Attrition or the gradual reduction of personnel is a problem faced by most call center in the Philippines if not worldwide.
In an industry where there is a massive amount of staff, management of people entails high level of expertise, understanding and utmost organization. Unfortunately, that is not happening in a call center setting.
In a typical screening procedure for a candidate, most call center asked question as to whether this is a job that is really suited for you. In this industry, the most basic qualification for you to get hired is for you to be efficient in English language, a minimum amount of education & your commitment for the job. The first two qualification can easily be gauged while the third one can only be assessed once you are on the production already. Despite “risk assessment” for “attrition risk”, most call center still suffer attrition and that is what we are going to splice here.
The general consensus of agents is “Let me give it a try or there’s no harm in trying” and when they don’t like it, they leave.
Here are some of the reason why call center agents leave their jobs:
(1) Non–disclosure by the recruiter regarding the true nature of the job and or salary
When an applicant was profiled for a specific account, whether they are newbie or tenured, they don’t have any idea as to what the account is all about and the job description associated with it. The generic answer of “You will just take calls and answer customer’s concern” is the usual verbiage.
What will happen then is that the applicant will sign the contract and attend to his or her training for the account “optimistic” that what was told to them was really the true nature of the job.
Final interview was being done either by a Team Lead or Operations Manager and you have the freedom to ask question regarding the nature of the account. The question is, “Does the Team lead (TL) or Operation Manager (OM) really knows what the account is all about?” And if the TL or OM was able to answer the question, was it the exact truth? Read further on my previous blog entitled “The Team Leader without a Road Map”.
As for the salary, either the company will give you the exact figure plus benefit or they will break it down in a per hour basis rate & when salary comes, with all the deductions that is omitted, it doesn’t represent the true amount after.
(2) Misleading advertisement
Most job hunters will search for jobs online. Decision as to whether to apply for a job or not “initially” is the location of the site. Is it too far from my home? Would I still be able to go to work even if it is raining or flooded? Is the cost of working on that site commensurate to my salary?
One of the job I applied before has an ad which says, “Be hired in Ortigas as Customer Service Representative” so I go to the site and take their exam and luckily passed everything. Upon job offer, the recruiter told me that the site will be in Ayala. When I ask about the ad located in Ortigas, she says that it was already close. The ad was posted just one day ago and it was already close!!!
In real life “Customer Service” scenario, if what you said to a customer is different from what you have notated, whether it is an accident or deliberately done, that is automatic “falsification” and you will be reprimanded accordingly.
Will someone punish the HR who put the wrong information on their job bulletin in the above scenario? Of course, no one will be held accountable to it.
Most job hunters are looking for a stable job. It is a known fact that there are account in a call center which are “project based” or just good for several months. Others will bite project based accounts in the hope that the site will absorb them after the project was finished.
(3) Mismatch between the “theoretical” part of the training to the “practical” execution of the job
When an applicant signed the contract for employment, he or she will then undergo training about the account he or she was profiled to.
Teaching is a gift and not all people has the ability to teach other people the way information should be executed. One Trainer I’ve talked with says, “Sometimes we were ask to teach something we were not trained to so we have no choice but to train ourselves”.
In a call center setting, there are two department responsible for Training: the Training Department and the Operation Department.
The Training Department handles the “theoretical” part while the Operation Department handles the “practical” part.
The staff under the Training Department are the Trainers and the staff under the Operations Department are the Subject Matter Expert (SME).
Confusion arises when what was thought by the Trainer is different from what the SME is saying. Further confusion arises when what was thought by one SME is different from what was thought by another SME. Further chaos will subside when the Quality Analyst enters the scenario to audit a call by which an agent was marked down for a specific parameter he or she didn’t know or was not thought in training. Further exacerbating the problem is when the agent was coached by the TL who will then feed another information that is absolutely out of context because as we know TL’s are not taking calls.
How does a staff in an organization become “unsynchronized” “uncoordinated” and absolutely “non–calibrated” to one another? Read my blog entitled “The Untrained Trainer”, “Quality Analyst without Quality” and the “Team Leader without a Road Map”.
The confused agent will have no choice then but to resign. See the picture!
(4) Culture of the call center
There are call centers which are flamboyant. There are call centers which are stiff. There are call centers filled with vultures and monsters. There are call centers who are image conscious. There are call centers which are like government filled with politician. Each one of us has our own distinct personality. It depends on you now which culture is tolerable and which is not. Agents come and go simply because they can’t tolerate one site over the other. As the saying goes, “Birds of the same feather flocks together.”
(5) “Bitchy” & “Smart Ass” & “Unprofessional” Team Leads
It has become legal nowadays to embarrass one person in front of a large number of people in a professional setting. It’s as if normal to do so. It’s as if this people doesn’t have breeding. Ironically speaking, those who has been on higher position are the one doing it.
