How to Hold on to Agents in Hybrid Contact Centers?

Many workspaces and contact centers are turning their business to the hybrid work model. Hybrid work models and contact centers offer flexibility and comfort for remote employees. Still, they also come with contact center challenges and opportunities, primarily regarding agent retention or attrition and churn.

Read this blog, and you will get tips on how to hold on to agents in a hybrid contact centers, which can be your roadmap to building a thriving hybrid contact center business. 

What is the hybrid contact centers?

A hybrid contact center usually combines different work practices. Based on the nature of their job, an employee divides his or her time between working remotely on some days and in an office, coworking space, or at the customer’s location on others. 

Simply put, A hybrid contact center is similar to a hybrid work environment, but instead of employees, it refers to how a contact center functions. It combines two different approaches:

1. On-premise contact center: some employees, agents, and customer service representatives work in a physical call center location.
2. Cloud-based contact center: Some sales agents or sales development representatives work remotely using cloud technology.

This blend allows for flexibility and combines the benefits of traditional in-person customer service and the growing popularity of remote work.

A balanced hybrid work approach offers several benefits, including enhanced productivity, improved work-life balance, and cheaper organizational operational expenses. 

When collaborating on a project, the office environment is often preferred, but if the task requires individual focus, then remote work is ideal. Hybrid work schedules must be shaped by balancing family commitments and work responsibilities tailored to individual needs.

However, the hybrid contact center work model has some associated problems, such as dealing with diverse work styles and communicating across time zones.

What are the Challenges of hybrid workforces in contact centers

While hybrid contact centers offer advantages, there are also challenges to consider when managing a workforce split between in-office and remote agents:

• Communication and Collaboration: A clear, efficient phone system or consistent communication across locations and time zones can also be unpredictable or unreliable for other reasons. Besides, in a hybrid workforce, casual interactions that are vital for quick huddles may thus be missed by remote working agents, like while at the office, thereby hampering collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Maintaining a Team Culture and Engagement: Establishing and sustaining a robust cross-functional collaboration and coordination between members may seem daunting given the fact that some are far in physical terms or do not physically exist where remote representatives and personnel may experience aloneness or alienation from their co-workers thereby affecting the spirit and the overall involvement of themselves.
• Performance Management and Quality Control: Monitoring agent performance in running a contact center with mixed office/home locations is tricky, and consistent quality customer service can be even more challenging if a hybrid approach is employed. Supervisors might have to change their evaluation techniques and strategies to work for office-based and distance agents in a manner that works for everyone attending a hybrid session.
• Technology and Security: Seamless communication, getting data whenever you want, and effective agents working from the office or elsewhere entail a strong, safe technological infrastructure in a mixed situation. It is also important to keep information private in the public cloud and inside your company’s computers.
• Training and Onboarding: Training new agents requires adapting to various work conditions, as it may not always be possible to distinguish between remote and office work clearly. To achieve the best performance, it is important to incorporate both online resources and traditional face-to-face communication.

Top 7 Advantages of implementing hybrid work in a contact center

We have presented you  a list of the top 7 advantages of implementing a hybrid work model within a contact center:

1. Safety and Wellbeing:

The hybrid model allows for continued flexibility if there are health concerns or disruptions, like childcare needs. This can help employees feel secure and supported while working on their daily office work without being away from their family members.

2. Increased Productivity and Efficiency

A hybrid model allows workpeople and sales agents to choose the work environment that best suits their tasks and roles. It provides flexibility and a more controlled environment for working from home or anywhere else. This can refresh employees’ moods and reduce agent burnout, positively impacting productivity and work efficiency.

3. Maximize Employee Satisfaction and Retention:

Remote hybrid work cultures and practices allow employees and companies to maintain work-life balance. They can improve employee morale, reduce burnout, and increase employee retention, positively impacting employees and the company’s performance and productivity. This results in better mental health and happier and more satisfied employees and workforce.

4. Recruiting top talent from anywhere: 

Companies can recruit top talent or employees from anywhere and any part of the globe through a hybrid work model, allowing skilled and talented people to contribute remotely to company growth, including the different departments of customer support, sales, and others.

