Contact Center Pipeline January 2023 January 2023 | Page 15

I ’ m seeing some good reasons for the uptick in departures during training .
First , the entire job application process has been upended by the big job board companies ( i . e ., Indeed , Career Builder and others ).
Applicants are now invited to “ speed apply ” or “ fast click ” their way through to apply for multiple jobs at the same time , often without ever seeing anything more than the job title itself .
Yes , people can click through to look at individual full job postings / job descriptions , but many aren ’ t taking the time to do it . They are taking the shortest route that ’ s been offered to them , and that ’ s this new bundled “ apply ” process .
Employers then end up with hundreds of applications from people who never really seriously considered the posting , or the job , fully .
Now , switching to the employer ’ s end of things , many organizations have accelerated their sourcing and assessment processes due to the highly competitive environment for talent . So , offers are made more quickly , and people are accepting roles that they are not fully invested in , or committed to . It ’ s making turnover worse .

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On top of that , many job boards are now charging pay-per-click fees , which means employers are paying thousands of dollars each month for applicants that have never fully reviewed the postings !
I recommend that companies steer away from using job board aggregators and invest more in digital job fairs where interactions are live . A number of job board companies actually produce these live job fairs , and it ’ s a much more legitimate means of getting the attention of qualified candidates .
IT ' S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME FOR COMPANIES TO GET REALLY GOOD AT VIRTUAL LEARNING ...
I also recommend that companies revisit and materially beef up their own employee referral programs . Employees have huge social networks and broad digital reach .
When a referral bonus is appealing , and paid out at 90 days , employees will see to it that qualified referrals join - and succeed . As an employer , I would much rather pay my own employees for bringing in new hires , versus paying Indeed .
Referral bonuses should be minimum $ 1,000 per hire . If you think that ’ s a big number , I suggest you check your company ’ s spend on the job boards and calculate your cost-per-hire . If you ’ re doubting whether your current employees are good sources for referrals , I think you need to work through this issue first , before you tackle this next one .
The second trend for increased turnover during training that I ’ m seeing is that the overall quality of the virtual training experience is falling short of what organizations truly want it to be . It ’ s understandable , as fully virtual new hire training is very new to many contact centers .
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Clear expectations need to be set ( with a high bar ) around participation , focus , contributions , and success measurements in training . The digital classroom requires a great deal of interaction and activity ( minimum two training leaders ), meaning learners are actioning something and participating every 3-5 minutes , and switching learning mediums every 45-60 minutes .
It ’ s going to take some time for companies to get really good at virtual learning and running engaging , successful new hire classes . Employers can accelerate their pace of success by staffing classrooms with abundant support resources and using fun and competitive learning tools – like gamification . Recognizing people for learning throughout their employment lifecycle is a good thing !
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. Remote and hybrid employees need consistent connection paths and social avenues . Everyone I know is aware of the fact that work from home and hybrid are more isolating . And everyone knows that people crave varying levels of social interaction during their workday . The trick is to get really good at providing connection options that run the gamut . A broad base of intentional , thoughtful connection points ( educational , personal and lifestyle , skills-building , celebratory , and purely social ) all need to be included . CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
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