In the call center and contact center industry, the competition is no longer about attracting the best customers, the largest volumes of calls or having the best return on investment.
It became clear today that the staff (the agents) of the call center remains an important factor in the global performance. Beyond the number of agents and their qualifications, a major challenge that awaits any call center manager is to control the rate of staff turnover among its qualified employees.
Indeed, call centers are among the industries with the highest turnover rate in North America. Several factors explain this unenviable position:
- The pretty low level of compensation which is often and usually the minimum wage
- The high psychological tension
- In many parts of the globe, this contact center agent’s job is associated with a temporary or student summer work.
- The work is often routine and monotonous
- Direct supervision is weak and not very collaborative.
This leads the call centers industry to suffer heavy losses of qualified agents. Indeed, each new agent involve new material costs, and especially in training time. Then, each period of absence or resignation can be considered a net loss for the company.

By comparing the turnover rates between outsourcing call centers in different sectors, it is easy to see that the highly specialized call centers (eg: those making B2B calls) had a much lower turnover. We can therefore conclude that the call center environment and the nature of the activities has a direct impact on turnover.

Specifically, to control or reduce the turnover rate, some avenues can be explored.
For example:
- A decrease in the stress level on the floor of the call center can surely help. In general, a simple reorganization of the work environment will be beneficial.
- A qualified supervisors group.
- A system of variation in the agents activities can be implemented. For example, thanks to a platform powered by blended feature, the agent can take calls from several inbound and outbound campaigns. It can also be interesting, for a few days in the month, to assign to the agent non-call activities.
- Improve team spirit
- Develop flexible rules without affecting productivity.
It is the duty of call center managers or human resource departments to develop ways to control or eliminate the high turnover rate. The competitiveness of the call center and ultimately its survival depends on it.

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Foniva Contact Center Software
Foniva Outbound Dialer

The social network media has made its way around the world, with almost everyone
and every company on the planet establishing a Facebook page or Twitter account.
Businesses have every opportunity to make their presence known on these social
networking sites, but it must be done to the advantage of the company and with
very careful steps. Traditional call center customer service contacts involve the customer
calling into a business call center and having their call routed to the first available representative.
While this method has been effective for many decades, the dawn of the internet revolution
provides companies with a more immediate method of responding to customer service issues.

There are many companies involved with the social network, using Facebook pages,
but the more immediate method of resolving customer issues is to involve the company with Twitter.
Tweets are an efficient way for customers to contact a company regarding their service,
either good or bad, and receive an immediate response. The key to maintaining a good company
reputation on Twitter is to have employees trained in how to effectively respond to customer
comments in a way that resolves any issues. Many of today’s technologically savvy customers
are involved with Twitter and actively Tweet on a regular basis.

It is up to the individual company to set up their own effective Twitter account and gear it toward
what the customer needs to know. It may be more effective for a company to set up a larger
company information account, along with an individual executive account for the CEO or other officer
of the company. Some customers will want updates on new products, services, customer service
resolutions and the like, while some will want to hear more personal Tweets directly from the people
involved in the daily operations of the company.

The pitfall of any company, whether they currently have a Twitter presence or not, is the potential
for a bad Tweet from a customer. Tweets are viral and have a way of spreading like wildfire through
the Twitter community. Companies who receive a bad Tweet should immediately respond via Twitter,
not acknowledging the issue in kind makes it appear the company is either ignoring the problem
or has no interest in current technology. The best policy is a public policy and by showing the
Twitter community the company is involved in problem solving, and making a public apology for poor
customer service, will let everyone know the company is trustworthy and involved.

If there is a valid customer service complaint posted on Twitter, the company should readily admit
their mistake in the public arena of Twitter. A sincere Twitter apology is a necessary requirement
to turn a negative customer Tweet to the company’s favor. A sincere thank you to the person
who posted the Tweet is also a detail that should not be left out. Thanking the Twitterer for bringing
a problem to the company’s attention shows the public the company can relate to their customers.

If the problem that is brought up by the person posting the negative Tweet can be resolved immediately
by the employee in charge of responding, it should be fixed immediately and the customer notified the error
has been corrected. If there is no immediate solution, the Twitterer should be advised the problem
has been brought to the attention of someone who can solve it and they will be updated once
the error has been cured. Ending the response to a negative Tweet with something positive
will stick with customers. Letting them know they can check back in the future for customer
service updates will keep the entire community informed of progress and company customer service policy changes.

Companies who utilize Facebook and Twitter as part of their customer service arsenal
of tools have acquired an effective way to stay in tune with customer service issues,
policy problems and resolutions and their customers’ thoughts and concerns.
Those companies who believe they have no place or need for a presence on social networking
sites may be in danger of serious financial problems. One bad Tweet from a customer can turn into
a thousand customers who will avoid a company within minutes. Effective utilization of Twitter as
a supplement to traditional customer service call centers can boost a company’s image, sales and
profit margin.