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An Investigation into the Optimal Retention Strategy for a Cyclical

Financial Services Call Centre

Linda J Horan

09980882

This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master

of Human Resources Management by The Manchester Metropolitan University Business

School.

The dissertation was sponsored by the Business School and in consultation with Carole

Nash Insurance Consultants Ltd

Submitted September 2010


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Abstract

This is a consultancy based dissertation focusing on the examination of retention within

Carole Nash Insurance Consultants Ltd. The organization issued a brief to the author

requesting support in designing a retention strategy within their call centre with specific

focus on whether it would be financially viable to carry over existing staff during the

organizations quiet periods as they believed that existing staff out performed new starters,

though they did not have empirical proof of that fact.

The overall aim of the project was to present recommendations for a retention strategy for

Carole Nash Insurance for 2010-2011. The key objectives set in order to achieve this aim

were as follows:

1. Identify whether, based on actual performance metrics, it is possible to prove that it is

more economically sound to retain surplus staff during the quiet periods as they will

perform more effectively than new starters when call volumes increase

2. Establish the optimal number of staff to be carried over

3. Produce analysis of the current attrition statistics and exit interviews and identify trends

4. Recommend interventions which will curb the trends in attrition and facilitate retention of

the required number of staff as identified in point 2

The project was separated into two phases. In phase one data on the performance of staff

with 12 months service was compared to that of new starters over the period of January to

December 2009. Using this data it was proved that staff with 12 months or more of service

did in fact outperform new starters, generating in excess of 6000 extra profit per head. It

was also established based on the financial information gathered that the optimal number of

staff to carry over was 20.

Following on from this phase two examined the data available within the organization with

regards to leavers, including exit interview data and also involved the gathering of primarydata via workshops and questionnaires. The output of this phase identified that there were

significant short comings in the organization with regards to the gathering and recording of

data on leavers, but did also identify four significant areas of focus for the retention strategy


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i.e. promotional opportunities, managerial support, autonomy and involvement in decision

making and targets.

It was then intended to offer recommendations as to how these areas could be addressed,

however due to constraints in terms of the data gathered, recommendations instead focused

on what further investigation should be conducted in order to design an effective retention

strategy.


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Table of Contents

AreaPage

No.

1 Introduction 8

1.1 Underlying Rationale and Purpose of the Study 10

1.2 Research Aims and Objectives 11

2 Literature Review 12

2.1 Promotional Opportunities 14

2.2 Pay and Benefits 17

2.3Role Clarity, Autonomy and Participation in Decision Making

18

2.4Job Design and Burnout

21

2.5 Training 22

2.5.1 Batt (2000) 24

2.6 Managerial Support 24

2.7 Recruitment and Selection 26

2.8 Summary of Retention Literature 27

2.9 Consultancy Approach 27

3 Methodology 29

3.1 Phase 1 29

3.1.1Proving the financial benefit of carrying over existing

staff29

3.1.1.1 Group Selection 30

3.1.1.2 Data Gathering Income Generation 31

3.1.1.3 Data Gathering Cost of Carry Over 32

3.1.1.4 Data Gathering Profit Differential 32

3.1.2 Establishing optimal number to be carried over 33

3.2 Phase 2 34

3.2.1Leavers Data Analysis

34


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AreaPage

No.

3.2.2 Exit Interviews 35

3.2.3 Primary Data Gathering 36

3.2.3.1 Workshops 36

3.2.3.2 Questionnaires 37

3.2.3.3 Other Methods 38

3.2.4 Policies and Procedures 38

4 Results and Discussion 39

4.1 Staff Carry Over 39

4.2 Reasons for Attrition 41

4.2.1 Leaver Data Analysis 42

4.2.2 Exit Interview Analysis 44

4.2.3 Workshops and Questionnaires 46

4.2.3.1 Promotional Opportunities 48

4.2.3.2 Pay and Reward 49

4.2.3.3 Managerial Support 50

4.2.3.4 Training 51

4.2.3.5Level of Autonomy and Participation inDecision Making

51

4.2.3.6 Role Clarity 52

4.2.3.7 Targets 53

4.3 Policies and Procedures 53

4.4 Summary of Results 54

5 Recommendations 55

5.1 Data Gathering and Recording 56


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AreaPage

No.

5.2 Promotional Opportunities 57

5.3 Managerial Support 59

5.4 Autonomy and Participation in Decision Making 60

5.5 Targets 62

5.6 Other Areas 63

6 Conclusions 64


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Table/Figure Page

Figure 1: New Business Department Data 40

Figure 2: Data for Renewals Department 40

Figure 3: Calculations on variety of numbers of staff to be retained 41

Figure 4: Leaver data presented grouped by length of service 43

Figure 5: Exit interview responses to What is your main reason for leaving. 45

Figure 6: Overall trends for attrition identified by each workshop group 47

Figure 7: Overall results from the retention questionnaires 47

Appendices

Appendix 1 Brief Given by Carole Nash

Appendix 2 Raw Data and Calculations for Carry Over

Appendix 3 Leavers Data

Appendix 4 Retention Information Gathering Sessions & Output

Appendix 5 Retention Questionnaires and Data

Appendix 6 Transcription from Interview with Sales Section Head

Appendix 7 Exit Interview Structure and Raw Data

Appendix 8 Carole Nash Policies and Procedures


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1. Introduction

This consultancy based research project attempts to examine employee turnover within a

specific call centre and present recommendations on a retention strategy which will address the

causes of attrition. Further to this the project seeks to potentially justify the organizationpermitting carryover of excess staff during what they deem the quiet periods to attempt to

reduce the volume of new recruits required by the business to staff up for their busy periods.

Employee turnover has important and direct economical implications as it not only increases

hiring costs, but also affects performance because of the presence of learning curves for new

employees (Askin et al, 2007; Batt, 2002). It also has a significant effect on companies top lines

by inhibiting the ability to keep current customers, acquire new ones, increase productivity and

quality and pursue growth opportunities (Dawson, 2004). Retention of quality employees should

thus be a priority for Human Resources Managers in most environments, but some industries

have turnover rates which mean that retention becomes both a key issue and a significant

challenge. Call centres are one such industry sector with turnover rates well above the norm for

an office-type environment (Kinnie et al, 2000; CIPD, 2009, Dawson, 2004).

A call centre can be defined as a work environment in which the main business is mediated by

computer and telephone-based technologies that enable the efficient distribution of incoming

calls (or allocation of outgoing calls) to available staff, and permit customer employee

interaction to occur simultaneously with use of display screen equipment and the instant access

to, and inputting of, information (Holman, 2003)

A number of studies have examined the call centre industry and in general have not presented a

flattering picture. The jobs have been characterised as dead -end with low status, poor pay,

intense monitoring and surveillance and few career prospects (Deery & Kinnie, 2002). It is

therefore unsurprising that the CIPDs (2009) retention survey showed that whilst the average

labour turnover rate across UK organisations was 15.7%, the average call centre rate was more

than double at 34%. In recent years several well known organisations including, First Direct,

Thompson Directories and Scottish and Southern Energy, have all reported significant issues

around retention of staff in their call centres which resulted in major HR measures being

implemented to attempt to stem the flow of talent leaving the organisations (Kirby, 2005a; Kirby,

2005b; Pollitt, 2007). Smith (2000:123) highlights that retaining qualified personnel at all levels

of the call centre organisation has become a competitive advantage to the winners and a

potential disaster to the losers.


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Despite this and despite the wealth of academic research being conducted within the call centre

environment, research focusing solely on retention strategies within call centres appears to the

relatively limited. Instead the literature focuses to a large part on the control systems and

surveillance exercised. What literature there is focuses for the most part on the causes of

attrition and making general statements regarding potential recommendations rather than

offering practical workable solutions. For example recognising the influence and importance of

training but not specifying the type, frequency or content of the training itself.

