Impact of Attrition Benchmark Study Results from August 2007 Survey

Impact of Attrition Survey

Request sent to Knowlagent internal database via email251 responses

Number of Agents

33.3%Less than 100

27.2%101-300

10.6%301-500

11.7%501-1000

17.2%More than 1000

Title Breakdown

Director22%

VP18%

Other19%

Unknown3%

Manager38%

Organizational GoalsPlease select the category that most closely matches that of the most

important goals in your call center.

Revenue/Sales related 15.6%

Customer satisfaction related40.2%Customer loyalty related 4.5%

Quality related 8.6%

Cost related 3.3%

Customer experience related22.1%Net promoter related 0.8%

Other (please specify) 4.9%

Organization's Success Towards Most Important Goal

Met the goal36%

Exceeded the goal25%

Did not meet goal4%

Partially met the goal35%

68% of goals arecustomer satisfaction, loyalty or experience-related.

39% of respondents were partially or completely unsuccessful against their highest stated goal.

Ranking Challenges to Goal Achievement

What are the key obstacles to achieving the goal? (all that apply)

Not enough budget 19.3%

Not enough resources 37.7%

Other goal(s) in conflict 23.8%

Organizational alignment 21.7%

Other 14.3%

Agents not the right personality fit 29.5%

Agents without right skills and knowledge

41.0%

Agent attrition 52.5%

Attrition ranks the highest. Other issues addressable via hiring processes also stand out – personality and skill mismatches.

Impact of Attrition

Impact of Attrition on Achieving Goals

Gets in the way of success

70%

Has little effect on success

13%

Doesn’t affect success at all

2% Major reason for lack of success

15%

Attrition significantly impacts success at 85% of companies.

Attrition Across the Agent Lifecycle

When reporting on attrition at different stages, respondents typically reported lower numbers than what would be expected when reviewing the overall attrition percentages.

3629 24 26

41

13

20

1819

27

19

21

1419

2012 3

20

9 1312 8

5 17

4 68

53

16

17 15 17 2229

13

New hiretraining

Less than 90days on the

floor

90 days to 1year

1-3 years More than 3years

Overallattrition

Do not track

>50%

31-50%

21-30%

11-20%

0-10%

Why does attrition occur?

Rank order the top 3 reasons for attrition.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

The agent leaves to make more money

The job is not what the agent expected

The agent isn’t a good personality fit for the job

The agent does not have the right knowledgeand skills to perform the job

The agent does not have a clear career path foradvancement

Other

The agent has a poor relationship with thesupervisor

Number 1Number 2Number 3

While increasing salary is selected most often as the cause of attrition, the most highly ranked reason is related to unclear job expectations. When Number 1 and Number 2 rankings are combined, increased salary, unclear expectations and personality fit appear to be equal contributors to attrition.

Battling Attrition

Rating Method Effectiveness Against Attrition

11

17

19

19

11

12

13

23

50

40

40

36

30

21

34

22

29

26

27

34

35

6

5

7

7

7

13

13

3

1

1

1

2

22

7

5

8

19

11

16

Using assessment tools for hiring

Improving new hire training and nesting

Increasing training and communications to existing agents

Implementing supervisor-agent coaching programs forexisting agents

Improving/Creating mentoring programs

Focusing on career growth opportunities

Increasing salaries

Very effective Effective Somewhat effective Not very effective Not effective at all Method not in use

The methods most reported as effective against attrition are improving new hire training and nesting, increasing training and communications and implementing coaching programs.

Success Over the Long Haul

Rate Long-Term Effectiveness Against Attrition

31%Lowered and stayed at or near that level.

10%Lowered initially and

more since then.20%Have not addressed.

13%Unsuccessful in

lowering.

26%Lowered temporarily

but has since increased.

While 41 percent have had success lowering attrition and at least keeping it steady, 39 percent have either been unsuccessful or were unable to sustain results.

Where would the savings go?

Applying Cost Savings From Lowering Attrition

Apply towards the bottom line

33%

Invest in highest stated goal

49%

Invest in secondary goal(s)18%

Most respondents would take costs saved from attrition reduction and apply towards their most important goal.

About Knowlagent

Knowlagent has enabled companies around the world to manage call center agents for 13 years.

HiringTrainingCommunicationsCoaching

Easy to use on-demand softwareNo capital expendituresDeployable in 30 daysAccessible via the WebEnabling more companies to optimize frontline performance faster and more affordably than ever before.

For more info: kengle1@knowlagent.com