We’ve created this guide to help you measure and boost your productivity. Whether your goal is streamlining your current process or simply boosting employee morale, these actionable steps will give you what you need. Let’s get into it.
The importance of productivity in call centers
Boosting call center productivity means analyzing every aspect of customer interactions; from call wait times to resolution rates and everything in between. . Assessing the quality of both calls and agent performance depends on clear insights into how well the issues are resolved.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can measure call handling time, idle time, resolution rates and so much more, presenting insights into your agents’ efficiency and time management skills. Call abandonment rates can give you an idea of how effective your call routing is, while customer feedback gives a more realistic view of the team’s performance.
Productivity challenges in call centers
Managing high call volumes
High call volumes produce plenty of challenges, but two things are certain: overwhelmed agents and long wait times.
No one enjoys being on hold. When customers are forced to wait in long queues, they get frustrated and impatient. This leaks into their interactions with agents, leading to stress and mental drain for call center teams.
Plus, agents aren’t robots: they experience burnout and exhaustion. Spiked call volumes can greatly affect call quality and employee morale, putting a massive strain on resources. Operational efficiency goes down, call abandonment rates go up, which all lead to lower levels of service quality and poor customer satisfaction.
Combatting employee burnout
Call centers are full of results-driven work and constant pressure to hit KPIs. On top of that, the emotional labor can overwhelm agents, leading to burnout.
It’s not always easy to identify burnout in employees, but there are some telltale signs:
- Loss of enjoyment in their work.
- Pessimism and a general lack of enthusiasm.
- Higher rates of sick days and absenteeism.
- Lower productivity.
- Easily avoidable errors.
Noticing burnout is half the battle; the real challenge is tackling it head-on and reducing its impact. There are a number of ways to do this:
- Recognize and address exhausted employees.
- Implement wellness programs to encourage a healthy team.
- Establish flexible schedules to suit each individual, such as remote work or flexitime.
- Get constant feedback from employees and recognise issues when they arise.
- Use tools to minimize workload, such as automated IVR solutions.
- Provide constant support with training and development opportunities.
Lack of proper agent training
Hiring new staff doesn’t happen automatically. It requires extensive training and onboarding to maintain universal standards across all organizational levels.
The effect on productivity is tangible when staff aren’t fully trained: longer call times due to agents’ inability to resolve issues quickly, higher error rates on account of knowledge gaps, and reduced first-call resolution.
Such issues stem from weak onboarding programs and no ongoing training. And as the market evolves, agents must evolve with it.
Inefficient operations and higher costs
Poorly managed workflows, unproductive systems, ineffective processes – all these things are a recipe for inflated costs.
More often than not, outdated technology and poor resource management are drivers of operational inefficiencies. Slow software leads to wasted time which means agents handle fewer calls per hour, ultimately resulting in longer call wait times.
On top of that, poor system automation puts an even heavier manual burden on agents. Spending time on tasks that could be done easily by a computer wastes time, energy and money, resulting in increased employee dissatisfaction.
Common reasons for low productivity
Ineffective processes
- High turnover rates: The constant cycle of recruitment, onboarding and training can drain the company wallet and quality of service. The constant rotation of staff leaves no room for consistency, which damages the customer experience.
- Outdated technology: Legacy systems use up vital company resources. Their inefficiency often requires human intervention, leading to higher operational costs.
- Manual drain: Less automation means more manual labor. More staff need to carry out time-consuming tasks, resulting in more labor costs and wasted resources.
Inadequate training
Not providing a sturdy training program can lead to long-term problems down the line, such as:
- Poor retention: An unclear career path and no long-term progression makes people less inclined to stick around
- Negative customer experience: Poor customer service leads to lost revenue and customer churn.
- Low confidence and morale: Poorly trained agents are less confident, causing high stress levels and low morale.
- More mistakes and higher costs: A well-trained agent makes fewer mistakes and more calls, resulting in better cost-effectiveness.
