In a news article that I read from Inquirer.net. Much of the effort being pushed right now among call center's HR departments are driven towards keeping attrition at a lower rate. As quoted from Lawrence Casiraya's article "Attrition Rate Drives Call Centers To Review HR Strategies" on Inquirer.net:
" Despite the phenomenal growth, call centers need to instill "desirability" among agents to balance attrition rates, according to an industry executive.
In an industry that depends heavily on worker supply for continued growth, attrition rate carries more weight than usual. The call center industry now employs around 200,000 people, based on industry estimates.
Over the years, however, the average attrition rate for the call center industry has remained consistent.
"Agents cite the same reasons every year -- pregnancy, health or moving to another industry or out of the country," said Raffy David, board director for the Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP).
According to David, attrition has always averaged around 19 percent, although most call center operators, when interviewed, would always claim to have lower than the industry average.
"There is no doubt anymore about acceptance (of a call center agent)," David noted in an interview with INQUIRER.net. "But we have to make it more desirable for the agents by establishing it as a serious career to have."
"If we lift desirability in our agents, we would easily achieve our growth targets and improve further our reputation as the best destination for voice-based services," he added.
CCAP is targeting to grow industry workforce further to half a million by 2010.
David, who was recently reelected into the CCAP board, added that the group's human resource (HR) committee has been tasked to improve hiring and retention rates by focusing more on training and workforce management initiatives, not just recruitment.
"The concept of a call center agent is already accepted. We're not selling the job anymore," Velasco. "Instead, what we are selling are solutions that revolve around different services for the customer."
From the point of view of a call center employee like most of us, it is enlightening to know that there are considerations being addressed towards call center employees. It is such a great challenge for HR Departments, but this should not stop there. Perhaps to find solution to the issue at hand, it may be wise to understand why an agent start to lose interest with their job after about a year. Having been part of this industry for quite sometime, I might say that the greatest factor why an agent lose his or her focus is simply getting "burned-out." Health factors or "looking for greener pastures are mere excuses." Perhaps, a call center employee needs a different set of platform in terms of privileges and benefits considering the nature of their job. Team building simply doesn't work.
I have observed, and perhaps a survey here needs to be done for a more definite conclusion, that those who appeared to stay longer than one year are those who, by a "blessing in disguise," went through either a sick or maternity leave for about a month or two. After leaving the job temporarily, they seem to go back to work refreshed, with a renewed spirit and passion. Perhaps, it may be worth considering a kind of benefit for call center agents to give them a break for one month a year. If call centers are willing to offer a sign up bonus to aspiring agents that they still need to train, why not allocate that budget to their present employee who has already proven their performance? An ounce of prevention is still better than a pound of cure.
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