Contact Center
Employee Satisfaction and the Bottom
Line
Since
contact center representatives provide significant value
to the company in terms of branding and customer
satisfaction, it is surprising that employee satisfaction
is not an inherent factor in contact center operations.
Yet, to this day, they are still among some of the lowest
paid people in our organizations, and they enjoy little
or no career-path or developmental planning. Their job is
still seen as entry level, unskilled, and repetitive,
requiring no college degree as evidenced by the low pay,
nonexempt grade levels, and lack of developmental
investment and succession planning.
By providing a work environment that fosters professional
development, high standards of behavioral performance,
strong leadership and direction, and ongoing growth
opportunities, senior executives will actually see an
increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty, which
translates to increased market and wallet share.
Employee Satisfaction
The data suggest that, like Abraham Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, contact center representatives have
several organized, sequential levels of needs that
contribute to their overall feeling of satisfaction with
their jobs. The degree of fulfillment of these needs
determines representatives’ levels of job
satisfaction. Representatives have basic needs such
as:
- Being able to get along with
co-workers
- Trusting the people with whom they work, and
having a general feeling of belongingness or being part
of a company of which they can be
proud
- Feeling that they have the necessary tools to be
successful. At a higher level, they need to be
recognized for their performance and given feedback
from their managers.
- Feeling challenged and learning new skills
regularly so that they can feel fulfilled and feel a
sense of achieving their greatest
potential.
When these needs are unmet, representatives look for
other ways to satisfy themselves and to feel compensated
for the work they do. Some symptoms include: focusing on
equity issues such as compensation, vacation time, and
scheduling.
Co-Worker Satisfaction
In order to create an organization that cultivates trust
and harmony, managers need to implement common standards
and expectations to which everyone is held accountable
equally, along with ongoing training and performance
development programs on which representatives can
focus.
Satisfaction With Contact Center
Management
In total, only about 43% of representatives are satisfied
with the way their contact center is managed.
Most representatives feel that they know what is expected
of them in their jobs (86%); however, only 54% think they
get the coaching they need to improve the quality of
their work and only half agree that they are informed
about the things they need to know to do their jobs.
Also, only 46% of representatives are kept up-to-date
with how satisfied customers are with their products and
services.
Without this critical feedback, representatives are left
to draw their own conclusions about the quality of their
work in the eyes of their managers and customers.
Communication between representatives and senior
management is even more disheartening. Interestingly,
about 68% of representatives know what their corporate
values are and only 45% believe that senior management
lives up to the corporate values. Fifty-one percent of
representatives think that senior management does not
keep them informed about the overall plan and progress
that the company is making. Furthermore, representatives
believe that the work they do is undervalued by other
parts of the organization, including senior management
(62%).
In companies with high levels of employee satisfaction,
representatives feel that their managers understand the
demands of their job and manage the department with the
representatives’ needs in mind. Representatives who
are evaluated on both the quality and quantity of their
interactions were more likely to be satisfied both with
the management of their contact center and with their
jobs.
Sixty-two percent of representatives think that their
work is undervalued by other parts of the
organization.
In those contact centers that have low employee
satisfaction scores, the ratio of supervisor to
representative makes it impossible for skills development
to be a priority. Many supervisors spend hours handling
escalated calls and preparing reports to address senior
management queries that are borne out of curiosity. The
time would be better spent coaching to reduce escalated
calls and developing team leader and supervisor
skills—all of which will result in more satisfied
employees, more satisfied customers, and more
sales.
In those organizations that have high employee
satisfaction, representatives are highly challenged
through ongoing learning opportunities, high performance
standards, and career development opportunities. The
leadership provides immediate developmental feedback and
ongoing, consistent performance planning based on
tangible skills that can be articulated clearly and
modeled by the management team.
The strongest predictor of intent to turnover is
representatives’ perception that the work they do
is stimulating.
In the company with the highest employee satisfaction
score, 54% find the work stimulating, 61% feel there are
opportunities to learn new skills, and 24% feel there are
adequate promotional opportunities.
Customer Satisfaction
Speed of issue resolution is the factor with the greatest
impact on overall customer satisfaction. It is clear that
customers expect to be treated as a priority, as those
who think that they did not receive priority service had
a low opinion of the overall service they received.
In addition to speed of issue resolution, several factors
were identified as predictors of customers’
perception of world-class service (in order of
importance):
- Received personalized attention
- Received all materials that the representative
said he or she would send
- Issue was treated as a priority
- Representative was courteous
- Representative understood their
issue
- Representative was receptive to their
concerns
Disappointment with any aspect of service,
especially speed of issue resolution, has a direct,
negative impact on customer satisfaction. The data speak
clearly to the necessary ongoing investment in
representative performance development, leading to
increased sales over the customers’
lifetimes.
In order to increase customer satisfaction, and
therefore, customer purchases over their lifetime,
company investment in the performance development of
representatives is essential so that every customer
interaction results in ongoing customer loyalty.
The Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and
Customer Satisfaction
There is a strong positive correlation between employee
satisfaction and customer satisfaction. In fact, the
relationship between the two variables is practically
linear. In the contact centers where employee
satisfaction is high, there is a corresponding high level
of customer satisfaction. Additionally,
management’s focus on improving customer and
employee satisfaction has a positive effect on customer
satisfaction.
