2011 contact centre survey findings

A survey by contact centre analysts ContactBabel has outlined some of the issues that occur when trying to recruit staff to contact centre positions.  This is an industry close to much of Good People's activities. Key features of the survey are:

•    Induction training costs are up (averaging £1900 for 2-4 weeks)
•    Number one reason for attrition is cited "wrong person for the job” closely followed
      by "lack of promotion or development opportunity”
•    There's an increasing focus on personality tests as strong indicator for recruitment
     (skills can be learnt)
•    Average cost to recruit is £1,665, but 68% of recruitment effort is to keep the
      organisation where it is, ie covering attrition costs and making the organisation no
      better than it was
•    Top three attributes for a successful agent are empathy with the customer, reliability
      and team player
•    Average age of a contact centre worker is 27, but "many successful contact centre
      agents could be found in the relatively untapped labour pool of middle-aged women
      who are currently outside of the workforce”
•    Average Team Leader salaries have increased for the first time in several years
     (other roles much less significant, showing need to retain and attract more Team
      Leaders compared to other roles)

Solutions to these problems could be to prepare to recruit from a more diverse group of people though a wider use of personality profiling and benchmarking,
a relentless focus on assessing reliability and teamwork, and improving induction materials will be factors too.

For any information about how Good People can support your organisation in the recruitment of contact centre staff, contact us on 01204 373698 or email us: mail@goodpeopleservices.com.  We'd be delighted to hear from you.