Motivation Misunderstandings
 

Centerserve presents a new tutorial series focused on identifying and improving common problems related to motivating agents.  This tutorial series will pull from Prosci's research-based toolkits and best practices reports. The first module in the series explained the importance of understanding call center culture and what it means to your agents.  This tutorial addresses the disconnect between agents and supervisors.		If you don't see the penguin, it's not Centerserve.
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Module 2: The Agent-Manager Disconnect

Background

Are managers and supervisors out of touch with their workforce? 

Most call centers provide incentives to their agents to increase productivity and promote a positive work environment.  In this tutorial series, you will discover that the things that most managers and supervisors think their agents value and what agents say they value, are often very different.  You may be surprised at the “disconnects.” 

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 an industry norm. 

But how is it working?  We 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.  Through this research, we found some surprising facts.

Research findings

According to Prosci's Motivating Agents Toolkit, managers and supervisors rated the following job factors in their “Top Five” list of things they use to motivate their call center agents:

1. Structured incentive programs (rewards, contests, bonuses, etc.)
2. Feedback to agents (performance evaluations, call monitoring, walk-arounds, etc.)
3. Additional training, new responsibilities, special projects and career-pathing opportunities
4. Group meetings and information-sharing
5. Ability to choose work schedule

In the previous tutorial, we addressed the factors agents listed as top motivators.  The top two responses were "positive leadership skills of supervisors" and "relationships on the job."  A comparison of the groups' lists provides insight into the difficulties experienced when managers attempt to motivate their agents.

Managers and supervisors said that “structured incentive programs” are the Number One thing they use to motivate their call center agents.  Agents did not even include “incentives” in their “Top Five” lists.  Furthermore, supervisors and managers responded with this answer nearly four times as often as the reply they gave which made the number two spot in their “Top Five” lists.

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.”

These disconnects illustrate a clear obstacle for managers who  believe they are creating a motivating environment, when in fact they are focusing on programs that have little value to many call center employees.

To view a sample of the Motivating Agents Toolkit, click here.

The effects of the disconnect

What conclusions can we draw from the lists of motivating job factors?

First, we’ve observed that agents value different things than their managers and supervisors believe they do. 

Many of the agents’ top motivating job factors include basic considerations, such as “benefits,” “work tools and equipment” and “competitive pay.”

None of these job factors appeared on the managers’ and supervisors’ lists of motivating job factors.  Perhaps managers and supervisors believe that attempting to modify such general job factors is beyond the limits of their positions, so they do not evaluate them when deciding how they can motivate their employees.  We’ve discovered that these things are actually very important to agents.

What we can conclude is that if these job factors are not designed adequately, such as competitive pay for the job and location, properly-functioning equipment, and reasonable benefits packages, these factors can quickly turn into job de-motivators.  You can learn more about the top motivators and de-motivators in the Prosci Motivating Agents Toolkit.

Coming up...

The agent-manager disconnect may be having a significant impact on the motivation of your employees.  Next week's tutorial will explore the notion of "incentives vs. motivators."   Just offering an incentive program may not equate to motivation of agents.

For more information on improving agent loyalty, check out Prosci's Motivating Agents Toolkit.

Click here to find out more

Recommended resources:

This tutorial provided information from our Motivating Call Center Agents Toolkit.  More information on this and other call center products can be found in our Bookstore.