As more organizations realize the value of their customer-facing operations, contact centers are expanding their strategic focus from cost-cutting and implementing self-service options to performance improvement and customer satisfaction. This shift in priorities has call center managers re-examining critical people management issues, including agent training, development and retention, as well as alternative labor sources.

In 2006, ICMI conducted several research studies to identify trends in agent training and development, agent rewards and recognition, telework and outsourcing. Following are a few key findings from each report. (Note: These reports are available for free to ICMI members at www.icmi.com.)

Agent Training and Performance Development

• Most centers have enhanced new-hire education by integrating non-classroom based training into the program. Only 4.6% of survey respondents indicated using a 100% classroom-based training program. Nearly one in five responding centers (23.5%) indicated having a new-hire training initiative comprised of between 80% to 99% classroom coursework. Another 21.7% reported that just 60% to 79% of initial training took place in the classroom, and 16.1% stick trainees in the classroom for just 40% to 59% of total training. The remaining responding centers (34.1%) spend even less time in the classroom with new-hires; in fact, 13.4% reported providing no classroom-based training whatsoever.

• The top three types of training used by centers to supplement traditional classroom training include:

  1. Job-shadowing (where trainees sit side-by-side with agents while the latter handle customer contacts): 71% of respondents reported using this method "very often"; 22% "often"

  2. Mentoring (where trainees work closely with experienced agents to learn the ropes): 51% "very often"; 35% "often"

  3. Transition training (a.k.a. "nesting" or "incubation" -- in which trainees work in a "nesting area" where they handle basic contact types with ample supervision): 37% do this "very often"; 34% "often"

• The top five topics/skills covered in new-hire training include:

  1. Telephone skills (89.4%)

  2. Customer service skills (87.1%)

  3. Corporate policies/culture/mission/values (83.4%)

  4. Technology training -- workflows, desktop tools, email/chat apps, etc. (82.5%)

  5. Key contact center terms/processes (75.6%)

• The vast majority of centers (87.9%) provide agents with 100 hours or less of ongoing training (training provided after new-hire training is complete) per year; 61.4% provide zero to 50 hours of ongoing training each year, while another 26.5% provide 51 to 100 hours of ongoing training annually.

• Two in three centers (66.5%) feel that their agents do not receive enough ongoing training.

• The three most common ways ongoing training is delivered in responding centers include:

  1. One-on-one coaching/mentoring (44% use "very often"; 38% use "often")

  2. Classroom instruction (23% use "very often"; 35% use "often")

  3. Corporate intranet/knowledgebase (14% use "very often"; 37% use "often")

Agent Rewards and Recognition

• The vast majority (86.4%) of respondents indicated that their call centers formally reward and recognize agents when they achieve set objectives and/or demonstrate exemplary service. Among the centers without a formal rewards/recognition program in place, 42.9% cited "insufficient budget/support from senior management" as the primary reason, with another 37.1% mentioning "insufficient time to implement/support programs."

• The most common productivity metrics upon which agent rewards/recognition are based are:

  1. Adherence to schedule (cited by 51.8% of respondents)

  2. Absenteeism (46.5%)

  3. Average handle time (45.2%)

• The most common quality metrics upon which agent rewards/recognition are based are:

  1. Quality monitoring scores (cited by 83.3% of respondents)

  2. Customer feedback (60.5%)

  3. Coworker feedback (33.8%)

• While more than half (59.8%) of the centers surveyed reward agents with cash, non-monetary rewards/recognition is much more prevalent (94.3%). The most common non-cash incentives used are gift certificates (85.4%), food (78.4%), and plaques/trophies/certificates (69.5%).

• Few centers offer advanced development opportunities as an incentive for agents. Only 8.9% of respondents reported that they reward well-performing staff with special training/coursework; and just 2.3% let deserving agents go to conferences or seminars of their choice.

  The top three challenges cited by respondents in implementing/maintaining a rewards/recognition program are:

  1. Making sure that the actual rewards/recognition provided are meaningful to the entire agent population (cited by 45% of respondents as "moderately challenging"; and by 31% as "very challenging")

  2. Measuring the effectiveness of rewards/recognition efforts (37% "moderately challenging"; 36% "very challenging")

  3. Finding time to create/implement rewards/recognition initiatives (36% "moderately challenging"; 26% "very challenging")

Contact Center Telework

• Nearly one in three respondents (28.3%) indicated that their contact center currently uses home agents in some form: 14.7% have a pilot telework program in place; 11.7% have a full-fledged telework initiative in place (in-house); and 1.9% use an outsourcer that is staffed with home agents. Of the 71.7% of centers that do not use home agents now, a whopping 50.8% are considering doing so within the next year or two.

