How To Reduce ‘Quick Quit’ / ‘Fast Fire’ Turnover In Your Call Center

Too many Contact Centers have reputations for being “Revolving Door” employers - with high rates of Customer Service Representative (CSR) Turnover/Attrition.

The job isn’t for everyone – and given enough time Burnout/Emotional Exhaustion are statistically inevitable industry realities.

When managed properly - it is for most CSRs a 2 to 5 year opportunity to pursue excellence in customer facing communications - while developing highly transferable skills for the employee’s next job.

For most companies - the ‘Average Lifespan’ for one of their CSRs is approximately 2 to 3 years – and for many TeleServices/Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms it’s less.

Even companies like Zappos & Netflix – who are known for providing the “Gold Standard” in customer care - for having strong employee centric work cultures - and for consistently ranking high on "Best Companies to Work For" Surveys - have Annual Turnover Rates of 20% - meaning that the ‘Average Lifespan’ of a CSR working for Zappos/Netflix is just 5 years.

It’s one thing for a CSR to complete a productive 2 to 5 year “Tour of Duty” in the Call Center before moving on – but ‘Quick Quit’ / ‘Fast Fire’ attrition (the first 90 days out of training) is something else.

This type of turnover is much costlier – and provides the least Return on Investment (ROI) to your company.

50% of new hires in some Contact Centers are ‘Quick Quits’ / ‘Fast Fires’ – gone within 90 days of starting the job.

• ‘Quick Quits’ are the new CSRs who sit through paid training - and then soon after go for lunch and never come back.
• ‘Fast Fires’ are the poor job fits who should never have been offered the position to begin with.

Depending on the complexity of the job - it can take between 2 to 6 months for a new CSR to ramp up to fully productive levels.

So just as a new hire reaches the stage where they start to become proficient with the work - they too often become expensive ‘Quick Quit’ / ‘Fast Fire’ turnover.

Callers are constantly exposed to relatively inexperienced / less than proficient new CSRs – damaging Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) / Customer Experience (CX) / Brand Image.

A recent survey by CareerBuilder reported that the average cost to replace one $12/Hour just out of training ‘Quick Quit’ / ‘Fast Fire’ CSR was $4,800.

The entire Contact Center Management team is accountable for reducing ‘Quick Quit’ / ‘Fast Fire’ turnover.

• Human Resources (HR) is accountable for reducing ‘Fast Fires’ – fixing a flawed recruiting process that isn’t hiring the right job fit to begin with.

HR often just tests applicants for basic language skills – windows literacy - typing speed & accuracy – and then conducts a Fast Food level job interview.

Interviews & Skills Testing are necessary parts of the hiring process - but they're about as predictive of long term success in the job as flipping a coin!

These HR Depts are essentially using a “mirror test” for CSR hiring.

That's when you hold a mirror under the applicant’s nose to see if the mirror fogs - to see if the applicant is breathing. If the mirror fogs … “Congratulations. You're hired!”

But it’s the CSR’s Psychometric Personality/Job Fit/Soft Skill/Work Ethic traits – combined with their “Train Ability” – and competence speaking & understanding Business English - that delivers value when it comes to the kind of service customers demand - and the kind of performance your business requires.

These traits can’t easily/quickly/cost effectively be taught – so HR needs to be able to hire people that already have them.

Adding Psychometric Pre Hire Assessments to the recruiting process can reduce ‘Fast Fires’ by up to 80%.

• The Training Dept is accountable for more than just helping new CSRs learn product knowledge / how to answer phones / use software systems / record information.

Trainers must take more “hands on” accountability for the quality & job engagement of the CSRs they graduate.

“Nesting” is designed to lower the stress & anxiety associated with moving from the training room to the Call Center production floor.

“Nesting” accelerates a new CSR’s time to full productivity - while reinforcing the work goals & priorities of the company – highlighting from the beginning that coaching & continuous improvement are part of the company’s culture.

“Nesting” areas are typically salted with veteran Above Average CSRs - led by teams of frontline Supervisors – and include several trainers - providing each graduating class with "Transition Training".

