Taken at face value, working in a call center might appear to be easy work. After all, the only requirement is to answer phones and help people solve problems—right?
According to a ResearchGate study, a number of factors contribute to the high turnover in Indian call centers, such as monotonous work, stressful work environments, adverse working conditions, lack of career development opportunities and the fact that for sought-after professionals, better job opportunities exist elsewhere.
So, what can be done to address the challenges of retaining call center talent in India? Let’s take a look at these attrition factors below and what can be done to improve call center agent retention in India.
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Why Call Center Attrition Rates Are High
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Employee Stress
Taking care of dissatisfied customers can be trying work. Many of the people with whom employees must deal are angry, and express it openly. A call center agent must be patient and perform in a professional manner, even as they are experiencing disparagement. This can contribute to the high levels of stress call center agents experience.
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Job Dissatisfaction
Call center work entails a lot of repetition, which can make it monotonous and unsatisfying. The job basically consists of talking to people who have problems and doing whatever can be done to solve them—over, and over, and over again. After a while, the work can feel less than engaging. People who don’t feel engaged tend to do just enough to get by while they seek other opportunities.
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Uncomfortable Working Environments
Placing large groups of people into one space, all of whom are speaking at the same time, creates a chaotic atmosphere. This can exacerbate stress levels, in addition to making work difficult to do. Decreased morale, increased frustration and high attrition rates typically result.
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Overzealous Management
Undertrained people whose job is to get as much work as possible out of employees often become taskmasters. This can lead to situations in which call center agents feel they are being micromanaged. This is not to say it’s unreasonable to have high standards, nor is it unreasonable to supervise workers. However, there’s a fine line between maintaining high standards and browbeating employees. People who feel unreasonably pressured tend to look for other means of employment.
Minimizing Call Center Attrition Rates
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Ensure Adequate Support
Workers who feel supported and appreciated have a tendency to stay put — even in tough circumstances. This begins with providing more than adequate training before releasing employees to work on their own. Training people in groups infuses them with a sense of camaraderie. They see others around them are also learning too, so they don’t feel inadequate and isolated. Make sure your managers are properly trained as well—particularly in helping employees be more productive without micromanaging them.
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Provide the Right Tools
Equip your facility with the best possible equipment and make sure your employees are positioned to take full advantage of it. For example, one of the biggest problems call center employees face is dealing with customers who don’t trust them because they are non-native English speakers. Accent softening platforms such as the one offered by Tomato.ai can help callers understand agents more easily. This can lead to better outcomes, which in turn can help your employees experience more fulfilling encounters with customers.
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Listen and Respond
Foster a work environment in which employees are encouraged to speak up about ways to improve operations. Let them know they can express concerns without fear of retribution, and live up to those promises. Take action on their suggestions so they can see their opinions are valued and acted upon.
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Maintain Comfortable Working Conditions
Noise cancelling systems can help call center agents focus on their calls by blocking out the voices of their co-workers. Doing everything possible to ensure the area in which agents work is aesthetically pleasing goes a long way in this regard as well. Providing adequate space between workstations can make people feel less like cogs in a machine. Promoting values such as teamwork and collaboration among agents helps keep them engaged and motivated. Publicly recognizing and rewarding people who do good work encourages others to strive to experience that same sort of recognition.
In Summary
Overcoming the challenges of retaining call center talent in India can improve the profitability of your organization, while simultaneously making it a more pleasant place in which to work. Yes, some of the concepts suggested here might seem costly at first glance. However it’s far less costly to provide a positive and nurturing working environment than it is to constantly seek, hire and train new employees. Particularly when you consider the new people will also leave after a few months on the job because you haven’t addressed the underlying issues that made people want to leave in the first place.