A couple of cliches have been ruling the customer service domain for quite a long time now. One that’s said and heard most often is- The customer is always right. With a majority of the businesses moving towards customer centricity, going above and beyond to exceed customer expectations is quite obvious. However, taking all this to an extent where the business’s growth is at stake is not at all advisable. So, the mindsets of the business owners need to rise above all these cliches or else the business is bound to face the obvious consequences. Here’s all that can go wrong when following the norm that a customer is always right:
“Salary” is enough for a person to work at a company. But no one would want to work at a company where their efforts go unnoticed, and they could be replaced in an instant. What makes them stick around and stay loyal to a company is the work environment provided to them.
They would love to work at a place where they do not feel dejected and demotivated. Especially when it comes to customer support agents, employee appreciation is something that keeps the agents going despite a variety of customers they have to face every day. Let’s have a look at the best strategies for making your customer support agents feel valued:
Employee engagement refers to the property of the relationship between an organization and its employees. Also, an “engaged employee” is the one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about his/her work. He takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests. Employee engagement when implemented appropriately provides a number of benefits to the organization.
Implementing peer recognition and rewards program is yet another powerful method of curbing agent attrition. It involves ensuring that each agent receives feedback that is directly tied to their performance and that they receive rewards when they meet key milestones. This enhances an agent’s motivation and helps build engagement with their work. On the other hand, filling open positions within call centers by promoting internal candidates can also help motivate them to work better. This can actually be used as an incentive for agents to work harder at their job and be sure to promote top performers.
Rewards and recognition
2. Strive to tackle your advisors’ grievances:
Exit interviews are the ones conducted to gather information on why an advisor is leaving and to learn how a customer support center can stop attrition. Instead of these exit interviews, conducting internal interviews, after an employee’s first few weeks of joining, can help tackle their grievances and know their pain points before it is too late. Thereafter, strategies can be employed to exempt these grievances. These interviews convince the employees that the company cares and supports for each of them. It further boosts their morale and job satisfaction and leads to a lowered agent attrition rate.
Coaching culture
3. Ease down the shift swapping process:
The rigidness of the schedule in a customer support center can result in staff missing important external events and lower job satisfaction. As a matter of fact, customer support centers are hesitant to allow shift swaps due to the negative impact it may have on workplace cohesion, contact between supervisors and advisors and service quality. However, working towards lowering the rigidness of the schedule and providing an easy swapping of shifts can greatly enhance employee morale. This can eventually result in a reduced agent attrition.
Skipping or shortening the training period, based on the fact that some agents need intense training while others do not can lead to the omission of useful experiences. This may further result in feelings of exclusion, inadequacy, and disorganization and in the worst cases, the agent leaving your company. Therefore, you should consider training each agent equally. Make sure that all the agents are subjected to the same training period so they can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, become acculturated to the company’s values, and cultivate relationships with colleagues. This training period will enhance team collaboration and bond and will further lead to the exemption of agent attrition to a large extent.
Call center training programs
2. Schedule the staff appropriately:
One of the most effective strategies in curbing agent attrition is focusing on the work-life balance of employees. This strategy works on the principle of mutual understanding, such that, employees need to understand that the business must meet its customers’ demands, while the business must understand that employees have external pressures as well. Thus, you need to develop a flexible approach creating a number of lifestyle schedule options that give employees more choices, whilst still meeting the business needs. Providing options is a great way of finding a suitable solution and satisfying all.
Work life balance
3. Leverage the power of skill development:
Providing skill development programs is yet another powerful strategy that can help curb agent attrition in customer support centers. As a matter of fact, agents who feel their on the job skill-set is not at all progressive are more likely to disengage with their work and are more prone to leaving. However, all these insecurities can be eliminated and job satisfaction can be increased with opportunities for agents to learn new skills and new technologies. This will help them be more competent and confident, perform their work-related duties and stay longer with your company.
