Witness Systems Identifies Key Drivers for Staff Retention

Best practices in line with Gartner research into the relationship between agent satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

Witness Systems, a global provider of performance optimisation software and services, has identified seven key drivers that will help contact centres achieve higher staff retention and thereby greater customer service excellence. Staff job satisfaction is proven to be key to improving customer service. Recent Gartner research has shown that a two per cent increase in agent satisfaction can translate into a one per cent increase in customer satisfaction. Gartner also estimates that a one per cent increase in first call resolution will generate a 6.4 per cent rise in customer satisfaction.

Rich Ray, senior business consultant at Witness Systems explains: "Many contact centre organisations focus purely on one or two issues in order to drive employee satisfaction. There is a much broader range of issues that must be addressed, however, which is why agent retention must be a strategy, not just a single initiative. If contact centres are to achieve service level excellence, staff retention must become a top priority for managers.
Before they can achieve optimum results, managers must be aware of what motivates agents and which issues are the most critical to a staff retention strategy."

Rich Ray has compiled a list of key drivers and best practices for staff retention based on Witness Systems' experience in consulting and working in partnership with leading organisations in the contact centre industry, as well as recent surveys from Gartner and the Yankee Group that focus on contact centre agents and their pivotal role in achieving customer service excellence.

The seven key drivers for staff retention best practice are:

1: Spend more time recruiting - identify what you need and make your selection based on relevant skills If this is done well, better results will be achieved in the long run. It is important to recruit people with the skills that the job requires, not just those who have a high level of education.

2: Provide a career path - establish staff goals, recognise the difference between developing skills and promotion opportunities If agents are able to recognise the value their positions play in the customer service experience "big picture" and take pride in their roles, as well as make more money, they will be driven to perform at a higher level.
Employees should be able to aim toward standard skill levels, such as NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications), and these targets should relate directly to job progression.

3: Develop and train employees - e-training, cross training, qualifications Very few agents will naturally have the skills to properly handle every call they receive. It is the responsibility of the contact centre to ensure they have sufficient training to do their jobs. Once agents possess these skills, they will be more confident and able to perform at a higher level with greater consistency.

4: Appoint strong supervisors to deliver effective coaching - the best team leaders aren't necessarily the best coachers Rather than simply promoting the most successful agents, it is those with strong mentoring and leadership skills that should be progressed into team leader positions. Effective coaching is the silver bullet for contact centre agent satisfaction, therefore coaches need to have both the mentoring and technical skills to help develop and motivate their agents.

5: Create a good work environment and company culture Staff strongly value a comfortable, friendly and flexible workplace, and this is a primary reason why they remain with a company. A recent CPI (Contact Power Inc.) survey supported this belief by validating it to be true for 76 per cent of contact centre employees. A good company culture is an intangible, yet key factor in agent satisfaction.

6: Empower agents - the value of unscripted versus scripted The recognition of individual expertise, and the allocation of agents to their areas of strength, will help ensure they deliver high levels of service quality. Use scripts only where strict compliance is required, otherwise empower them to handle interactions with some independence, and the result will be greater motivation through increased control and responsibility.

7: Recognise achievement and reward it - don't underestimate the value of personal praise It is important to recognise agents for good work, to give them thanks for their efforts, and most important of all, to mean it. Genuine appreciation has a tremendous impact on an agent's motivation and overall job satisfaction. Financial incentives should play an important role in rewarding strong performance, but they must be coupled with genuine recognition and thanks, otherwise agents will begin to feel isolated.

"If contact centres focus only on pay and financial rewards, their employees will fail to settle into a productive role within the company," added Rich Ray. "If they do not feel at home in their jobs, agents will not perform in line with customer service goals. Pay and reward schemes have an important part to play, but agents will feel more comfortable, and perform better, if they are appreciated, have flexible, challenging goals and work in a friendly working environment. This is why it is important for contact centres to formulate a strategy that is focused on staff retention and development, based on a broad range of issues."

About Witness Systems

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) provides the contact centre industry's first integrated performance optimisation software suite to help global enterprises capture customer intelligence and optimise workforce performance. The browser-based eQuality® software is comprised of compliance, high-volume and business-driven recording solutions for customer contact centres and IP telephony, as well as performance analysis and e-learning applications. The closed-loop suite enables companies to capture and retrieve, learn and train, and report and analyse customer interactions and back office transactions to develop staff, generate revenue, reduce costs, and achieve greater customer retention and loyalty. An integrated business consulting, implementation and training methodology enables organisations to maximise their return on investment. For additional information about Witness Systems and its eQuality software suite, visit http://www.witness.com.