RECRUITMENT
BY MARK TINNEY, JOBEHAVIORS
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
WHY BEHAVIORAL ANALYTICS MATTER AND MORE THAN EVER IN
In today’ s volatile economy, contact centers face heightened pressure. Valuable customers— whose spending power is increasingly concentrated at the top— demand flawless experiences while organizations must control costs more tightly than ever.
Against this backdrop, hiring the right agents from the outset is no longer a“ nice to have”; it’ s a strategic necessity.
THE TRUE FINANCIAL RISK OF A BAD HIRE
When a contact center hires someone who doesn’ t perform, the costs go far beyond their salary. Key contributors to this risk include:
16 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
CONTACT CENTER HIRING.
• Recruitment and onboarding. Recruiting and training a new contact center agent can run between $ 4,000 and $ 7,000, according to research published by McKinsey & Company on contact center performance and workforce economics.
• Turnover rates. Annual agent turnover often falls in the 30 %– 45 % range, according to industry benchmarking studies from SQM Group and Contact Babel.
• Replacement costs per agent. Replacing a single agent can cost $ 10,000 –$ 20,000 when factoring in recruiting, training, and lost productivity, according to the Society for Human Resource Management( SHRM). Cost-of-turnover estimates frequently place replacement costs at 50 %– 200 % of annual salary, depending on role and ramp-up time.
• Productivity ramp-up. New hires often operate at only 50 %– 60 % efficiency in their first months, according to McKinsey. Workforce analyses have highlighted significant productivity gaps during ramp-up periods in contact centers, contributing thousands of dollars in indirect cost per agent.