Call Center Recruiting and reduction of turnover

[HRMag]

In working with an inbound call center over the last 1 1/2 years as a recruiter, I am running out of creative (i.e. inexpensive) ways of recruiting and handling a large turnover volume. Our regular methods of recruiting, internet ads and internal postings, have left us with a large turnover (approx. 91% annum ratio). Our method of pre-screening consists of telephone interview, then moving to on-site testing (data entry and basic call center logging)and then to a face-to-face interview with Call Center Management. During the candidate's visit with Call Center management, they observe a call and are questioned about it during their face-to-face. The management then 'scores' them and provides feedback to HR. I know that call centers are notorious for high turnover, but this is ridiculous. Our call center consists of only approx. 50-60 reps, both part-time and full-time, with hours from 9AM to 11PM (M-F) and 9AM to 5PM (Sat). Any suggestions for more successful recruiting/screening methods and/or retention strategies would be most appreciated. Again, we're working with a limited budget and large 'rewards' are not an option.

[JPalkowski]

I didn't see any details about your turnover to indicate what percentage is voluntary (they have left for another position or opportunity) vs. involuntary (terminated for cause).

With voluntary turnover, I usually look at both why the employee is leaving and where they are going. This will often provide valuable information regarding retention strategies. In areas where there are numerous employment opportunities, I have seen agents leave for an extra $.50-$1.00 an hour to go to a competitor.

With involuntary turnover, this too should provide some insight. Why are employees being terminated? If there are several common themes such as: attendance, quality, etc., this can be focused upon in the interview/assessment/selection process with behavioral questions, reference checks, etc.

My only advice is to start your analysis by taking a look at the recent past, and it should provide some clues as to how to resolve your turnover issues. Good luck!

[csteven]

Jeff had some good ideas. Some others:

- Give bonuses or one-off payments based on tenure & performance.
- Give referral bonuses based on performance & tenure.
- In the interview process ask them what are their medium term plans.
- Make the work environment fun. Let them wear what they want (no dress code), liven the joint up, put screens hanging from the ceiling showing MTV without the volume (my call center does). Have monthly themes. e.g. today it's "Black & White Day." Take pictures of the staff, have a dept'l newsletter. There must be reasons why staff are leaving, provide more development opportunties: job rotation, coaching, training. Have more dept'l parties, meetings, comm. sessions.
- Consider hiring younger or older workers. At my organization, the highest turnover are the single 25-31 age group. I find the 18-24 year olds are gung-ho & excited, but those I hire in the 25-31's are harder to please. Hire married staff.
- I work in a collections call center, my turnover is 5%. The customer service call center's turnover is 25%. I pay 30% of my staff a small bonus each month. They don't. I've achieving my service level targets and low bad debt targets. They're missing their SL targets by a lot. You say you have a small budget, but your current problem is costing you a fortune.

Good luck.

[cjw17]

Wow, that's some turnover. Have you conducted exit interviews? When our turnover got out of control, we thought it was because we were putting a lot of pressure on our customer service reps to sell. However, the exit interviews painted a different picture. The most commonly mentioned complaint was our stringent attendance policy. Also most of the people we were terminating had gone over the limit. So we loosened it up a bit, & this is no longer an issue.

[smack]

I would have to agree with the exit interviews as well. Gear the questions to address all aspects of the job. What we found was that HR did not set a realistic expectation, training was not focusing on the topics that customers and Operations were, and that Operations was assuming that the new employee was ready to go with little development needed after training. We reduced our turnover by half but did not stop there. We now hold a focus group with new employees one month after they have been on the Operations floor to see if HR, training, and Operations to that point have been what was advertised and that they are receiving the development needed to be successful. We also held two seperate focus groups with HR, Training, and Operations. The first was to identify the "model" CRM by their standards and the second was to address the issues identified in the exit interviews.

Something else we did was to profile our more successful CRMs based on performance, quality, and attendance and then pull their applications to look for similarities in background and education. From there we were able to compare what we had to who was applying. This helped us in identifying opportunities to market to the types of employees that we wanted versus what our recruiting efforts at the time were bringing in.

Last, what is the job market like in the area you are at? A comparable job analysis with your competition may find that the issue lies with your benefit package to include pay, insurances, and other options.

To give the "seconds" in some other previously mentioned items, bonuses work great but be prepared to make a commitment if that is the route you take. Employees set expectations on what they receive and will look forward to the same type of reward next time. Also, referrals are the biggest recruituing tool we currently use. CUrrent employees know what our expectations are and what they expect from a co worker to create a positive environment.

[HRMag]

Thanks for all of the great feedback. We try to conduct exit interviews, however the employees that leave are leaving with no notice or failure to show up for scheduled shifts (when voluntary) and subsequently terminated. We currently have a pretty strict attendance policy as follows:
7 occurences in 6 months - written counseling
8 occurences in 6 months - written warning
9 occurences in 6 months - final written warning
10 occurences in 6 months - termination

Personally, I feel that 6 months is too long for managers and employees alike to track missed time. The largest percentage of write-ups that occur resulting in termination are for tardiness and absenteeism. Behavior interviewing questions are asked during their interview, by both HR and by the managers, with no proven productive role in the interview process. We recently looked into another form of candidate testing that we are hoping to eliminate those 'job hoppers' that are so common in this industry, especially in this area. There are many call centers in this area, that offer medical/financial training, and a higher salary/bonus to boot - something that we just can't compete with.

There are no additional options in offering current employees bonuses/rewards because of budgetary means. Our Corporate office has now even eliminated the payouts of referral bonuses, which have been our MOST successful recruiting tool. I like the idea of targeting different age groups (csteven) and will get into contact with some of the local high schools in efforts to recruit fresh faces instead of just submitting an Internet ad. Keep the suggestions coming - everything is appreciated!

[Adorno]

HR Mag-

Too much to explain here. Please read our article titled "Understanding and Combating Call Center Employee Turnover" at www.degarmogroup.com . It is exactly what you are looking for. The article has appeared in just about every call center trade magazine and newsletter.

Anthony Adorno
Vice President
The DeGarmo Group, Inc.
www.degarmogroup.com
Adorno@degarmogroup.com
(309) 820-1435

[sumit3101]

I believe that most of the Contact Centers forget that although our main business is to serve External Customers but it does not mean that Internal Customers are any less important .

Normally , at the time of hiring , we fail to conduct the interview in the right aura for Interview . Candidate is bludgened with many irrelevant question and that too without first giving the time to breathe . Since we put a lot of emphasis on communication , we just look at that only without reaching and comforting the candidate successfully. The best Interview starts with an informal chat so that candidate reaches his / her normal breathing level . Breathing control has a lot to do with your communication . People learn finesse of giving interviews with experience . we can not expect freshers to be an expert at it in first go. It is also important that Contact centers tie up with management scholls to offer MBA to these young chaps with a bond for serving until end of course.

Besides , Managers should not be only Armchair managers and must be involved with CSR for training and development . A CSR would remain interested in the job as long he / she is learning otherwise monotony in the job takes over the enthusiasm of the CSR and no incentive scheme can then revive it fully.

Mr Mariott once said : to keep Customers happy it is important to first keep Employees happy . Do we believe the words of Mr Mariott who has spearheaded Mariott chain of hotels worldwide and which is famous for its personalized services.

Focus on employees and then create values for them. In turn they will help us meet quality standards (six sigma). Most of the people wants to perform and if some are not performing then there is something wrong with Call Center managers like us . May be our systems are incompetent rather than incompetent people.

This is the food for brain to digest !!!

Sumit