SIX SECRETS - START CUTTING
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER & ABSENTEEISM RIGHT NOW
Written by Kim McNally
of Select International Southern Africa
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IS IT POSSIBLE?
1
SECRET 1:
CREATE A REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW (RJP)
3
SECRET 2:
AUTOMATE PRE-SCREENING (ATS)
4
SECRET 3:
ARE YOU DESIRABLE?
6
SECRET 4:
ANALYSE THE INTERVIEWERS
8
SECRET 5:
SCREEN ORAL COMMUNICATION EARLY
9
SECRET 6:
USE EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY
BONUS SECRET
10
11
IS IT POSSIBLE?
Is it possible to reduce employee turnover and absenteeism? Or is attrition and
absenteeism just part of doing business in today’s contact centre? Many contact centers
are accepting that high attrition and absenteeism is unavoidable and consider it simply
part of doing business. Or, conversely, low attrition prevails while ineffective agents hang
on to their jobs and take the legal amount of sick leave with dubious doctor’s notes, doing
just enough to avoid being terminated.
Good news: You can cut attrition and reduce absenteeism – and you can start right away.
Contact Centre’s with low attrition and absenteeism employ a mix of elements for hiring
the right agents and keeping them happy. Of course, attrition and absenteeism results
from a variety of factors. In order to make a substantial dent in these employee problems,
contact center management needs a carefully planned, integrated strategy that goes from
a systemic selection system through training, development, measurement, motivation and
strong leadership support.
Such a system takes significant time, effort and energy to build and sustain. This article is
the first of a six part series that provides proven tips that will enable you to pick the lowhanging fruit and gain some quick wins in your contact center’s attrition and absenteeism
battle.
Even if you currently rely on some of these secrets, you can further reduce employee
turnover and attrition quickly by adding proven tactics to your assessment and
motivational activities.
SECRET 1: CREATE A REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW
As Stephen Covey has punted ‘begin with the end in mind’. It is a ‘no brainer’ that hiring
the right agents sets the tone and foundation for the success of your contact centre.
During this process you don’t want applicants overselling their qualifications. And they don’t
want you to oversell the job. Truth is, contact centre management and HR can be honest
about positions without driving applicants away.
A Realistic Job Preview (RJP) is a formal overview of the position and company that
provides accurate details along with your expectations of the successful candidate. It can
be a written document or, better yet, an interactive flash presentation built into your
automated pre-screening process.
Typically the ratio of applicants to jobs on offer is high and we all know that high volume
hiring is a numbers game - it is imperative to present a positive, yet realistic review of the
job – in a manner that is easy, efficient and consistent.
There is significant evidence to demonstrate that creating a strong employer of choice
brand and emotionally connecting with the applicant is a key differentiator. Most people
want to ‘belong’ preferably to something that they feel connected to and passionate about.
The RJP is a perfect medium to demonstrate your uniqueness and ability to creatively
connect with prospective employees. Yet at the same time offering a balance of realism so
that expectations are managed upfront – no surprises.
Right Now You Can:
Develop RJPs for all of your agent positions that will enable agents to ‘Stop Guessing.
Start Knowing’ all about ..

The job and what’s in it for them

What is expected from them

Working conditions

Work location and transport routes

Compensation details

Detailed work schedule

Working conditions

Work location and transport routes

Management style culture

Perks and benefits

Challenges and bleeps (i.e. what agents don’t like about the job)

