continue doing it because that’s how it’s always been done.
Every employee is different, and some may require more time, but when they have that experience, they can knock it out of the park. So instead of a week’s worth of training, consider implementing a broader onboarding experience. This can include:
- Training processes that work for multiple learning styles
- A mentorship program between experienced employees and new hires
- 1-week, 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day check-ins with management
- Regular positive feedback and constructive correction on the job
Appreciate your Employees through Awards & Recognition
Creating a culture of gratitude in your workplace is another tool in your toolbelt for improving retention among call center and customer service employees. Everyone deserves to be acknowledged for their hard work. One report noted that companies that regularly reward and recognize employees were 41% more likely to see increased employee retention and 34% more likely to have increased employee engagement.
Appreciation covers a lot of bases and can be as simple as saying thank you and as complex as offering a bonus or award. It can boost morale, increase productivity, and promote a better team culture. By decreasing turnover and increasing retention rates for customer service employees, you avoid a constant need to recruit, onboard, and train new team members.
Common ways to appreciate your call center employees include:
- Maintain a positive management relationship
- Say thank you regularly
- Provide opportunities for development and progression
- Organize voluntary social events for the team
- Publicly recognize good work
- Offer financial bonuses
- Provide additional days off as a reward
Provide a Work-life Balance
Work/Life balance has been a talking point for over a decade, but the idea has much more impact today. The pandemic reinforced that we need balance in our time commitments. Some offices have shifted to remote or hybrid work, but many call centers still need staff in-house.
Long gone are the days when 60-hour workweeks were standard and considered good. As many of your call center employees will be part of Generation Z, it’s important to note that 32% of Gen Z cite work/life balance as a top priority when choosing a career.
To that end, call center employers must create an environment where workers will thrive, not just survive. Balancing shifts, providing flexibility, offering robust PTO plans, and treating employees like whole people with a rich life outside work will be essential to retention.
Effective Communication Channels
Communication is one of the top reasons employees quit their jobs or engage in quiet quitting. Not only is lack of clear communication a significant problem, but how management talks to employees can affect turnover. This is especially true in high-touch roles like customer service or call center.
Employees don’t want to be talked at like children. They are professional adults and deserve to be valued and respected on the job. More employees will be satisfied with their position by receiving ample training and onboarding, getting constructive criticism regularly, and hearing praise and gratitude.
Employee feedback is also a valuable tool. Companies where employees don’t feel comfortable providing feedback to their leaders, see more dissatisfaction on the job. Employees have a lot of insight due to their in-the-trenches work, so they should have a say in decisions that impact their workplace quality.
An open line of communication is critical for any company wishing to keep employees loyal and satisfied.
Need help finding qualified talent? Partner with a Recruitment Agency in Dallas, Fort Worth, & Phoenix
You never have to do it alone. Finding qualified talent takes time and effort, so why not work with professionals in the industry? The customer service and call center staffing experts of CornerStone Staffing can work with your company. Our recruiters in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Phoenix areas can talk with you today.
Our team of dedicated recruiters has years of experience working with call centers and customer service businesses like yours. We have built a robust pipeline of top talent and can work with you to get the right people in the right places.
For employment agencies in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Phoenix, contact CornerStone Staffing to learn more.
