Cresta, a leader in AI-driven real-time coaching for the contact center, released its report assessing the unique problem of agent lifecycle in contact centers. The “Reducing Ramp Time & Agent Attrition in Contact Centers” report highlights pain points, reveals key findings in the industry, and analyzes preferred communication trends for solution avenues in the post-COVID world.
“The Great Resignation is real and hitting the contact center, which already had high agent turnover, from 40 percent to as high at 80 percent, since the pandemic. It’s one of the top ten high turnover jobs, yet customer service agents are the ones who can make or break customer relationships,” said Cresta CEO and founder Zayd Enam. “Agent attrition is an existential threat to businesses. This Insights report, which focuses specifically on solutions like improving the employee experience and using new AI solutions to assist the critical human agent, will be valuable to many companies looking for a ‘Great Re-creation’ of an omnichannel contact center experience.”
Cresta, analyzing data from more than 6,000 agents and 3.8 million conversations, uncovered the main pain points impacting the contact center industry the most to provide a framework to identify performance gaps, and assess the impact AI-driven coaching has against counterparts that were not assisted. Now, contact center leaders must look to real-time AI to complement agents rather than replace them.
The Cresta report provides strategies to take a deep dive into five dynamics of agent attrition and employee engagement. These include:
- Current State of Agent Attrition – Employee attrition is extremely high, particularly within centers focused on customer care and support. Data showed the top five reasons for agent attrition: compensation package, career progression and upskilling, job fit, shift scheduling, and health.
- Current State of Agent Ramp – The average agent ramp time is three months, which is fairly constant across contact centers regardless of function (sales or care/support). Data showed it is harder to improve consistency of performance compared to improving average performance. This starts with the ramp.
- Agent Lifecycle – The state of agent attrition and ramp is caught in a negative cycle, as The Great Resignation is exacerbated by remote work dynamics. The Agent Lifecycle framework separates the experience of a contact center agent into three phases: ramp, performance and progression.
- Transforming the Agent Lifecycle – Reduce agent attrition by increasing agent performance and satisfaction in all phases of the agent lifecycle. Agents who received AI-driven coaching performed more than 30 percent better than their counterparts that weren’t assisted.
- Resolving the Revolving Door Dilemma – It starts with Day 1 with each new agent. Agents who ramp faster and are enabled, feel in charge of their own growth and are less likely to churn.
The full report is available for download here.
