Is Loneliness the Cause of High Attrition in Contact Centres?

This morning I was at the Welsh Contact Centre Forum in Cardiff. I spent some time with other attendees discussing why it was that contact centres had traditionally high attrition rates, with 20-30% of advisors leaving every year.

One explanation for the difference in attrition between a contact centre role and a similarly paid factory job was that in the factory there was an ability to interact with your co-workers throughout the day whilst still being productive.

In a contact centre the primary role is to be speaking to your callers, and you might go through most of a busy shift not communicating at all with the person sat right next to you.

As with life in a big city – you can be surrounded by people but still feel very alone.

Does loneliness lead to attrition?

It’s an interesting thought. If you were to agree with the concept that a lonely agent was more likely to leave, and that higher attrition led to a higher number of new starters, and therefore lower customer satisfaction, would that lead you to aim for a lower target occupancy, giving your team more time to build bonds with each other?

What do you think is the main reason for higher attrition in the contact centre industry? Do you think the relative lack of communication with co-workers is a contributing factor? We’d love to know what you think of this idea in the comments section below.

For more information on how NewVoiceMedia helps your customers get to the right advisor first time just visit the ContactWorld page on our website.