High agent turnover is all too common within the call center industry, and it’s a clear sign that agents are stressed, overworked, and less engaged with customers. All of these underlying factors are connected, too, with 56% of disengaged employees citing that they felt a lot of stress in their last workday.
This low employee engagement leads to increased agent churn, disrupting team stability and increasing recruitment and training costs. Additionally, disengaged agents often deliver poor customer experiences, which results in reduced customer satisfaction, lower retention rates, and a weaker bottom line.
To tackle this chain reaction of negative outcomes, you need to connect with your agents and motivate them to become more engaged—and satisfied—with their work. You need to embrace workforce engagement management (WEM) and show them you care about their wellbeing and job satisfaction, or you’ll never end the cycle of disengagement and churn.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss what workforce engagement management is, how it differs from standard workforce management (WFM), and the benefits it brings. Then, we’ll give you some practical tips on effectively implementing it into your contact center and measuring the impact.
Originally a term coined by Gartner, Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) refers to the strategies companies use within contact centers to improve agent performance and wellbeing alongside productivity and performance.
It involves various practices designed to boost employee motivation, streamline operations, and improve customer service quality by improving the workplace culture.
You're likely already doing some of the key components of workforce engagement management for your standard workforce management, such as:
These are all holistic ways to increase employee morale and efficiency, with WEM taking a more focused approach. By implementing WEM, you can create a more engaged—and committed—workforce, leading to higher CSAT scores and a healthier bottom line.
There is a degree of overlap, with WFM and WEM both aiming to achieve similar goals.
However, they pursue these goals in different ways.
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Workforce management focuses on the logistics of your staff—scheduling, forecasting, and ensuring the right number of agents are in place to meet customer demand. It’s the backbone of your call center operations and ensures operational efficiency.
On the other hand, workforce engagement management goes beyond logistics. It includes performance management, fostering collaboration, and recognizing employee achievements to keep your team motivated and committed. WEM ensures that your agents aren’t just present but fully engaged and delivering their best work.
Running a call or contact center involves keeping a lot of plates spinning—from managing agent performance to ensuring customer satisfaction to staffing enough agents. Workforce engagement management offers a methodology that addresses all these concerns in a holistic manner to transform your operations. Let’s check out some of the biggest benefits.
High agent turnover is a consistent issue within the call center industry, with 42% being the average attrition rate in the industry for 2022. Workforce engagement management addresses this by enhancing job satisfaction and engagement among your agents.
By providing continuous feedback, recognition, and growth opportunities, WEM creates a supportive and positive work environment. Engaging your employees makes them more likely to stick around with your company, reducing turnover rates and maintaining a more experienced (and reliable) workforce.
WEM uses advanced tools and methodologies to monitor and improve agent performance. With real-time analytics, performance analytics, and personalized coaching, you can ensure that your agents are performing at their best.
Plus, WEM systems streamline workflows and optimize task distribution, leading to higher efficiency. And, as a result, your call center can handle more interactions with better accuracy and speed, boosting its overall productivity.
The quality of your customer service is directly linked to how engaged your agents are—bored or rushed agents don’t make pleasant experiences. Engaged employees are more motivated to provide that exceptional experience customers look for, which leads to an improved customer experience (CX). WEM gives your agents the skills and knowledge to resolve issues effectively and promptly, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Better performance and efficiency naturally lead to higher revenue. Engaged agents are more skilled—and more willing—to upsell and cross-sell, contributing to increased sales. Additionally, customers with an amazing customer experience are more likely to return and recommend your brand, expanding your customer base.
By investing in workforce engagement management, you can create a positive feedback loop where better employee performance drives higher revenue, and that increased revenue allows you to invest more in employee engagement.
Workforce engagement management systems provide a wealth of data that can be analyzed to gain a deeper knowledge of different aspects of your contact center. From identifying training needs to understanding customer preferences and needs, these insights enable you and your team to make data-driven decisions.