• The top three criteria respondents consider when selecting home agents are:

  1. Overall performance results (77% of respondents cited this as "very important"; 23% as "important")

  2. Proven ability to work with minimal supervision (77% very important; 21% important)

  3. Self-motivation (72% very important; 22% important)

• The top three ways that centers deliver ongoing training, coaching and other information efficiently and effectively to home agents include via:

  1. Email (47% of respondents said this was "very common"; 36% said it was "common")

  2. Intranet that home agents regularly access (38% very common; 33% common)

  3. Phone calls (25% very common; 48% common)

• To help fend against home agent alienation and to maintain a strong sense of team/camaraderie among teleworkers and in-house staff, respondents reported doing the following:

  1. Include home agents in all incentive programs and contests in the contact center (78.8%)

  2. Invite home agents into the contact center for occasional meetings and social events (78.8%)

  3. Encourage home agents to communicate via email, chat and/or phone with one another as well as with their in-house peers (63.6%)

  4. Hold frequent team meetings and have home agents join via conference call (59.1%)

  5. Hold occasional social events (for all agents) outside the contact center (34.8%); e.g., bowling night, movie night, etc.

• The top five reasons for implementing a telework initiative, as cited by respondents, include to:

  1. Improve agent satisfaction/retention (71.6%)

  2. Improve flexibility in scheduling (62.7%)

  3. Improve business continuity capability (58.2%)

  4. Reduce operational costs (46.3%)

  5. Expand staff without increasing facility space (46.3%)

Contact Center Outsourcing

Three in 10 respondents (29.4%) in the survey indicated that their call centers currently outsource customer contacts to an outside agency/service bureau. Very few centers, however, rely on their outsourcer to handle most or all of the contact volume: 42.9% of responding centers outsource only 1%-20% of customer contacts the company receives; 19% outsource 41%-60% of total volume; 17.5% outsource 61%-80% of contacts; and 12.7% outsource 21%-40% of the workload. Only 7.9% of respondents reported using an outsourcer to handle most or all (81%-100%) of the customer contacts received by the company.

The vast majority of responding centers that outsource use an agency located in North America, with 71.4% using a U.S.-based outsourcer and 19% using a Canadian-based one. The other most common outsourcer locations reported include India (25.4%), Far East Asia (11.1%) and Central America (6.3%).

The most common types of customer contacts outsourced by respondents include:

1. Basic request contacts (30.2%)

2. Overflow contacts (25.4%)

3. After-hours/weekend contacts (25.4%)

4. Foreign language contacts (14.3%)

5. Contacts resulting from special promotions (12.7%)

Cost reduction remains the most common driver of outsourcing decisions; 65.1% of respondents cited this as a "key reason for outsourcing." Other key reasons cited include:

- To handle overflow (41.3%)

- To provide extended hours of operation (27%)

- To tap into the outsourcer's overall experience and expertise (27%)

Respondents reported using a variety of methods for keeping tabs on how the outsourcer's agents are handling customers. The most common include:

- Receive daily reports on key performance attributes (79.4%)

- Have access to call recordings (65.1%)

- Directly monitor outsourcer's agents remotely on occasion (58.7%)

- Survey customers handled by outsourcer and evaluate feedback (49.2%)

- Have access to real-time performance data via the Web (42.9%)

The vast majority of respondents are either "somewhat satisfied" (49.2%) or "very satisfied" (39.7%) with their outsourcing partner's performance. Only 1.6% reported being "very dissatisfied."

Of the respondents whose contact centers currently do NOT outsource any customer contacts (70.6% of all respondents), one in four (26.1%) has outsourced in the past, then brought operations back inhouse due to dissatisfaction with the arrangement. The most common reasons cited for ending the outsourcing partnership were:

- The outsourcer didn't meet our performance objectives (59.2%)

- Trouble keeping tabs on outsourcer's performance (51%)

- Trouble building a sense of team and commitment to our organization's mission/values (36.7%)

- Hidden costs -- outsourcing arrangement costs were more than envisioned (36.7%)

More than two in five respondents (42.2%) from centers that have ended outsourcing partnerships in the past said that they would still consider outsourcing customer contacts again in the future.