In the first place I wouldn’t wonder why? Call center is a collection of society’s outcast. If you are a Nursing graduate, bakit hindi ka nakapagtrabaho sa hospital? If you are a MassCom graduate, bakit hindi ka nakapagtrabaho sa ABS–CBN or GMA or sa Inquirer? If you are an Engineering graduate, bakit hindi ka nakapagtrabaho sa Construction Firm? The general answer is, it is because somebody is better than you in your chosen profession. The only exemption to the rule are the career shifters.
Psychologically, it is a form of combination of insecurity and frustration. As the saying goes, “You feature what you don’t have.”
Likewise, most call center has a Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP) for agents for rudeness towards customer but there is no ZTP for TL’s who are rude to their agent.
(6) Job security is dead
From what I know Convergys and Accenture are the only company which offers retirement benefits. And despite the fact that they are offering retirement benefit for being a loyal employee, they still suffer attrition. Other BPO companies, after five year of service will just give a plaque or a wrist watch.
If Convergys and Accenture which offers retirement benefit and still suffer attrition, how much more for those who doesn’t offer one?
If I stay in your company for five years, what will I get? Ironically, will a statue be built under my name? Will a bay in the production floor be named under my name? This is a question that most BPO fails to address always.
Agents transfer from one job to another simply because there is no prospect of a brighter future in the company.
Also, staying in one company for a long period of time doesn’t necessarily means that your market value will appreciate once you transfer. In fact, if you have been on the same company for more than a year for the same account and you transfer to another company, there is a strong probability that you may not pass the “abay training” or the “certification” because you remain stagnant to the same routine in your previous center.
(7) Better offer from another company
Agents leave their job because of greener pasture. That greener pasture maybe another call center or in another industry.
One of the motivation of agents to stay in their job is the right salary and the right volume of workload.
There are call centers and or BPO who offers high salary but as one employee says, “Grabe diyan! Tutuyuin ka talaga!” so even if the salary is high, agent will still leave.
And there are those call centers who are sneaky when giving workload as well. At first, they will profile you for Billing and Collection then they will add Sales then they will add Retentions then they will add Technical Support all at the price of one.
(8) No career growth
Most call centers are addicted to external hire especially for management position. This is where you can see the insecurity level of one call center to another. They externally hire someone in the hope that the system in one call center will trickle down to them through that externally hired professional. In most ways, it doesn’t. It is because it is not a “one size fits all” structure. Each account is different.
Agents who are bypassed felt neglected thus the future becomes bleak.
What was happening though actually in a call center was the creation of a “mafia” in the sense that if a manager was hired in one call center, he or she will bring in her entire team to that new call center enslaving the poor agents on the floor and sucking every resources available until they find a new breeding ground where they can suck more.
In Maslow’s theory of Man’s need, man’s basic need are food, clothing and shelter and the ability to prove himself or be recognized. Recognition is practiced in a call center but to climb the corporate ladder is something else. What will you do with a piece of laminated paper? Other call center will not even recognized that.
But to be promoted to a higher position is something. It is not just on a piece of paper but stamped by time itself. Those Team Leads who would like to protect their positions has the mantra of “climb the corporate ladder and kick the ladder so that no one could follow” thus whenever they see someone who has potential to be on top, they’ll do everything to eliminate that person and it’s happening because there is no system of check and balance in most call center.
In most call center, you have to pass your application to become a Team Lead to a Team Leader (and not directly to HR) and if that Team Lead doesn’t like you even if you have a potential, he or she will put negative comments on your evaluation form from HR so you are dead in becoming an agent forever!!!
If there is an HR Evaluation in screening an agent, there should be an HR Evaluation also for applicant for Team Lead position. What’s happening is your future is dependent on the Team Leader instead of your own potential? And if there is an HR Evaluation for Team Lead position, that is, “after” approval by the Team Lead to whom you sent your application.
Thus, what will happen, in order for you to get that position you have to be an “ally” of that Team Lead in order to advance and the next thing you know you already embodies the same “monster” you have been an ally with.
I’ve known agents who were thrice declined for a Team Lead position considering the fact that they are on the same company for five fucking years!!!
HR prefers to hire somebody “outside” whom they don’t have any reference with as to actual performance in the account.
(9) Agent don’t like the account
There are applicants who are picky for the account especially the “hunters”. Hunters are those who are transferring from one call center to another. At face value of their CV, they have no difference with “hoppers”. You will distinguish their difference from hoppers once you interviewed them for they know every facet of the account they handled. Start them with a question of “Can tell you tell me something about the previous account that you have handled?” And you will get detailed information. Pick up a question from his or her answer that “you don’t understand” and let her explain it further and you will be enlightened. This is a feature of a hunter. A hopper on the other hand is someone who doesn’t care about the account he or she has handled. He or she just transfer from one call center to another for a better offer.
Another reason why agents don’t like the account is because the training is very superficial. There is no emphasis as to why the job they have signed for is important for the business of the client. There is no rationalization or deeper explanation why a certain things needs to be executed. If there is one, either the explanation was not so justified or the agent is perceiving it as a plain alibi.
