In our experience, no matter how strong a customer service operation is, turnover is inevitable. But it is possible to find success by keeping your team effective and engaged, while retaining as many top performers as possible.
What can you do to retain current employees? Keep reading for a few ideas on how to maintain current staffing levels and reduce customer service turnover rates.
-
Hire the right people
The first step is the evaluate your current team to see the traits of your top performers. Inventory the skills you need versus what you currently have to identify the gap. Hiring people who are “over-qualified” for lower-level roles may be a double-edged sword, as they may be more likely to jump ship quickly.
Be clear about the job description and expectations of the job. You don’t want your candidate to feel overwhelmed or disappointed once they begin.
-
Provide ongoing training and professional development
If you haven’t created a regular training schedule for your employees, it’s time to get on board. Not only will your customers reap the benefits of amazing customer service, but there are several reasons why training can help reduce call center turnover.
With proper training, agents will feel more competent and are less likely to quit. Ongoing training develops your team professional and personally, making them feel more fulfilled at work.
It’s also important to implement programs that allow people to grow within their roles. Good contact centers will have a career progression plan even for employees at the lowest level.
-
Listen to your employees
Gather feedback on a regular basis to learn exact what problems and challenges your customer service employees are experience. When you show interest in their concerns, it helps strengthen the relationship between employees, supervisors, and managers.
We recommend using a tool like SurveyMonkey or Jotform to create an Employee Satisfaction survey that you send quarterly to guage employee engagement levels. These type of platforms make it easy to analyze the results and create an action plan moving forward.
Conclusion
It may take time to implement these strategies, depending on the size of your organization and resources. While you are working toward making improvements, make sure to openly communicate with your employees. If they know there are changes in process that might benefit them, they are more than likely to stick around rather than actively seek new employment.
Once you’ve mastered some of these strategies, you’ll find it easier to improve your operation, retain your best team members and maintain a healthy level of turnover in your call center operation.
If you need help finding the right candidates for your open positions, give Salem Solutions a call!
