Session: 205 Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Time: 2:15pm - 3:30pm Track: People. Preparing for Attrition after the Recession

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1 Session: 205 Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Time: 2:15pm - 3:30pm Track: People Preparing for Attrition after the Recession Brent Haferkamp Senior Consultant, ICMI bhaferkamp@icmi.com Susan Langwell Senior Consultant, ICMI susanl@icmi.com Session Description Don t let history repeat itself in your call center. Post 2000 recession attrition hit many companies quite hard, but you can take steps now to ensure your organization is in a better position this time around. Are your employees satisfied and do they want to stay? Join Brent Haferkamp and Susan Langwell as they reveal the costs and impacts of ghost turnover. Discuss and outline ways to motivate your employees, and discover how to be proactive in preparing your center for post-recession attrition -- before it s too late! Speaker Background Brent Haferkamp is an International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) Certified Consultant; providing strategic and tactical consulting and training for organizations in a variety of industries. As an ICMI employee, Brent has performed a number of call center assessment assignments, ranging from high level workforce management advisory to complete enterprise contact center redesign, as well as mid-term Executive Replacement (VP/Director) assignments. Prior to joining ICMI, Brent was a Senior Manager overseeing the virtual operations of a large passenger transportation company with 24/7/365 operations and annual call volumes in excess of 24 million. Prior to that, he was a Workforce Manager for a large international call center outsourcer, supporting up to 20 programs at any given time. Brent graduated from Parks College of St. Louis University with a degree in Aerospace Science. He is a former U.S. Air Force Pilot and veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. In his spare time, he writes and develops Visual Basic call center tools and is very active on a number contact center related web forums. Susan Langwell. As a Certified Consultant, Susan brings over 20 years call center operations experience to ICMI. Her background includes domestic and international consulting as well as many years in call center leadership roles. Serving in these roles has allowed Susan to gain a broad perspective of call center management and operations as well as hands-on practical experience. Prior to joining ICMI, she worked in a wide range of industries, organizations and environments providing strategic guidance and solutions to facilitate and achieve business results. Over the course of her career, she held a senior level position with an international management consulting firm focused on call center optimization and behavioral analytics, had her own customer care and training consulting firm and held management positions in call center operations for corporations such as T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds and Ralston Purina. Susan strengths include call center strategy development, training and facilitation, operational and organizational planning, project design and management, people performance and development, and customer relationship methodology. Susan graduated from the University of Delaware and now lives in the Midwest. ACCE Conference & Expo New Orleans 2011 Session #205

2 Preparing for Attrition after the Recession Brent Haferkamp and Susan Langwell ICMI Certified Associates & ICMI Certified Consultants Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it George Santayana ( ) 1

3 Questions Some quick questions to start Laid off employees or had to give up headcount? Seen a drop in voluntary attrition over the last year or so? Was in the workforce during the Tech Bubble Recession (2000)? Have been conducting job searches? Does anyone work for a job search website? Ever heard the term Ghost Attrition? Sirota Survey Intelligence Report August 2010 Question 2007 % Fav Trend Knowledgeable about customer needs Responding quickly to meet changing customer needs I have opportunities to learn and grow 72-9 Senior management gives employees a clear picture of the direction the company is headed 66-8 Keeps employees informed as to the state of the business 76-7 Supervisor acts as a coach/mentor in helping me improve my performance 65-6 Responsive to customer needs 83-5 How would you rate your job security? 66-5 Rate the orientation provided to new employees 57-5 Why Worry? But They were happy to have a job so why worry?!? Because Following the 2000 recession, many companies suffered because they did not anticipate the high employee attrition rates!!! 2

4 are we condemned to repeat it? Afraid?!? Well, this one is SO much worse everyone will be afraid to test the job market! This recession has been more destructive (in terms of job loss) than the recession of 2000 (see Unemployment Rate), which may only increase the rate at which employees leave their current jobs for new opportunities. Data source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics (Apr 2010) are we condemned to repeat it?? 3

5 46% of surveyed executives recalled that voluntary turnover at their companies increased after the recession ended Deloitte "Managing Talent in a Turbulent Economy, Mar 2010" Yet, the data suggested that 48% of the executives either: Do not anticipate high attrition rates, or do not believe it will be a significant threat are we condemned to repeat it??? Our Employees are Looking Recent statistics show a growing trend of employees interviewing (or looking to interview) for new opportunities, even though most (78%) believe this is the worst job market of their careers. Data Source: Adecco Group (Apr 2010) 4

6 are we condemned to repeat it???? Production Hey, but production is up, right?!? Production (con t.) How are we increasing productivity? Increasing time Extending hours Forcing overtime More productivity for given staff but are we really seeing more productivity per labor hour across the board? Fear based production increase Doing more with less Less support staff Less peer staff Less attention to detail Less recognition Less customer attention 5