By taking advantage of data analytics, you can continuously refine your strategies and processes, ensuring your call center stays flexible and efficient even as demands change.
Effective workforce engagement management can make all the difference in a modern call center. Implementing effective and robust WEM practices can bring plenty of benefits to your teams, but using them in the right way can bring you from good to great.
Here are some tips we have to get the most out of your WEM practices.
Setting clear, achievable goals gives your agent a sense of purpose and direction. Using the SMART goal methodology ensures that your goals aren’t impossible to reach. Then, make sure you’re clear and transparent with your teams about these goals and how you expect to meet them.
Then, let them loose! Encourage collaboration and healthy competition to keep them engaged, and use recognition and rewards that reflect your agent’s personality over generic corporate celebrations (sorry, no more pizza parties).
Regular feedback is a cornerstone of effective performance management and is no stranger to the call center industry. More frequent feedback means stronger engagement overall, giving agents a sense of purpose and motivating them to strive for improvement. It also opens the door to ongoing dialogue with them, making employees feel more heard and valued.
Schedule frequent one-on-one sessions where you can provide tailored insights and actionable advice instead of waiting for annual reviews. Employees are 3.6 times more likely to agree they feel motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily feedback over annual feedback.
Opportunities for growth and development keep employees investing in their roles—and your company—which can significantly improve your turnover rate. Offering training sessions, workshops, and clear career progression paths can transform a mundane job into a fulfilling career.
You can even consider establishing a mentor program to help foster a positive, collaborative working environment where staff can learn from each other and how to advance into new roles throughout their career.
Empowering your agents means giving them the autonomy to make decisions and solve problems independently. It also means giving them some freedom over their workday—like scheduling shifts that work better for them, the tasks they need to do, and more.
When agents feel trusted, they’re more likely to take the initiative and go the extra mile for customers. Providing the right resources and showing trust in your team can lead to more innovative solutions and a more responsive customer service experience.
Your agents are human, too, and you should treat them like that. Their wellbeing is a top priority, meaning they need to feel happy with their work. Implementing wellbeing initiatives like flexible schedules, mental health resources, and wellness programs can significantly reduce stress and burnout.
A healthy work-life balance results in happier, more productive employees. So, remind them to take a break, encourage activities that promote mental health, and consider it an investment in their long-term health.
Choosing the right tools for workforce engagement management can make or break your strategy. Quality assurance software paired with performance and quality management tools can help you create more effective, informed training sessions and feedback for your agents. You can also pair this with survey tools to gather employee feedback and measure their engagement levels to see how they really feel (and how to improve).
Additionally, look for gamification features within your tools to help motivate employees and promote healthy competition.
Finally, effective leadership is essential for driving workforce engagement. If you’re not as invested as your employees are, how can you expect them to do the same?
Leading by example means demonstrating the kind of commitment, integrity, and enthusiasm you want to see from your agents. Whether that means hopping onto the phones and taking calls during busy periods, your leadership style defines how your agents see you and how they’ll respond to you.
WEM is essential for optimizing call center operations, but how can you measure its impact? By tracking key metrics, you can see how WEM affects your agents and customers and how it creates a continuously improving feedback loop. Here are some common metrics you should be analyzing:
Your employees are the lifeblood of your call center, and keeping them engaged is essential. Implementing workforce engagement management can significantly improve not just your call center operations but also your work environment. With a better working environment, you’ll see increases in customer and agent satisfaction, better performance, and a beefier bottom line.
Scorebuddy can help you achieve your workforce engagement management goals without overhauling your existing tech stack. It offers engaging performance management through its GenAI Auto Scoring, integrated coaching, and personalized agent dashboards. Plus, its data analytics can give your team a deeper look into their performance and create effective, engaging training sessions.
Interested in elevating your call center’s work-life balance and making a difference in your agents’ work? Sign up for a free demo today and see how Scorebuddy can level up your organization.
