Nearly every business is dealing with record numbers of employees leaving their jobs. Amid the Great Resignation to the Great Re-Evaluation, employees are making significant decisions about their professional futures; in many cases, this means finding a new job or leaving an existing one. Nearly three-quarters of workers surveyed said they are actively thinking about quitting.

Contact center managers are all too familiar with turnover. With average turnover rates as high as 45%, it’s always been time-consuming and expensive to attract, recruit, and retain employees.

Still, many organizations fail to take proactive steps to reduce turnover by doing one thing: recognizing and appreciating their agents.

One employee survey showed that 37% picked recognition as the thing they wanted most on the job. They ranked it higher than promotions, training, or other opportunities. Other studies back that up. 82% of employees say they are happier when they’re recognized at work.

Happy agents are more engaged and productive. They’re also more likely to stay with their employer longer.

While Balto’s research shows that contact center workers are overwhelmingly motivated by pay, increased wages aren’t an option for every organization, especially if they are already paying a competitive wage or there isn’t room for raises. Recognizing top performers costs very little and can significantly improve employee satisfaction.

Tracking Employee Performance

Managers can ensure that their top performers don’t go unrecognized by actively tracking performance.

Without the right contact center platform, it can be difficult to closely follow agent performance. When only a fraction of calls are monitored and scored, it’s tough to get a clear view of overall performance. Random sampling, listening, and scanning through call recordings only provide a small snapshot. When every call receives a quality score with detailed insights, it’s much easier to praise consistently high performance or marked improvement.

Real-time call analysis and guidance also help improve first-call resolution. Providing agents with tools for success leads to greater efficiency and employee satisfaction. It can also alert managers immediately when feedback or corrections are needed. This lets you do real-time coaching and then monitor performance to see that the lessons stick. When agents put coaching to use, it creates an opportunity to offer some praise to help reinforce good habits.

When you’re tracking, measuring, and monitoring agents, you can:

  • Assess performance, provide coaching and feedback, and recognize success
  • Establish measurable goals for improvement and celebrate goal attainment
  • Identify top performers for recognition and let others know what it takes to get recognized
  • Reward individual performers and teams for meeting or exceeding benchmarks

You can also identify any deficiencies where agents need additional training or coaching to improve performance.

Keep Your Top-Performing Agents Happy and Motivated

Whether you’re doing company-wide award ceremonies, highlighting top performers on a leaderboard or in a newsletter, handing out gift cards, or simply establishing a shoutout channel on Slack, it can make a difference. A little recognition goes a long way toward keeping your best people engaged and on board!

Looking for more actionable tips about how to keep your contact center agents happy and motivated? Check our resource hub. To see Balto in action, book a demo today.