(10) Bully team mate
I have a firsthand experience of this one in several call center. This usually happen between a newbie and a tenured agent.
There are those who will utter, “Ikaw kabago–bago mo, may attitude ka na ha! in order to suppress the ego of the newbie.
Tenured agents are using “attitude” as an excuse to lambast or deliberately bash out a newbie especially if the newbie has a very strong potential to rise from stack ranking because of his or her superb learning curve.
To put it bluntly, “inggitan” or “insecurity” is cramming. You will also see a typical profile of a bully: “Mahilig mambara”, “manipulative”, “a great con” “habitually tardy” at higit sa lahat “sipsip”.
To deal with it, either you can transfer station and try to stay away from a bully. The thing here is that Team Leader are oftentimes so clueless why another agent is so distant from their team without self–realization that if the agent being bullied will tell the word to him or her (the TL) it would appear as if he is personally lambasting both the TL and the bully. And if it comes to that point wherein the agent is on a deadlock situation, he or she has no choice but to resign than to be tormented for the rest of his fucking stay with the company.
(11) Favoritism among the team
Picture this,
An externally hired TL or a TL from a dissolve account coming into your team.
Then a “sipsip” agent with a profile of a bully.
It’s a perfect match. Why?
The externally hired TL doesn’t know the account thus she needs a backbone whenever there is an escalation made or whenever she received an email pertaining to the account. Who she will ask to? Another TL? Not a good option because that TL may not also know the account or it will compromise her competence. Her salvation then would be the “sipsip” agent. The “sipsip” agent being a tenured agent technically knows the account by heart so he can support the “bobitang TL” in return.
In return for the favor, just like a typical “give and take” cycle, the bobitang TL will tolerate the “kabulastugan” of the “sipsip” agent. Browsing Facebook while on duty, bringing cellphone on the floor, habitual tardiness, over break and excessive use of bio break will all remain underreported.
How would the other agent feel then? Especially if the agent are performing every bit of policy bestowed to them. Again, the agent solution is to remove himself from the picture through resignation.
(12) Change in the Line of Business (LOB)
Some accounts maybe dissolved or pulled out because it was improperly managed ng mga bobong Team Leader na walang alam sa account. Others, was because the client can’t afford the price of the center. Others will just partially cancel a specific LOB (i.e., technical division or retentions division or Central States division of their business). In this scenario, agents will then be “recycled” to other account.
A “technical support” agent who was comfortable with his job for a year will then be transferred to a healthcare account or a “Healthcare CSR” will then be transferred to “Sales for a Cable account” or a “Billing & Collection agent for a Telco Account” will be transferred to “Technical support for the same Telco account”.
During the transition, agent may then struggle to survive for he was already comfortable with the previous account he was profiled to. If he didn’t thrive, he may look for another job.
In most call center, there is a so called “profiling” wherein they will profile you base on their “perceived” skills you have. Some agents would like to voluntary transfer to another account but HR or TL’s will usually say “You are not profiled to that account” but if there is a dissolved account that profiling becomes null and void especially if the attrition from another account is high and the demand for manpower is high.
There are also instances wherein agents are failing in their Key Performance Index (KPI) and would like to be transferred to another account or another LOB because he might thrive in that account. The requirement then for them is to meet a specific “average”. HR or TL’s will say “You should have at least 85% average in your KPI” and 85% is say a median passing in the account that agent is in. Logically, “kung naipasa ko ba’t lilipat pa ko? Stupid!”
There are also instances wherein the so called “outliers” or “bottom 10% of stack ranking” has to be terminated because they are not performing well. Remember that “another man’s trash maybe another man’s treasure”. That terminated agent will then look for another job in another call center. This terminated agent once he thrive in another call center has the potential to rise to the top. Remember that one account is different from the other.
There are also “outliers” who don’t thrive in a Telco account but when transferred to a Financial account rises to the top. If you are an agent, you just need to know your forte. If you are in HR, before you terminate an agent make sure that you review two important KPI: Attendance and AHT. It will say a lot of thing about the work ethic of an agent.
Given all the above scenario, how would you deal with attrition then?
Business pundits said that businessmen reads by the figures or equation then let’s put it a language that they will easily understand:
Investment Risk + Attrition = Attrition Risk
Where,
Investment Risk is the Agent
Attrition is the Agent
Attrition Risk is the Agent still
So,
If the agent leaves, you lose the investment!!!
Investment rules also states that you should know how to “diversify” in order to minimize the risk or if you don’t want to “diversify” then follow the words of Warren Buffet which is, “Put your egg in one basket and WATCH THAT basket closely”. But was it being done?
If you are the Executive Vice President or Country Manager of a Call Center, I’m sure you exactly know what I’m talking about. Read further on the blog to gain more insight.
If you are a Team Leader or Operation Manager or Site Director, you know what exactly is happening on the Floor and its either you are pretending to be mute or blind in order to protect your personal interest. Just be sure that this blog will not be contagious and reach the heavenly bodies for you know where you will be if you don’t shape up now!!!
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