MAGGIE GARZA
CASE STUDY
RECRUITMENT , ATTRITION , AND COVID-19
HOW JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE ’ S CONTACT CENTER RESPONDED TO THE CHALLENGES .
BY BRENDAN READ , CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE ; Q & A WITH MAGGIE GARZA
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE IMAGES
Contact centers have long faced challenges in attracting and retaining staff to ensure quality ( and productive ) customer service . But these were made much more difficult to manage when the COVID-19 pandemic struck four years ago , which upended where agents worked and how they were supervised when they had to work-fromhome ( WFH ).
Today , the staffing challenges remain as labor shortages persist and as costs including wages rise , offset by increased automation . And while there is now a New Normal of WFH including hybrid working , with experience-honed best practices , contact centers , like other business functions , are still tweaking it .
The management at Jackson National Life Insurance Company ( Jackson ), based in Lansing Mich ., with offices in Franklin ,
MAGGIE GARZA
Tenn ., and Chicago , Ill ., have guided the contact center through these times . It has been meeting the agent recruitment and retention needs head-on while moving to a hybrid model . And it has been achieving success all around on all counts .
To learn more about Jackson , what the company has done and how it accomplished them , we had a virtual conversation with Maggie Garza , who is Vice President , Service Center . 46 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE