Read and Make it work!
Whenever someone changes his/her mood or behavior at work the end result is that the individual quits their job or end up getting fired, this type of situation can really shake up a team's dynamics. Remaining employees might find themselves scrambling to cover the extra work for weeks or months until someone new gets hired. Even then, the onboarding process can take months.
And yet a lot of managers don’t see beyond their nose, don't understand -- and don't make the effort to understand -- the real reasons behind why their employees leave; why their employees keep quitting. Get
those very same directors, managers, supervisors and overall administrative staff that have both the power and the responsibility for correcting and preventing the root causes of employee disengagement that lead to people quitting their jobs creating high turnover rates (ATTRITION).
Reasons Employees Want to Leave Their Jobs, and Tips for How You Can Get Them to Stay
The first step to increasing employee retention is to assess or dig into why people have resigned from your company in the past, and making sure you're doing whatever it takes to change the situation, environment and approach for the people who still work for you.
“Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers”
- Richard Branson-
Are you facing challenges when recruiting? After recruitment was completed, do employees keep leaving? Here I have placed ten of the most common reasons why employees leave their jobs or simply they do not want to apply on some places:
- The job wasn't what they'd expected
- Lack of coaching or feedback
- They didn't get along with the boss
- They didn't see much opportunity for career advancement
- Lack of a good work-life balance
- They didn't feel supported or appreciated
- They weren't getting paid enough
- The Millennials effect, how to understand this generation and how to get the best out of them.
- Inadequate admin staff education and professionalism
- Politics, politics and more politics
1) The job wasn't what they'd expected
Being conservative a little over 40% of all Call center workers quit within the first six months- after starting a new job. Employees want to quit simply because they didn't realize what the job would actually be like.
Maybe they didn't fully understand the expectations for the job. Or, perhaps they were misled by the recruitment and/or HHRR departments or hiring managers and/or supervisors due to the desperation caused for completing the HC required by a client’s personnel requisition-- like when an employer suddenly switches your boss on you. At the end of the day, many job turnovers start with some kind of "post-hire shock,"
- At the time of the interview the prospect did not understand that the schedule required was flexible.
- The schedule required was not properly explained and the prospect cannot attend on some days or cannot attend at all.
- Payment and/or incentives, commission structure was not properly explained therefor the employee does not feel comfortable.
- Too many requirements, rules, regulations and politics that were not explained during the induction process.
- Unprofessional behavior by the training department representative (favoritism/challenging/incomplete information given)
- The attention is not given when struggling, “no feedbacks”
- Attention is not given when agents have payroll issues.
- Rough treatment when on the floor, autocratic superior’s behavior “no leadership”
- No Follow up during OJT, no Follow-up after OJT-“ No Assessment to determine employees development and employees satisfaction within the environment”
How you prevent and/or fix it
To decrease the chances a new hire will call it quits within the first six months, be sure you're giving all your candidates a realistic preview of what their job will be like. Make sure you set the right expectations, have the right people in place to handle each duty and properly handle your personnel providing undivided attention to prevent and avoid been reactive. Analyze the constant market changes and be realistic about market prices in terms of salary.
Sometimes is not the location nor the complexity of the programs is the attention given to challenges or areas of opportunity affecting within the organization. Everything has a solution if we work it as a team.
2) Lack of coaching or feedback
It should come as no surprise that your employees want to know how they're doing -- and they want to know it often. What are their strengths? Where can they improve? What do they need to do to eventually to move up within your organization?
As it turns out, four out of ten workers report feeling actively disengaged when they get little or no feedback at work. On the flip side, companies that implement regular employee feedback have 14.9% lower turnover rates than companies that don't.
Giving feedback at performance reviews every six months to a year isn't enough. You can compare that to a basketball coach telling his players at the beginning of the season that he'll evaluate their performance after they play 30 games.
Constant feedbacks are required to influx good practice and ensure development. Constant feedback provided by your operations team, whether is supervisors, team leaders, managers or QA team must be concise, precise and focused to teach not to tell.
Good and effective coaching will depend on how mature and well educated your admin staff is, how they handle each situation, how they ease the weight his employee carry at the moment, how he translate frustration into satisfaction and motivation after the feedback.
Tips for Fixing It
Employees that are highly engaged at work receive feedback at least once a week. This is especially true for younger employees who are looking for more guidance as they navigate their careers.
Nervous you're going to offend your team members with constructive criticism? give negative feedback without sounding like a jerk.
Another way to engage your employees is to set specific job priorities and goals. In , market research firm Gallup found that 12% of workers reported that their managers help set work priorities -- and that same 12% tend to be much happier at work than those who reported their bosses didn't help them much with setting goals.
Clarity of expectations is perhaps the most basic of employee needs and is vital to performance.
Make sure you have the right personnel in place to lead, guide and develop your employees, make sure the admin staff is well trained to teach and empower.
Admin personnel should never be selected and measured by a feedback provided by a third party or because he or she is a good agent on the phones, make sure that individual goes through an interview and training to determine if the leadership skills set is there, how much integrity, maturity, flexibility and determination the individual shows .
