Industry Insights: Call Center

Welcome to our resource page for Call Center Hiring!

Pre-COVID the unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped to 3.4%, which made recruiting at competitive wages challenging for call centers. As a result, we began to see an uptick in outsourcing costs and higher productive hourly rates in 2019. In 2021, a new set of problems beset upon the industry, including staffing shortages and intense competition for quality labor.

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The Call Center Facts

• 40% of American customers stopped doing business with a company after a poor customer service experience according to one study.
• 68% of customers say the service representative is key to a positive service experience.
• 96% of customers say that customer service is an essential factor that affects their choices.
• Customers are likely to spend 140% more after a positive experience rather than a negative one.
• U.S. companies lose over $62 billion in annual revenue due to poor customer service.
• The average call center turnover rate averages between 30% to 45%. This turnover rate is considered very high.

Source: https://www.zippia.com/advice/call-center-statistics/

Agent Turnover — Why Are They Quitting?

There used to be a time when call center agents would quit a job to go work for another BPO offering higher pay or a more suitable environment. Now, agents are quitting “just because.”

• While there are multiple causes for this tight labor market, ongoing government pandemic support programs and border restrictions are both contributing to a lack of talent filling vacant roles. (More call center trends here.)
• 26 US states have ended federally funded pandemic benefits in an effort to get more people back to work.
• 43% of call centers reported 25% of their employees returned to the office since lockdowns ended. That means that the vast majority of call center workers work from home and need various forms of motivations to keep them loyal.
• Developing relevant training programs for front-line staff is a top-5 challenge for call center operations, because inadequately trained agents are a risk to your brand and a flight risk bolting for new pastures.

VERTICAL FACT

2 in 5 enterprise contact centers have seen attrition increase the past year

What Call Center Workers Are Looking For

With “The Great Resignation” in full swing and candidates demanding more benefits, raising pay has swiftly become a standard requirement. As a result, employers will need to look at implementing other benefits to attract and retain talent and stand out among the competition:

Ensure workplaces and office spaces are safe.

Offer alternative workdays between their homes and a physical site.

Deploy clever technology and flexibility in meeting team members’ desire for work-from-home days.

Invest in supervisors who are the key to extending company culture to remote employees.

Offer transportation to and from work for employees who may need it.

Use a mobile communication platform to digitize the employee experience for front-line workers.

What is the growth rate of the Telemarketing & Call Centers industry in the US in 2022?

The market size of the Telemarketing & Call Centers industry is expected to increase 2% in 2022. The Call Centers industry in the US has grown slower than the economy overall. The primary negative factor affecting this industry is high competition, meaning call centers must differentiate to remain competitive with clients and attractive to employees.

The Big Picture

The call center industry can offer a range of employee benefits to stay competitive:

• Offer a healthy mix of perks, like flexible hours, incentives and competitive, on-demand pay.
• Decrease communication challenges of work-from-home agents that attribute to loneliness.
• Ensure better IT support to agents who work from home.
• Decrease the physical gap between supervisors and agents through coaching technology.
• Do more to retain the staff you have, develop inclusive environments, and give workers greater flexibility over their shift schedules, something that 19% of people want in their jobs.
• Offer employment opportunities to younger people who don’t have prior experience. Look beyond their lack of experience and invest in skills and development training that will help them in the position and beyond.
• Plan to offer perks such as bonus pay for working difficult shifts, sign-on/retention bonuses, a rewards and recognition program, tuition assistance and complimentary meals, transportation, and housing on-property.