Often “Nesting” area trainers & new CSR hires are paired together - connected to a dual training headset.

To begin with the new hire will strictly listen to both sides of the call.

Then the new hire transitions to taking basic live customer calls - while the trainer listens in - providing after call coaching & feedback.

The veteran Above Average CSRs in the “Nesting” area act as “Peer Mentors”.

They know your organization well – have a proven track record for meeting / exceeding your performance standards – and are likely to act as positive role models for new hires. It also helps to accelerate the new employee’s bonding with coworkers.

There’s also a high ratio of Supervisors per new hire to help in the “Nesting” area - in order to make sure that each Supervisor has more time available for one on one coaching.

Whether physical or virtual - just out of training “Nesting” / “Transition” areas – staffed by trainers & veteran Above Average CSRs – and led by a high ratio of Supervisors - have been shown to reduce ‘Quick Quit’ turnover far more than just rushing new hires through orientation & initial training – pointing them to their cubicle – and leaving them to “Sink or Swim”.

• Frontline Supervisors are also accountable for lowering ‘Quick Quit’ rates.

The old saying is true: “CSRs don’t leave their job … they leave their direct Supervisor”.

33% of CSRs who voluntarily quit prematurely do so because of issues with their Supervisor.

Supervisors who view their role as overseer – disciplinarian – enforcer – and pushing people to their maximum – or who “play favorites” for reasons other than merit - have significantly higher voluntarily Quit Rates than those who lead by example - coaching - providing performance feedback – and fostering a greater sense of workplace belonging.

• Senior Management is also accountable for lowering ‘Quick Quit’ rates.

25% of just out of training CSRs who prematurely quit do so because of Management/Company issues – mostly associated with Pay / Benefits / Schedule Flexibility.

50% of ‘Quick Quit’ CSRs do so in order to go & do the same work for another company – for an average 9.4% increase in their base hourly wage.

40% of ‘Quick Quit’ CSRs who ‘Job Hop’ from one Contact Center employer to another do so as part of a group – taking along with them at least one other coworker – making the defection even more costly to the company.

20% of just out of training CSRs who prematurely quit do so because of work/life balance issues – mostly associated with inflexible scheduling / lack of part time shift availability.

Employers who pay competitive wages/commissions/bonuses – who provide extended health benefits – and offer flexible scheduling – have lower ‘Quick Quit’ rates – with far fewer new hires quitting & ‘Job Hopping’ to go to work for another Call Center team.

It hurts when your business invests Money / Time / Resources into Recruiting / Training new CSRs – only to have up to 50% of them voluntarily leave (or be fired) from the job within 90 days of starting work.

Contact Centers that come up short on the issues that drive ‘Quick Quits’ / ‘Fast Fires’ have to deal with higher & accelerated levels of costly unwanted CSR turnover.

Not only do you lose your investment in the employee - it can be demoralizing for your company culture & overall CSR team morale – and a damaging blow to Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) / Customer Experience (CX) / Brand Image / Bottom Line.

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Just because someone has ‘The Right Stuff’ to be a Customer Service Representative (CSR) in a Bricks & Mortar Contact Center – they may not be cut out to do the same job well in a Work@Home position. The required levels of self discipline/self motivation/energy (among others) are higher.

Of those who do have ‘The Right Stuff’ to be a top Work@Home CSR – it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re also a good fit for revenue target positions such as Telemarketing – Biz Dev - Inside Sales – UpSell/CrossSell/Customer WinBack – TeleCollections - that require influencing customer/prospect behavior.

Customer Service & Support or TeleSales - building a Bricks & Mortar or Virtual Work@Home team that meets/exceeds your performance standards starts with hiring people with the right mix of Personality/Job Fit/Soft Skills/Motivation/Work Ethic traits & Business English Language Competency to begin with.

These traits & competencies can’t be easily/quickly taught – so you need to hire people that already have them.

With a 90% Predictive Ability – the legal/proven/cost effective SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software Psychometric Pre Hire Assessments do just that.

Message me if you would like a Demo/Trial.

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