One true leader emerged as the contact center with the
highest level of both employee and customer satisfaction.
This contact center is successful in striking a balance
between quality vs. quantity to maximize employee and
customer satisfaction.
This contact center provides world-class service, despite
its low cost per call ($4) and average cost per employee
($38,900 including salary, benefits, and incentives) at
roughly the industry average level. Although not lacking
opportunities, this leading contact center proves that
providing world-class service on every interaction
requires skill, commitment, pride, and effective
communication behind the scenes, not simply technology
and high salaries.
The results of this study put to rest the argument of
whether employee satisfaction impacts customer
satisfaction and, in turn, company profitability. Based
on these results as well as research conducted by other
sources, customers decide whether to recommend products
to others and make future purchasing decisions as a
direct result of their experiences with the
representative.
Ninety percent of those who do not feel stimulated by the
work they do plan to leave their jobs within a year.
According to research conducted by Benchmark Portal and
Purdue University in 2001, many contact centers
experience between 20% and 30% turnover annually. In a
contact center that employs 100 representatives, this
translates to a cost of nearly a half million dollars per
year.
Build the Foundation of Success by Promoting
Satisfaction With Co-Workers
- Create task forces that bring groups of
representatives together for a common reason. For
example, assign a group be the point of contact and
idea generators for system enhancements. Make sure that
groups consist of representatives from different
experience levels, teams, and tenure. This will ensure
representatives get to know each other, see each
other’s strengths, and work together as a
team.
- Implement a peer-partnering program where
representatives can listen to and provide feedback on
each other’s customer
interactions.
- Share individual, team, and organizational
customer satisfaction data on a regular basis. This can
be done via e-mail, team meetings, copies of standard
reports, or face-to-face interaction.
- Ensure management is able to model the behaviors
they are asking representatives to perform without
hesitation.
- Clearly define standards for customer
interactions. Outlining the minimum level of acceptable
performance for calls, written correspondence, and/or
face-to-face interactions with customers will give
representatives guidelines for their jobs, increase
consistency, and ensure fairness in interaction
assessment.
- Promote an environment where upper management is
accessible and able to listen to both concerns and
compliments. This can be accomplished by organizing
quarterly round table meetings, brown-bag lunches, or
mini-breakfast meetings with a few representatives at a
time.
Achieve New Heights of Satisfaction by
Continually Challenging
Representatives
- Determine a clear career path for representatives
to show advancement within the contact
center.
- Implement a university-style training curriculum
that enables representatives to continually raise the
bar on performance and to receive training on a regular
basis.
- Provide opportunities for representatives to work
on projects and assignments that will add value to the
department and the organization as a
whole.
- Maintain an open dialogue with representatives
about their development and future interests.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions like, “How
can we continue to keep you challenged?”
“What specific skills are you looking to
develop?” and “What can you do to make that
happen?”
For more information, visit www.radclyffegroup.com
or call 973-276-0522.
Extracts from a Contact Center Industry Study by
The Radclyffe Group, L.L.C., All Rights
Reserved.
Contact Center Employee
Satisfaction and the Bottom Line in
Brief:
Based on the study results, the following trends were
identified:
There is a strong, positive relationship between contact
center employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction,
implying that the two variables are closely linked.
A hierarchy of needs emerged as the key drivers of
contact center representative job satisfaction. Included
in this hierarchy (in increasing order of complexity) are
satisfaction with co-workers, satisfaction with
management, and challenge or ongoing development
opportunities.
Customers are most likely to report high satisfaction
with the service they received based on the amount of
time it takes to resolve their issue. Specifically,
faster issue resolution leads to more satisfied
customers.
Other factors that contribute to high customer
satisfaction are:
- Receiving personalized
attention
- Receiving all materials
promised by the representative
- Having their issue
treated as a priority
- Interacting with
courteous, knowledgeable, and empathic
representatives
High contact center
operations costs (including salaries) do not lead to high
employee satisfaction or high customer satisfaction. The
contact center with the most satisfied employees and
customers is successful because of the focus on speed of
issue resolution and effective communication.
Promoting satisfaction among contact center
representatives can help companies save money and improve
service quality as a result of reduced turnover and
increased customer loyalty.
About the
study
The Radclyffe Group conducted this study to find out
whether satisfied contact center representatives lead
to satisfied, loyal customers and to pinpoint the
specific qualities of service interactions that
determine that satisfaction and loyalty. In addition,
they set out to identify which specific and tangible
attributes of contact center culture can be addressed
to improve employee satisfaction leading to reduced
turnover and ultimately affecting the customer
experience and the bottom line.
Two groups were surveyed: contact center employees and
their customers—11 contact centers serving 16
companies throughout the United States comprise the
first group. The contact centers represent six
industries,including consumer
products, food and beverage, insurance, manufacturing,
health care, and transportation.
Contact center employees were asked to complete 68
five-point scaled items ranging from “Strongly
Disagree” to “Strongly Agree” and
three open-ended questions. A total of 395 contact
center employees completed the survey.
Customers were chosen from a random sampling of all the
customers who had been serviced by the contact centers
within the previous three months. Customers were asked
to complete 16 five-point scaled items ranging from
“Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly
Agree” and were given space to write in comments.
A total of 1,170 customers completed the
survey.
March 2002 News for a Change
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