- Undervalued staff: People may begin to feel undervalued if their organization fails to invest in their development.
Badly monitored metrics
Measuring productivity is the name of the game. Keeping track of KPIs is second-nature to call center managers. But ensuring that they’re measuring the right thing isn’t always obvious.
Call center managers are laser-focused on reducing Average Handle Time (AHT) as they see it as the main driver of success. They push agents to keep calls as short as possible, without considering the effect on call quality. As a result, agents rush their calls and customers leave the interaction without a resolution to their problem.
Management paying attention to the wrong metrics can skew their focus away from what creates actual value for the company. In other words: a recipe for disaster.
How to measure call center productivity
Overall call resolution rate
There are two main metrics for tracking call resolution: first-call resolution and overall call resolution. Both use similar formulas and require a solid criteria for defining, measuring and determining exactly when a call is considered resolved; whether that be 5 days or 30 days from the initial call.
To calculate these rates, follow these simple steps:
- Define: Was the customer’s query fully addressed by the end of the call? Is any follow-up contact necessary? Figure out what constitutes a resolved call in your organization.
- Collect data: Consult the CRM to see if a customer contacted again within a specified period of time, or send post-call surveys to gather feedback on whether their issue was resolved.
- Calculate:
Overall call resolution rate
Number of resolved calls ➗Total number of calls X 100
For example, if 1000 out of 4000 total calls were resolved, then the OCRR would be 25%.
First-call resolution rate
Total number of first-call resolutions ➗Total number of calls X 100
For example, if 800 out of 1000 total calls were resolved on the first try, the FCR would be 80%.
Ratio of output to input
The output:input ratio involves capturing how much input (time, money, call volumes) is required to drive output (talk time, resolutions, meetings booked). Calculating the ratio is important for seeing where resources might be wasted or how they could be redirected. And it’s simple to do:
- Define: Input includes any and all resources used for customer contact (e.g hours, staff costs, training). Output is the result of the input (e.g issues resolved, customer satisfaction scores, calls handled). Establish the input and output goals and what each one means to your business.
- Collect data: Specify a period of time and collect as much quantitative data as possible for both input and output. For example, where input data is the number of hours worked, and output is the number of issues resolved.
- Calculate:
Input:output ratio
Total output ➗Total input
For example, if 20,000 calls were handled in one month and agents worked 2,000 hours, then the ratio would be 10 calls per hour.
Average handle time
The amount of time spent on customer calls is one of the most important metrics that call centers track. It shows how productive agents are and how quickly they resolve issues. To calculate it:
- Define: Establish the exact components that are most important, like talk and hold times, or any after-call related work in the form of note taking and system updates.
- Collect data: Gather information such as call duration and total number of calls handled, ensuring the numbers are completely accurate.
- Calculate:
Average handle time
Total handle time ➗Number of calls
For example, if the total handle time for 500 calls is 10,000 minutes, then the AHT is 20 minutes per call.
Call abandonment rate
Understanding call abandonment rate can give you an idea of the impact waiting times are having on your customers. The metric can vary depending on the existence of self-service options or call volumes. Calculating CAR is simple:
- Define: Is the person disconnecting before speaking to a human agent due to long wait times, inadequate self-service or poor call routing? Solving the problem means finding the root cause.
- Collect data: Track all incoming calls and record the total number of calls in a day, week or month, carefully monitoring how many are connected versus disconnected.
- Calculate:
Call abandonment rate
Number of abandoned calls ➗Total number of incoming calls X 100
For example, if 150 out of 1,000 calls are abandoned, then the CAR is 15%.
How to manage productivity measurement in call centers
Define KPIs
The first step to effectively measure your call center’s productivity is to determine your KPIs. Set clear goals and outline the aspects of each one, clearly outlining the target attainment so there’s no room for misinterpretation.
