Overcoming the Agent-Manager Disconnect
Module 1 - How managers can reconnect with agents on motivation The Call Center Learning Center is excited to announce its new toolkit - Motivating Call Center Agents, a comprehensive guide on how to increase agent productivity and retention. This tutorial series will pull from the Motivating Agents Toolkit to illustrate how to establish an effective motivation and incentive program in your call center. This module will introduce the series and look at the agent-manager disconnect and what you can do about it. Module 2 will take a closer look at the Motivation Lifecycle. Module 3 will illustrate the motivation process roadmap and show you how to create a truly motivating workplace. Module 4 will conclude the series with tips for how to incorporate other call center resources to retain motivated and loyal agents.
Are the incentives you are using
supporting your goals, or are they actually interfering with them? Are you motivating your agents to
achieve quality and performance, or are you inadvertently teaching them how to “beat
the system?” In this four-part tutorial series,
you will discover that motivating agents is an ongoing process, not a one-time activity or
event. You will learn how to customize a motivation program for your agents to make a
lasting impact in your call center.
Are
managers and supervisors out of touch with their workforce? Call
centers are investing record amounts of money and time in incentives specifically aimed at
motivating and retaining their agents. This is a predictable response, given that the
baseline turnover rate of 20% to 40% is considered the industry norm. But
how is it working? Prosci conducted interviews with hundreds of call center managers,
supervisors and agents to find out what they considered the top workplace motivators that
directly influence job performance and worker loyalty. Here
are some surprising facts: Agents vs. Managers - Round 1: Top Five Motivating Job Factors Agents rated the following job factors in their own Top Five list of things that are most motivating to them on their jobs. Managers and supervisors rated the following job factors in their Top Five list of things they use to motivate their call center agents.
Comparing the Lists Managers and supervisors said that “structured incentive programs”
are the Number One thing they use to motivate their call center agents. Notice that agents did not even include “incentives” in
their list. Furthermore, supervisors and managers responded with this
answer nearly four times as often as the reply that made Number Two on their list. Agents consider
the “positive leadership skills” and the one-on-one relationship with their
supervisors to be the most motivating factor for them on the job. Managers and
supervisors listed “feedback to agents” a distant second behind
“incentives.” Both agents and
supervisors discussed the overall environment and culture as important to motivation on
the job. However, when agents refer to the environment and culture, they specifically talk
about relationships on the job with their co-workers and peers. In describing the general
culture of their call centers as a motivator, managers and supervisors did not refer to
the behavior or interaction between people. Instead, they told us about the contests,
gifts and prizes that are important characteristics of their “culture.”
Prosci also asked
call center agents to list the most de-motivating things about their jobs. Managers
and supervisors were also asked to list what they consider most de-motivating for
their agents.
In
comparing the lists for the biggest de-motivators, we see again that agents have different priorities than what their managers and
supervisors think they have. For
example, agents cited “poor leadership skills of supervisors” to be their Number
One de-motivator.
Remember that “positive leadership skills” are agents’ Number
One motivator. Agents also listed “irrelevant incentives” as
a de-motivator. This is different from the managers’ and supervisors’ answer of
“no incentives.” (Remember that
managers and supervisors cited “incentives” first in their list of motivators.) This means that while managers and supervisors think that
agents find it de-motivating to have “no incentives” offered to them, agents
actually find “irrelevant incentives” to be more de-motivating. “Irrelevant incentives” can include donuts for
dieters, hockey tickets for opera fans, or an “Employee of the Year” plaque in a
call center where the average length of service is nine months. “Irrelevant incentives” can be any
incentives that don’t match the recipient’s personal goals or preferences. Agents
consider “irrelevant incentives” more de-motivating than no incentives at all.
The Effects of the Disconnect
The consequences of this growing gap in communication can be a de-motivated workforce. The average employee is often treated as a potential flight risk. And the concept of loyalty, in some cases, has been rendered into something that can be purchased, rather than earned and valued.
These effects are eventually felt at all levels of a company. It's a situation that has spawned an industry of quick fixes. Many incentive programs are designed for their scatter-shot effect: they'll manage to hit a lot of people, but often with incentives that agents do not value.
How Can You Reconnect?
Just as the culture in your call center is established over time, creating motivation is also a process, rather than a one-time activity or event.
In order for your call center to be truly motivating, you must be pro-active, not reactive. Spending money on gimmicks, games and logo-emblazoned mugs and pens will have little long-term impact if your efforts stop there. The most meaningful efforts will be relevant and specific. Agents will value them, and you will see both short-term and long-term returns on your investment.
The remaining modules in this series will help you to move beyond the agent-manager disconnect and understand the Threshold Model, the motivation process roadmap and the resources you can use to address specific motivation problems in your workplace.
In addition, the new Motivating Call Center Agents Toolkit provides in-depth assessments and templates to create a customized motivation program in your call center.
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