Ongoing training requirements and growth opportunities
Technical: Remember to clearly document and communicate how updates and changes will
be managed. Limit updates to biannual or quarterly cycles to ensure consistency in your
message to the candidate pool.
Tips: Many agents are young and love to be entertained. An RJP is a wonderful
opportunity to be creative and relevant!
SECRET 2: AUTOMATE PRE-SCREENING
It is debatable whether the published unemployment rate in South African of 24% is in
fact accurate. Several analysts claim the realistic figure is more likely to be 40%.
Irrespective – there are a lot of people looking for jobs. Ensuring the ‘right’ people apply for
roles in your company will save significant time, effort and cost. This process is a science
and skill that warrants attention and air time at a senior level.
1.
Design the questions
Step 1
Understand what the primary job success criteria are for the role within your
company. This typically requires a full scientific job analysis/review.
Step 2
Develop a matrix that documents how each of these criteria will be measured, by
whom, when and with which (optimal) measurement technique.
The first step in the selection matrix is typically the ‘pre-screen’.
Secrets:
1. Identify measures that are quantitative vs. qualitative such as:
Location where the individual needs to reside relative to the location of the
job. i.e. ensure they are located on an optimal transport route.
Pay rate what the candidates current rate of pay is
2. Split out high volume hiring from specialist roles – they require an entirely
different approach
3. Ensure you measure the job and avoid ‘data base mining’ – this is proven to be
invalid and ineffective!
4. Be consistent measuring the same things over an extended period of time
(often recruiters change the criteria every intake)
2. Create an ATS blue print
The design of your ATS determines the effectiveness – to assist with creating this
blue print, first answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What benefits do you intend from automation? (define the objective)
a. Consistency
b. Speed and efficiency
c. Accuracy
How much of the hiring continuum relative to the employee life-cycle do you
want to automate?
Which jobs do you want to track?
How do you want to structure the jobs?
Establish cut off criteria by company, job family and division
3. Select your provider
ATS systems are a dime a dozen; and many have quite extensive capability. Few,
however, have the expertise relating to selection system design. If you have a
clear blue print you can focus your efforts on comparing IT capability alone.
Secrets:
1. Use Pareto’s principle of 80/20 (measure fewer high impact measures)
2. Watch out for bells and whistles – you may not need them
3. Link the candidate data with the full employee value chain (e.g. ensure you
accommodate exit interview data that links back to the hiring criterion) ensure a soft platform that enables this functionality
4. Avoid the ‘data mining’ trap
4. ATS Implementation
Aside from the standard project planning requirements it is advisable to educate
and encourage your entry level candidates. While there has been an increase
in ‘on line’ applications over the past five years; 60% of applicants still submit fax,
email and/or hard copies of their CV’s!
SECRET 3: HOW DESIRABLE ARE YOU?
It’s fascinating how Executives often wax lyrically on about how important their talent is
and how they strive to be ‘employer of choice’; yet these same companies often spend in
the region of 100% - 500% more on their external customer facing marketing vs. their
internal (employee) marketing; and even if the gap is not that wide- it’s significant.
What does employer of choice really mean?
Simplistically, happy people are healthier. Healthy people are able to perform more
effectively at higher rates of productivity, for longer. Easy – provide an environment
where people can be happy and healthy.
What are the top five?
Each company needs to determine this for themselves. However, while a difficult call to
rank and choose - Select’s research suggests the following:
1.
Executive Intention (trust)
Genuine intention is hard to fake. If the leaders genuinely care for the health,
well- being and development of their people, every decision they make will be
framed with this intention and even with cost constraints - it will be intangibly
known, visibly seen and materially felt. There will be Trust (a pre-requisite for a
good relationship)
Secret
1. Having an intention to give to your employees vs take from them, will yield
ten-fold
2. This, within a framework of clear expectations and fair engagement
2. Belief. Purpose.
People generally have a need to belong to ‘something’ and feel valued by making a
meaningful contribution towards this. It’s a pretty tough ask of the man on the
street to get excited about making shareholders rich. But take a feather from
Google – being part of leading edge, world changing innovation and information –
that’s a bit more attractive and believable!
Secret
1. Ensure your purpose is meaningful and believable
2. Generate enthusiasm, commitment and excitement about the purpose
3. Connect emotionally – have some fun
Pretty much everyone likes to have fun and we all know laughter releases
endorphins (the happy drug). When a contact centre manager was recently asked
whether his agents are having fun; his response was – “due to budget cuts we no
longer have a monthly fun day”. Seriously?
(an intentional antonym!).
Secrets:
1. Fun does not need to be planned
2. It does not need to cost money (try colour, music, smiling, light, plants,
banners, contests …)
3. Fun is a frame of mind, it’s an attitude – lighten up (professionally of course)
4. Be fair - money
Everyone wants to earn ‘more’ but let’s face it – it’s a hard pill to swallow when
there is such a significant gap between the Executive take away vs. the general
employee. In the contact centre industry to we know agents will leave for a few
Rand increase. Like it or not people need to earn a wage that sustains them/their
family and makes them feel valued*.
Secrets
1. *It’s never one thing. If an employee genuinely feels valued and they have
hope for a future, unless they are on the bread-line threshold; it’s unlikely they
will switch for a few Rand.
2. Only around 9% of any population is dominantly motivated by money. Money
does not in itself motivate. However, hunger pangs, bills piling up, constant
financial pressure is debilitating. Candidly check whether you employees are
above this threshold
5. It’s never one thing
When you receive a gift, say a box of chocolates, you expect it to be fill. Jump in
a lift you expect it to go to the top floor. Putting it all together, employer of
choice offerings need to include (but not limited to):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Ensure job enablers and eliminate disablers (often agents are the client punch