Monitor performance
Constant quality analysis of metrics provides a full understanding of your call center’s productivity. In the context of the above, performance monitoring would be as follows:
Call resolution
Interpret the review rates to identify any trends or patterns. If rates are low, try to figure out the underlying causes: inadequate training, issues too complex, not enough resources etc.
Input:output
Analyzing the ratio helps to determine possible areas of improvement. A higher ratio points to better efficiency, whilst lower ratios could mean underused resources or low performance.
Average handle time
Evaluate the AHT data to see how effective agent calls are and identify trends and fluctuations. But consider the full scope of possibilities: lower numbers could mean calls are being handled quickly and efficiently, but too low and the agents might be rushing them. Higher AHTs could point to highly complex customer issues, but too high might mean improperly trained agents.
Call abandonment rate
Review average wait times to see if they’re in line with customer expectations, taking note of any trends or patterns to see if they’re improving or worsening. Consider whether peak times are influencing disconnects and adjust staffing accordingly.
Set benchmark and goals
Collecting and measuring data is a challenge in itself. But knowing how to leverage it in your favor isn’t always intuitive.
Once you’ve collected it, benchmark your information against the industry standard. What are your competitors doing that you’re not? Do you need to set goals to improve the input:output ratio, increase the number of calls, adjust the KPIs or bring down the cost per call?
Use historical data to establish your goals based on others in the same sector. Aim for continuous improvement and a balance between quality and efficiency, without compromising on either.
Regularly evaluate and adjust
Regular evaluation of objectives means adjusting or optimizing them based on both customer and employee feedback. Try implementing a few basic processes:
- Offer training programs on how to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality.
- Look at potential areas of the business that could be streamlined or upgraded.
- Implement workload management tools to boost agent performance.
- Bring in new technology if your software could use an upgrade.
- Optimize staffing to bring down wait times if peak hours are an issue.
- Improve queue management with callback options or self-service.
- Enhance IVR systems to make call routing more precise.
Strategies to increase productivity in a call center
Having a clearly defined roadmap will help guide the way to a productive call center. We’ve put together our top tips that will help you do exactly that:
Invest in the right software
First, figure out exactly what aspect of your CX you want to change: automated responses, 24/7 service, multilingual options, etc. Figure out what direction you want to head in with clear and precise goals to steer your decision making process.
Research is key to unlocking the right software: weigh up the pros and cons, along with both the quantitative and qualitative qualities of the software. Are you aiming for scalability, end-user experience, cost-effectiveness, language support, voice options, or integrations? Having your criteria laid out will make it that much easier to choose the right provider.
Improve processes
Work closely with your IT team to upgrade and automate your processes wherever possible. Upgrade your current technology if it’s outdated and automate the manual tasks that drain employee’s time. Shorten any lengthy processes that burn through resources by implementing tools like TTS and IVR to cut out the manual workload.
Comprehensive training programs
Recruitment and onboarding mean very little without solid training. Training and development, especially during product launches or business changes, makes failure impossible (or at least nearly!). And don’t forget to keep all training materials readily available so staff can dip in and out when they need a refresh.
Continuous monitoring and training
Your employee’s feedback is the best way to understand how your organization is functioning from within. And your customer’s enables you to see your product or service in a different light.
Leveraging the insight gained from both sides lets you adjust and improve where needed. If a system gets updated, a new provider is put in place, or a new procedure is introduced, make sure your team are all on the same page.
And check in with your staff on a regular basis. They’re your greatest asset! Pay attention to their performance and wellbeing. Have biweekly one-to-one sessions or group meetings every Monday to check on everyone’s workload to ensure no one’s overburdened.
The bottom line
Operational efficiency and great customer service come from excellent productivity. By considering the challenges and implementing actionable measures to enhance your strategies, you can turn your call center into a powerhouse.
And Voiso’s innovative call center software not only provides intuitive analytics, it automates most of the manual admin associated with customer service. We make it easy to boost productivity levels and reduce costs in the process.
Chat with us today to see how we can fit in at your business.
