The Impact Of Attrition On The Call Center

Impact of Attrition Benchmark Study Results from August 2007 Survey

Impact of Attrition Survey Request sent to Knowlagent internal database via email Title Breakdown 251 responses Other 19%

Unknown 3%

Manager 38% Number of Agents

VP 18%

17.2% More than 1000 33.3% Less than 100 11.7% 501-1000

10.6% 301-500

27.2% 101-300

Director 22%

Organizational Goals Please select the category that most closely matches that of the most important goals in your call center. Revenue/Sales related 15.6% Customer satisfaction related 40.2% Customer loyalty related 4.5% Quality related 8.6%

68% of goals are customer satisfaction, loyalty or experiencerelated.

Cost related 3.3% Customer experience related 22.1% Net promoter related 0.8% Other (please specify) 4.9%

Organization's Success Towards Most Important Goal

39% of respondents were partially or completely unsuccessful against their highest stated goal.

Did not meet goal 4% Exceeded the goal 25%

Partially met the goal 35%

Met the goal 36%

Ranking Challenges to Goal Achievement

What are the key obstacles to achieving the goal? (all that apply) Other 14.3% Agents not the right personality fit 29.5% Agents without right skills and knowledge 41.0%

Organizational alignment 21.7%

Agent attrition 52.5%

Other goal(s) in conflict 23.8% Not enough resources 37.7% Not enough budget 19.3%

Attrition ranks the highest. Other issues addressable via hiring processes also stand out – personality and skill mismatches.

Impact of Attrition Impact of Attrition on Achieving Goals Doesn’t affect success at all 2% Has little effect on success 13%

Major reason for lack of success 15%

Gets in the way of success 70%

Attrition significantly impacts success at 85% of companies.

Attrition Across the Agent Lifecycle

17

15

4 9

6 13

17 8 12

14 19

13 22 5 8 12

20

29 16 3 5 3

Do not track 17

31-50%

19

20

20 27

18

0-10% 41

29

24

21-30% 11-20%

19

36

>50%

21

26 13

New hire training

Less than 90 days on the floor

90 days to 1 year

1-3 years

More than 3 years

Overall attrition

When reporting on attrition at different stages, respondents typically reported lower numbers than what would be expected when reviewing the overall attrition percentages.

Why does attrition occur? Rank order the top 3 reasons for attrition. The agent has a poor relationship with the supervisor Other The agent does not have a clear career path for advancement

Number 1

The agent does not have the right knowledge and skills to perform the job

Number 2 Number 3

The agent isn’t a good personality fit for the job The job is not what the agent expected The agent leaves to make more money 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

While increasing salary is selected most often as the cause of attrition, the most highly ranked reason is related to unclear job expectations. When Number 1 and Number 2 rankings are combined, increased salary, unclear expectations and personality fit appear to be equal contributors to attrition.

Battling Attrition Rating Method Effectiveness Against Attrition Increasing salaries

13

Focusing on career growth opportunities

12

Improving/Creating mentoring programs

11

21

35

30

34

36

19

40

Increasing training and communications to existing agents

19

40

Using assessment tools for hiring

Very effective

Effective

Somewhat effective

17 11

Not very effective

7 1 26

16

19 7

8

29

50 23

2

13 1 11

27

Implementing supervisor-agent coaching programs for existing agents

Improving new hire training and nesting

13

22 34

Not effective at all

6 3

7 15 5 7 22

Method not in use

The methods most reported as effective against attrition are improving new hire training and nesting, increasing training and communications and implementing coaching programs.

Success Over the Long Haul Rate Long-Term Effectiveness Against Attrition

20% Have not addressed.

10% Lowered initially and more since then.

31% Lowered and stayed at or near that level.

13% Unsuccessful in lowering.

26% Lowered temporarily but has since increased.

While 41 percent have had success lowering attrition and at least keeping it steady, 39 percent have either been unsuccessful or were unable to sustain results.

Where would the savings go?

Applying Cost Savings From Lowering Attrition

Apply towards the bottom line 33%

Invest in highest stated goal 49%

Invest in secondary goal(s) 18%

Most respondents would take costs saved from attrition reduction and apply towards their most important goal.

About Knowlagent Knowlagent has enabled companies around the world to manage call center agents for 13 years. Hiring Training Communications Coaching

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