Burnout happens across all industries, but it’s particularly common among contact center agents. Having invested time and money into hiring and training an agent, watching that frontline employee walk away is not only frustrating, it’s also costly and potentially damaging to your customer experience. The latest workforce management tools can help.

Through forecasting, scheduling and assignment rotation, you can avoid stress and burnout; performance management tools and automated training systems let you focus on each agent’s needs; and an omnichannel platform makes employees’ lives easier.

Why Agents Leave

The causes of attrition range from the nature of the job itself to specific challenges in a particular work environment. Here are some of the top six reasons for agent attrition — and how to fix them.

  1. Lack of training

Everyone wants to feel like they’re doing a good job; a good way to motivate employees is to ensure that they’re set up for success. Whether you’re hiring entry-level agents or skilled specialists, properly train your employees on products, processes and technology. Agents who lack this knowledge could feel overwhelmed. You can leverage the latest contact center technology to individualize coaching and training, giving each agent the help they need and improving overall performance.

  1. Repetition overload

No one wants to perform the same task all day long. Mind-numbing repetition, with no opportunity for creativity or independence, can lead to agent burnout and turnover. By adding variety to your agents’ capacities and communication channels, they’ll learn new skills and stay engaged. Technology that enables skills- and scheduling-based routing can help: You’ll not only reduce agent turnover by avoiding repetition overload, but you’ll also improve service levels.

  1. Bad hiring decisions

Not everyone is fit to be a call center agent. When you employ people who aren’t a good match, they’ll struggle to succeed. Hiring the right team from the start can reduce agent attrition. But to do this, you need to pay attention to your application and interview processes, and leverage assessments and competency tests. Look for good listeners, problem solvers, quick and eager learners and team players.

  1. Legacy technology

One of the quickest ways to frustrate your agents is to expect them to contend with outdated, overly complex and poorly integrated technology. But a contact center platform that gives agents visibility into a customer’s entire contact history and delivers all the information they need in a unified system can improve their ability to delight customers.

  1. Lack of rewards and recognition

Everyone wants to feel valued. Going to work every day — especially in a demanding environment — without any type of praise or reward for your hard work can make you feel unappreciated. And that leads to burnout and unnecessary turnover. Establishing an employee recognition program is a simple yet effective way to show your appreciation, motivate your team and minimize attrition.

  1. Poor communication

Communication is a cornerstone of employee engagement — from ensuring that agents understand your expectations to keeping them informed about the latest upgrades and business changes. Be sure to make it a two-way street: Your agents are a valuable source of insight; enable them to share what they’re learning about your customers’ wants and needs. Take advantage of up-to-date software for automated messaging, to display and analyze performance data, and more.

Satisfied Employees Strengthen the Customer Experience

Customer experience is a top brand differentiator; your customer-facing employees are vital to building stronger customer relationships. Avoid these top reasons for agent attrition and you’ll have happier employees who pass their satisfaction down to your customer base. Read this ebook on customer service best practices to see how Genesys can help keep your agents engaged and customer relationships strong.