bag as a result of insufficient or inadequately thought through systems and
processes)
Offer work life balance (some companies even provide daycare for young
children)
Attractive relevant benefits
Uplifting environment (think plants, light, energy flow .. yup its real)
Positive engagement (transparency, fairness, easy access to information)
Personal development (this feeds hope and personal vision)
SECRET 4: ANALYZE INTERVIEWER PERFORMANCE
Interviewers are gatekeepers. When you have four or more, it’s wise to monitor
consistency and quality. After all, not everyone interviews well.
Right Now You Can
Create a system that records information pertaining to each interviewer. Record
information pertaining to every candidate the interviewer interviews, even if the
candidate is not hired! After six, nine and 12 months, track for each interviewer:
 How many agents hired are gone vs. still working
 The performance level of working agents
 The ‘interview to hire’ ratio
Your report will identify your strongest and weakest interviewers.
The following example analysis of 16 interviewers shows three are really good
performers, three need to be removed from the interviewing process and ten need further
analysis or support and coaching. Based on this analysis, call center management took
some people out of the interview process and developed a training plan that would result
in a 48% reduction in attrition – a target they are currently working toward.
INTERVIEWER PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
Number of
Interviews
Conducted
Hired
Active
Attrition
Jane B
57
19
19
0
100%
Great performer! Good results and
good ratio of interviews to hire
Mary T
27
9
9
0
100%
Good performer. Should conduct more
interviews!
Thomas P
32
8
8
0
100%
Too many interviews conducted before
making a decision to hire. Investigate
Peter P
39
13
12
1
92%
Pretty good
Visuana p
24
8
7
1
88%
Needs support and coaching
Simon W
68
17
14
3
82%
Needs support and coaching
Stephane N
20
5
4
1
80%
Needs support and coaching
Ian O
56
14
9
5
64%
Consider removing from interviewing
Matthew C
48
12
7
5
58%
Remove from interviewing
Interviewer
Code Name
Number of Agents
Results
Comments
Note: This is an extract from an actual Interviewer Performance Analysis for an existing
customer. All names have been changed.
SECRET 5: SCREEN ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS EARLY
Sound obvious? Not many companies have a consistent, objective method to measure
how well candidates speak on the telephone early in their assessments.
Right Now You Can
Implement a rating system to use after any telephone or personal interaction. Grade each
candidate on the major attributes of good communication, as illustrated in the following
chart. You can use a “Yes/No” format or a numeric scale like the one featured here. Include
any comments that might help at decision time.
Rating Scale
Points
Exceptional. Meets this criteria exactly
5
Good. Meets this criteria almost exactly
4
Fair. Just meets this criteria
3
Below average. Does not meet this criteria
2
Bad. Nowhere near what we need!
1
Oral Communication Measures
Candidate Score
Comments
Voice Tone
Pacing
Clarity
Pitch
Sentence Structure
Lucidity
Grammar
Total Rating
Maximum score
35
This approach is a favorite among call center interviewers. One recently commented: “I like
that I am able to objectively determine how well a candidate does. I know that my
evaluation is consistent and that I am being fair.”
SECRET 6: USE ASSESSMENT SOFTWARE
Automated assessment tools help reduce employee turnover by identifying which agents
have the greatest potential to succeed in your environment. Inserted as a step between
the telephone and in-person interviews, employment screening software has the potential
to significantly improve your rate of success with putting the right agents in the right
seats. However, be cautious to avoid simple personality tests, disguised as being able to
measure more!
Right Now You Can
Compare assessment tools to find your best solution. Look for accuracy, reliability, ease of
use and validity, among other qualities. Also choose a vendor who will help you develop
unique profiles that measure the competencies of an ideal agent for your specific
environment. The following is a comparison chart you can use to help you with your
evaluation, based on the following rating scale: You may also want to apply a “knock-out”
rule to certain criteria. For instance, any product scoring a 2 or below in Accuracy
automatically is out of contention.
Rating Scale
Points
Exceptional. Meets this criteria exactly
5
Good. Meets this criteria almost exactly
4
Fair. Just meets this criteria
3
Below average. Does not meet this criteria
2
Bad. Nowhere near what we need!
0
Accurate
A
5
Product
B
3
C
2
Comprehensive (Breadth of what it measures)
5
3
2
Reliable in Demonstrating Good Performance
5
1
2
Easy to Use; Easy to Implement
5
4
3
Scalable (Within and across multiple call centers)
5
2
3
Fast to Administer (Instant results)
5
4
4
Technically Sound; Validated (prefer a multifaceted approach)
5
1
0
Legally Defensible & Professional
5
3
0
Vendor is Financially Viable
5
5
0
The Vendor – Is it proactive, engaged and caring?
5
1
0
Total
50
26
16
100%
52%
29%
Criteria
Percentage performance
In this example Product A is the perfect solution!
BONUS SECRET: REWARD AND RECOGNIZE WITH FUN
How can you keep good agents after you hire them? Foster a workplace they’ll enjoy and
recognize their hard work. Make rewards and recognition part of your culture. The sky’s
the limit for ideas – just be creative.
Ask yourselves:
Do we and our agents have fun? If you hesitate the answer is no. If you refer to an
event, again the answer is no. You need the answer to be “YES.
Right Now You Can

Involve agents in planning incentive programs and recreational activities. Make
sure you all have fun.

Encourage call center management to reward team achievements with impromptu
happy hours or lunches. You can stay on-site with a potluck or host a barbecue for
the weekend. It’s likely that your agents don’t socialize too often as a whole beyond
the water cooler. Coming together in more social circumstances can work wonders
for team morale – and retention!

Entice agents to achieve goals and help others by allocating points they can
redeem for gift cards or company merchandise.

Maintain a festive atmosphere where agents want to come to work each day.
You’ll be amazed at the buzz you can create with balloons, banners, weekly themes
and charts to map performance. Try a ‘Play Ball’ sports theme, for example, at the
start of baseball season. Give all your agents beanbag baseballs and pennants
emblazoned with your company logo. Have a Friday group lunch with hotdogs,
peanuts – the works. Maybe even give away tickets to an upcoming game. Just the
smallest additions will go a long way to keeping agents happy and excited with
their jobs.
The golden secret is to have fun – which if done correctly does not cost money