"When we started the company, we saw that there was no science for cutting turnover. There's proven research on what works and what doesn't when you hire, when you pay, when you develop employee benefits, but there's no proven research on how you go about [keeping agents]. There's a just knee-jerk reaction -- we need better benefits, we need this, we need that.

"Before anyone starts thinking about what's the best way to bring people in, they should either before or concurrently think about how to keep the people they have. Because not only is turnover expensive, but high turnover in call centers typically leads to lowering the standards of those you bring in. Because you've got to fill the seats. And so there are many, many costs of turnover in call centers. Having said that, the greatest costs are in the productivity and the business you lose versus the cost of hiring and training replacements.

"And our call center clients have actually calculated the cost of turnover, and those costs can be anywhere between $10,000 per exit all the way up to, for some specialized positions, $50,000 per exit."

The TalentKeepers website has a Turnover Cost Calculator that helps you figure out how much money your level of attrition may be costing your center.

Also, TalentKeepers and ICMI are working together on a Retention Survey -- take it online and register to receive a free copy of the report.

Have anything to add to the discussion about staffing, recruiting, and agent turnover? Tell us.