5. Connect and reach global customers: 

It also offers an advantage to connecting with customers globally, allowing you to offer service globally and save costs associated with international staffing, marketing, or establishing a virtual presence.

7. Reduced Costs:

A hybrid working model can also reduce the organization’s overhead costs by employing fewer employees in the office. This can reduce office expenses, including office space, utilities, and other operational expenses. 

On the other hand, Employees save on transportation costs and time simultaneously.

8. Improved Collaboration:

Some business owners or employers worry that a hybrid model might disturb employee or workforce collaboration. In reality, it can encourage effective communication and collaboration with the help of a contact center platform and project management tools. 

Sales teams can leverage cloud-based communication technology to stay connected and share information seamlessly with clients and the company, regardless of location.

The Real Reasons for agent churn in the contact center

Here are some of the real reasons for agent churn in the contact center:

Work-Life Imbalance: Due to fixed work hours or long working days, it becomes hard for the agents if they are to strike a good balance between work and life. This can be tougher for those with commitments to care for or parents. 

Agent Burnout: In particular, toxic working culture and much work majorly explain why agents quit their jobs. When considering work-life balance, you should also keep track of duty allocation to the load to minimize agent or staff burnout.

Recruiting and training: Without ample training, call center agents will not be able to deliver better customer service. This will make the agents unhappy, leading to poor performance and then quitting. Hiring new staff takes up much time in call centers.

Technical Issues and Outdated Tools: Obstructed work by unmanageable machinery or undependable systems can result in low productivity and agent dissatisfaction

High Turnover Rates: High turnover rates in a call center can be caused by poor career development, odd call hours, and a small number of agents handling calls. Call centers should focus on strategies that promote employee retention.

Negative Culture and Management: A toxic work environment with poor management practices may lead to a high agent turnover rate. The absence of supportive systems, vague expectations, and a tendency toward micro-management contribute to a negative work experience.

Best Tips for How to Hold on to Agents in a Hybrid Contact Centers

I. Utilize collaboration solutions: When a workforce is decentralized, remote and effective collaboration solutions are needed. Implementing and utilizing effective communication platforms such as SMS, text messages, video conferencing, and project management software to facilitate seamless interaction between remote and in-office agents can improve remote collaboration and mitigate errors or misinformation.

II. Offer Reward and Recognition: Agents who perform well and deliver good results and work must receive good compensation and recognition for their efforts and accomplishments. In fact, many agents also want to be rewarded and recognized for their contributions.

As a result of being recognized for their quality work, agents feel more appreciated and encouraged to keep performing at their best every day. This can lead to higher retention levels and lower churn rates for agents.

III. Performance scorecard and training: Call recording and call monitoring systems allow for the evaluation of call quality and quantity, which allows for call center analytics. Giving an agent a scorecard helps evaluate individual performance easily.

Training your call agents and using positive scorecards helps develop quality interaction skills and a morale boost since the agents are crucial to making quality interactions with the customer.

This helps to meet the targets and improve the quality of the call centers. The use of good technology is also one of the key factors for meeting the targets and call quality.

Monitor agent workload and burnout: A lot of high attrition rates are attributed to agent burnout, particularly when working odd hours or with a heavy workload that leads to a lot of attrition. Maintaining a work-life balance for employees helps reduce staff or agent burnout by promoting a work-life balance.

FAQs

How can I effectively manage agent performance in a hybrid work model?

You can follow this list to manage agent performance in a hybrid work model effectively:

• Develop clear performance metrics relevant to remote and in-office work
• Invest in a remote coaching tool
• Conduct regular performance reviews with both sets of agents

What are some additional tips for retaining agents in a hybrid contact center?

Below are some of the tips for retaining contact center agents in a hybrid contact center operation:

• Conduct regular open feedback from agents to understand employee experience, needs, and concerns.
• Offer flexible work schedules and empower agents with ownership over their work.
• Create a positive and supportive work environment by declaring clear expectations and open communication.

How to improve communication and collaboration in a hybrid contact center?

Utilizing collaboration tools, scheduling regular team meetings (both virtual and in-person when possible), and encouraging open communication across all channels or defined channels for synchronous and asynchronous communication can improve communication and collaboration in a hybrid contact center.