3) They didn't get along with their boss
Another main reason for employee turnover is that people want to leave their manager, supervisor or QA specialist. If you perform a survey of people who have left their job at a call center you will find the following reasons:
50% have left a job "to get away from their superiors." 20%- Environment and Salary, 15%-due to company’s politics or rules,10% -School or facility location, 5%- for Other reasons.
There are countless reasons an employee would have trouble getting along with their boss. Maybe they don't feel comfortable bringing up questions and issues. Or perhaps they don't feel like their boss is an advocate of theirs. In my personal experience, employees who leave because of their boss leave from a lack of confidence, not from any sort of personality mismatch.
By asking your ex-employees to rate their manager on specific behaviors related to communication, performance management, and strengths. You will most likely find that the ratings on these behaviors "strongly link to employee engagement and give organizations better insights into developing their managers and raising the overall level of performance of the business."
Tips for Fixing It
It's hard to know whether two people will really get along until they've spent some time working together. Alternatively, if several people under one manager have left the company, there's a chance that manager was a bad hire in the first place.
It's not enough to simply label a supervisor, QA analyst or a manager as "bad" or "good." Instead, you need to dig in to what they are doing to create or destroy engagement in your organization.
For many workers, the thought of openly giving feedback to your own manager can be intimidating. But most of the time employees are significantly more engaged when their managers ask for feedback on their performance. That's why it's important to implement formal opportunities for people to give their personal feedback on their superiors through surveys, or meetings just like most companies already give managers formal opportunities to give feedback on their team members.
4) They didn't see much opportunity for career advancement
A survey conducted by LinkedIn of 7,350 members across five countries found that the number one reason workers quit their jobs was because they sought greater opportunities for advancement.
While it'd be nice to keep your most effective employees in their same roles forever, that's not realistic. Your best employees will want to move up -- and if your company doesn't offer opportunities for them to do that internally, then those good employees are going to quit and find a company with an internal growth program they feel will reward them. In fact, the higher an employee's degree level, that challenges them to grow.
5) They didn't have a good work-life balance
Although it's not necessarily popular opinion, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that people are happier at their jobs when they're allowed more flexible work schedules and have lives of their own outside of work.
Flexible benefits are helpful to employees because it gives them freedom and responsibility, and creates a healthy environment for them to work in where they will be more comfortable and willing to stay.
If employees aren't satisfied with their work-life balance, then they will usually follow up with recruiters and outside job offers even if they're only a little bit "angry, bored, or dissatisfied."
“A really good CEO thinks about the bigger picture and realizes people have lives outside of work."
6) They didn't feel supported or appreciated
Feeling appreciated at work could be the hardest thing for a company to measure of its employees. But it's also one of the most important things to gauge. A whopping 39% of employee’s report that they don't feel appreciated at work. Of 30-to-44-year-old employees, 80% find it "considerably annoying" or "a deal breaker" when their boss doesn’t trust or empower them.
What would make someone not feel valued? It could be as simple as not being acknowledged for a job well done. It could be as obvious as being treated disrespectfully or being required to work in a poor physical environment. It could also be things that are more behind the scenes, such as unequal pay for similar work or not receiving the right resources.
Another reason ties back to the manager-employee relationship. "The best managers make a concerted effort to get to know their employees and help them feel comfortable talking about any subject, whether it is work related or not," A productive workplace is one in which people feel safe -- safe enough to experiment, to challenge, to share information, and to support one another.
Tips for Fixing It
Your employees will actually do better work when you show them you value, support, and appreciate them. In fact, being recognized motivates them in their job whether is monetary or non-monetary. There are many different ways you can show your employees you care and appreciate them, such as showing them that you care about their personal lives, being transparent in conversations, and making time to listen to their opinions and concerns.
Challenge the old command-and-control management style, "When people are autonomous and accountable, they need someone to help guide and mentor them against the results they're expected to achieve,” A manager's job is to support and elevate employees.
7) They weren't getting paid enough
If this last one surprises you, then you're kidding yourself. One of the best ways to show your employees you care about them is to provide them with competitive salary and benefits.We have found that 20% of call center employees said they are more incline to quit their jobs because of inadequate salary and benefits.
Tips for Fixing It
Paying your employees more than they can get from a comparable job will certainly help with retention. But we know money doesn't grow on trees, so how can you justify paying your employees more?
One way is to understand the cost of employee turnover. It costs time and money to recruit, hire, and train new employees. You'll also need to factor in lost opportunity costs. What does that look like in numbers? Here's how you'll be able to break it down:
* For entry-level employees, it costs between 30-50% of their annual salary to replace them.
* For mid-level employees, it costs upwards of 150% of their annual salary to replace them.
* For high-level or highly specialized employees, you’re looking at 400% of their annual salary.
When more people quit their jobs at their own will, it means the job market is strengthening. But it's also bad news for employers. To keep people working for you, be sure you and other members of your management team proactively keep an eye out for signs your employees are disengaged, and make changes to improve employee retention rates where needed.
