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7 Drivers of Employee Engagement in the Contact Center

As many brands have taken note, customer service success is directly linked to employee engagement. Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of keeping employees motivated and empowering them to display their strengths at work. Indeed, when employees do not feel engaged, the results may be costly to the company. A Gallup poll found that engagement levels drop to just 2% when managers ignore their employees, compared to 61% for teams led by managers who highlighted employee strengths. In the contact center, employee engagement can therefore be the differentiator between stellar customer service and customer churn as a result of poor service. Here are seven drivers of employee engagement in the contact center that every brand should recognize.

Highlighting employee skills.

Matching employees to the positions that best highlight their skills is a powerful motivator. Contact center agents should assess individual skills and ask for employee input when assigning positions. When employees are matched to the jobs that most motivate them, their confidence grows and enables them to deliver the best service possible. In addition, managers should allow for career growth opportunities so that employees are truly rewarded for doing optimal work.

Providing employee training and development opportunities.

Contact center technologies and practices are always evolving. For this reason, regular training is essential to making employees feel comfortable with technologies such as CRM software, for example. In addition, employees need regular training in areas such as soft skills, just to be aware of how they should interact with customers. Whenever certain skills are lacking, contact center managers should provide further training and development opportunities to help agents improve.

Trusting employee feedback.

An important factor in employee engagement is soliciting and trusting employee feedback. As contact center agents are in constant communication with customers, their opinions on how to improve service are tremendously valuable to a company. Therefore, asking agents to provide feedback on topics such as call script revisions and stronger communication skills can optimize customer service practices and show employees that their opinions truly count.

Fostering a team spirit.

It’s always a good feeling to know you are part of a dedicated team. Fostering a team spirit within the contact center is truly a powerful motivator for success. Employees should be given opportunities to collaborate during training sessions, exchange peer feedback, and bond outside of work during special retreats. Gamification tools may also be used to promote healthy competition among agents and serve as a fun way for individual teams to learn from each other.

Establishing clear communications between managers and agents.

Contact center agents and managers need to establish clear communication practices to truly drive customer service success. Agents need to feel that they can reach out to managers for support whenever they need to. Managers should strive to offer regular feedback sessions and acknowledge agents when they are doing their best work.

Enforcing workplace optimization.

A popular and truly essential trend in employee engagement is workplace optimization. Contact centers can be stressful, and agent and managers alike need to feel both physically and emotionally comfortable to perform their tasks well. To achieve this, simple tools and practices can help: providing ergonomic chairs and office equipment, putting motivational posters on the walls and plants around workspaces, and, perhaps most importantly, creating calm break rooms where employees may relax and chat with one another away from their workstations.

Establishing a brand mission.

Understanding a brand mission is essential to employee success. When employees know exactly what the brand stands for and what benefits are being offered to customers, they can better understand and act upon these values and beliefs. For example, if a brand offers eco-friendly products or takes pride in offering competitive prices for electronic goods, employees may use this knowledge to better serve their customers during both service and sales interactions. Employee engagement is essential to running a successful contact center, as motivation and support fuel individual and team success. Inspired and empowered employees transfer their feelings to their work, resulting in greater customer experiences.

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