7 Production (con t.) Short Term = Cannot be Sustained = Burnout = Job Dissatisfaction = Low Employee Engagement = Attrition??? Not to mention bad for the customer As the Recovery Strengthens Employees may not be leaving in large numbers now, but what happens when they feel safe to make a change? 51 percent of Gen Y are prepared to accept a lower wage or a lesser role if their work contributes to something more important or meaningful 62 percent of Gen X plan to look for a new job within a year 46 percent of baby boomers say their career goals are not being advanced in their current job Kelly Services are we condemned to repeat it????? 6

8 How is Hiring? Is your company Growing/Hiring? If yes, do you expect to continue growing/hiring after the recession ends? If yes, where are you finding these people? are we condemned to repeat it?????? Is it too late to do anything about it? Yes, No, Maybe Today s Discussion Actions required Assess and Address current environment Determine and Prepare for staffing needs Evaluate and Address current training and associated gaps 7

9 Today s Discussion Questions to ask yourself 1. Do I know how many of my employee s are actively engaged? Disengaged? Gallup's engagement ratio is a macro-level indicator of an organization's health that allows executives to track the proportion of engaged to actively disengaged employees. In world-class organizations, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is 9.57:1. In average organizations, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is 1.83:1. (Gallup website) 2. Why would I care? Attrition! 3. What does employee engagement have to do with attrition? Everything! Today s Discussion The Definition of Employee Engagement "a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work". Source: The Conference Board Key Drivers of Employee Engagement 1. Trust and integrity how well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'. 2. Nature of the job Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day? 3. Line of sight between employee performance and company performance Does the employee understand how their work contributes to the company's performance? 4. Career Growth opportunities Are there future opportunities for growth? Source: The Conference Board 8

10 Key Drivers of Employee Engagement 5. Pride about the company How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated with their company? 6. Coworkers/team members significantly influence one's level of engagement 7. Employee development Is the company making an effort to develop the employee's skills? 8. Relationship with one's manager Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or her manager? Source: The Conference Board Assess and Address Current Environment Each year the average company loses 20-50% of its employee base - Bain & Company* Replacing a lost employee costs 150% of that person s annual salary - Columbia University* Research by Gallup and others shows that engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave. - Gallup ** *Quoted in an article by Kyle LaMalfa, Loyalty Expert and Allegiance Best Practices Manager **Gallup website Assess and Address Current Environment The Business Impact of Employee Engagement: The Corporate Leadership Council completed a study of the engagement level of 50,000 employees around the world. Those employees who are most committed perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organization. (Source: Corporate Leadership Council) Actively disengaged employees erode an organization's bottom line while breaking the spirits of colleagues in the process. Within the U.S. workforce, Gallup estimates this cost to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity alone. (Gallup website) 9

11 Assess and Address Current Environment There is one key to profitability and stability during either a boom or bust economy: employee morale. Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines Assess and Address Current Environment Assess Current Environment Conduct an Employee Engagement Survey 1. Determine engagement level of current employees 2. Are they thinking about leaving? 3. Are there employees you want to keep? Wish would leave? Hold Focus Groups 1. Tenured and New 2. Strong and Average Performers 3. Quiet, Influencers, Leaders Analyze findings to determine extent of the issues and next steps Assess and Address Current Environment Address Issues Create Communication Plan 1. Sharing Results 2. Outlining Next Steps 3. Providing regular status updates on the initiatives Develop a Retention Strategy which include 1. Assess recruiting, hiring and onboarding process 2. Make available development opportunities 3. Establish KPIs that support accountability and are fair 4. Develop rewards and recognition program 5. Ensure supervisors and managers spend the majority of their time focusing on their teams 10

12 Determine and Prepare Determine Staffing Needs Current Attrition Rate vs. Predicted Attrition How many people might you lose? When will you need to start hiring? Do you have the budget? Space? Work with Workforce Management Determine and Prepare Prepare to hire Update job descriptions and associated competencies Coordinate with Human Resources to create a recruiting and hiring plan Coordinate with Training to schedule staff and facilities Review facilities, space and determine IT involvement Provide additional training to Managers and Supervisors Evaluate and Address Evaluate training and onboarding Review training and onboarding processes Identify training gaps as determine through agent performance metrics, quality and coaching results and feedback form both the management team and agents Update training and onboarding processes needed Consider adding a mentoring program as part of the onbroading process 11

13 Preparing for Attrition after the Recession Brent Haferkamp and Susan Langwell ICMI Certified Associates & ICMI Certified Consultants 12