Good agents are hard to find — and it’s often even tougher to keep them. Here’s why they might leave.
Experts at Humetrics, an HR firm, found that most hourly employees look for different jobs because they:
- face scheduling conflicts. They often applied for and accepted the job because it promised “flexible hours,” but that never happened. To keep them happy: Offer flexible hours as a reward for good work, and make that clear from the get-go.
- aren’t recognized. Positive feedback must be ongoing and sincere. To keep them happy: Managers need to schedule time to give on-the-spot praise, recognize department accomplishments weekly and sit down one-on-one with agents quarterly.
- get all the dirty work. Managers know good employees will get the job done – so they give them every job. So instead of spreading the workload, managers often overwhelm their best people, says Humetrics’ executive Mel Kleiman. To keep them happy: At regular meetings, ask top performers how they feel about their workload. When they’re overwhelmed, pass their low-level tasks off to others who need to step up.
- don’t get enough advancement opportunities. In some organizations, promoting from within doesn’t happen as much as it should. To keep them happy: Announce openings to agents first and let them have the edge on applying for them.
- are surrounded by substandard co-workers. Working with lazy, indifferent or undependable people will bring down otherwise excellent employees. To keep them happy: Don’t allow substandard work to continue in your contact center. Establish guidelines for performance and hold everyone equally accountable to them. Then, if people don’t improve with training, let them go.