The Millennials effect, How to understand this generation and how to get the best out of them
The millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) has been described as the most high-maintenance workforce to date, but it can also be the most high-performing, if you learn what makes them tick.
Invest time in each agent. While the previous generation (Gen X) has been characterized as fiercely independent and self-reliant workers who prefer a hands-off management approach, millennials want a manager who knows who they are, knows what they’re doing, is highly engaged with them, and sets them up for success. Practical pointer: Clearly explain what you want your agents to do and how you want them to do it. Look for ways to help them avoid unnecessary problems—for instance, teach them the shortcuts and how to make the best use of their time.
2. Communicate constantly. Don’t assume that millennials know the best way to approach their work just because they’ve completed the required training. Communicate frequently and follow up your conversations with a detailed email. Practical pointer: Give your agents written tools to help them do their jobs—encourage them to get in the habit of taking notes, and provide them with checklists.
3. Be a leader, not a “best friend.” Research shows that millennials don’t want their managers or companies to help them to make friends in the workplace, nor do they want their bosses to be their buddy. Practical pointer: Millennials want a manager who takes an interest in helping them to further their careers. They want a boss who will spend time to teach them the tricks of the trade (the lessons of experience) and someone who will help them to succeed in the workplace.
4. Offer engaging work, not fun and games. Unlike Gen Xers, who like to have fun in the workplace, millennials want to be taken seriously at work. When millennials use the term “fun” when referring to the workplace, typically, they mean that they want more task choice, learning opportunities, control over who they work with, when they work and where they work—and they want opportunities to succeed. Practical pointer: Give agents as much control over aspects of their work life as feasible. For instance, allow them to personalize their cubicles, provide them with more training opportunities, and give those interesting tasks and projects to work on.
5. Separate technical ability and basic transferable skills. Millennials are very tech savvy, but they often lack some of the basic transferable skills, such as how to arrive on time, dress appropriately, practice good manners and stay focused on key tasks. Practical pointer: When hiring millennials, evaluate and address the technical and transferable skills separately- then train and manage them individually, as well.
Inadequate admin staff education and professionalism
Some call centers go through several pains for incurring in malpractice or just not making the most concise decision.
Not having key players at critical positions such as Supervision, Management; QA Analysts might be the start of turmoil:
· Handing a position to a favorite.
· Companies not willing to invest on experienced personnel, (Do not want to pay what the position and/or the prospect is worth).
· Companies not willing to invest on their actual personnel (Companies not paying necessary attention to internal education and development).
It requires more than the regular trainer to provide courses when developing internal candidates, you need true experience coaching the candidates; you need a support that doesn’t just provide theories. Does the internal trainer have experience managing personnel?, if No, then why continue with that practice and you don’t bring someone with the experience that can transmit the knowledge?
Next are some of the most common practices when placing the wrong people on key positions or not developing your own personnel adequately:
- “Leaders” Mistreating the personnel.
- “Leaders “Not providing appropriate and effective coaching.
- “Leaders” Do not understand the importance of team development.
- “Leaders” Do not pay attention to the small details affecting productivity, stats.
- “Leaders” Do not understand or do not know how effective communication impacts the whole team (Do not transmit information effectively.
- “Leaders” Do not realize how important is listening the team.
- “Leaders” Do not understand to be understood”
- Performs reactive approach instead of preventive.
- “Leaders” preach being the boss instead of becoming the leader.
- “Leaders” Directly affecting their personnel by taking away incentives or commissions or just giving written warnings just to prove a point.
- “Leaders” take things personal.
At the end of the day the companies that only focus on making money are just poor institutions. Sometimes some call centers provide a humongous hiring bonus to attract personnel, personnel that after three months or less end up leaving anyways (Not good for your finances and the attrition) and it is very simple, your agents are leaving because your internal leaders are not up to the level of retaining, motivating and educating their teams, therefor your focus should be on who is handling your business.
If experience is vital to make startups successful and lead the way to help develop better environments, then internal development is key to contribute to create a new talent pool that will contribute and give good practice continuity.
Politics, politics and more politics.
All companies have different politics in place to make their organization different from the competition, sometimes companies tend to have "0" flexibility or they act kind of dry when hiring individuals, here you have some obstacles:
- Age, why are we limiting the labor pool in first place? Are we leaving the experience factor behind and the trend is to focus on other factors instead? Combining experience with new blood is the way to go!
- Racial factor (Overall), hey at the end of the day what matters is the education and how the individual performs (results), not how the individual looks like or where he/she comes from, that’s the least thing you should focus on.
- Does the hair style matters? Really?
- People deserve opportunities in life especially when they committed mistakes in the past, why judge or pin point?.
- Understanding you have a dress code in place, stop, do not try to be too drastic, understand, and listen because maybe not every candidate has the possibility to meet your standards right away, adopt some flexibility without changing what you envision.
- When interviewing, smile at your candidates, maintaining that rough attitude does not help identify the best of the individual.
- Ask before acting.
Remember leaders do not look to outside forces to blame; leaders bring solutions and work with their teams to prevent and avoid reacting.
I hope this article helps, please leave me a comment.