1.1. Underlying Rationale and Purpose of the Study

A medium size insurance intermediary, known from this point forward as Carole Nash has

requested support in identifying their optimal retention strategy for the period of 2010 to 2011.

Prior to commencing the MA in HRM the author spent 6 years working at Carole Nash, initially

in the Call Centre itself and laterally within the Staff Development team focusing on

organisational development and HR project management. Retention within the call centre has

been an ongoing issue for Carole Nash during her tenure there and since she left. Knowing the

author had an interest in this area, Carole Nash approached her with a view to conducting this

research. Throughout the project participants were made aware of the reason for her return to

the organisation and thus the dual purpose of the study.

Carole Nashs main product is motorcycle insurance and as such the call centre is very cyclical

in terms of volume of calls. Volumes peak during the spring and summer months, tail off during

autumn and trough during winter. Their recruitment and attrition cycle therefore follows this

pattern, they recruit heavily in winter and spring and then turnover (both voluntary and

involuntary) follows throughout the recruitment period and during the summer so that by the

time calls tail off the staffing levels have also dropped significantly.

Between late 2009 and early 2010, Carole Nash recruited approximately 160 advisor level staff.

The volume of recruits was based on historical data regarding expected call volume and

anticipated turnover. Turnover in the Carole Nash call centre generally runs between 30 and

40% peaking shortly after induction so they have found that in order to achieve the required

number of staff at any given time they need to recruit 130% of what they actually require.

The recruitment cycle starts late in the year and continues to approximately mid March, or until

the required numbers are reached. This recruitment model was used in 2008-2009 and

successfully delivered the recruitment numbers required to meet peak requirements in summer


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2009. Following on from the campaign, attrition was successfully managed in order to hit

required head count and payroll targets during the quiet periods. This management of attrition

included not trying to buy back voluntary leavers and having strict policies and procedures in

place regarding sickness, absence, time-keeping, performance and conduct for staff within the

call centre which means that where headcount is too high, managers can very easily, quickly

and legally manage staff out of the business if required.

Overall, however, it is acknowledged that the annual recruitment model throws up a number of

business challenges:

The model ties up a lot of HR, training & operational resource in the first 6 months of

every year.

Ongoing quality meetings consistently identify the need for training and up skilling of

existing staff and supporting the roll out of strategic initiatives during the busy season.

With the existing training resource and with no change to the recruitment model this will

not be possible.

Management of attrition is resource hungry on line managers in the call centre and HR

It is anecdotally felt that call centre advisors who have been with the business for longer

have higher sales conversions, make fewer errors and have higher call monitoring

scores than new starters. Consequently the customer journey would be more positive if

the call centre advisor population is longer serving and consequently more experienced.Also, income generation would be higher

Carole Nash therefore wish to investigate whether it is financially viable to retain surplus staff

during the winter period in order to have a larger proportion of experienced staff available when

calls volumes begin to increase. Once this has been established they will then require a robust

retention strategy to ensure that the optimal level of staff can be retained each year.


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1.2 Research Aims and Objectives

Consequently the overall aim of this research project is to present recommendations for a

retention strategy for Carole Nash Insurance for 2010 2011.

In order to achieve this overall aim, the following key objectives will be addressed:

1. Identify whether, based on actual performance metrics, it is possible to prove that it is

more economically sound to retain surplus staff during the quiet periods as they will

perform more effectively than new starters when call volumes increase

2. Establish the optimal number of staff to be carried over

3. Produce analysis of the current attrition statistics and exit interviews and identify trends

4. Recommend interventions which will curb the trends in attrition and facilitate retention of

the required number of staff as identified in point 2


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2. Literature Review

This section reviews the literature that is available regarding retention with a specific focus on

call centres. An attempt is made to use the literature to establish whether, via the review, a best

practice approach can be identified or extrapolated which can then be used within the project to

shape the proposals for a retention strategy for Carole Nash as well as identify areas for

investigation within the data gathering phase. One core text, Malhotra et al, (2007), which

examines the precedents of commitment within call centres, is used to give the section an

overall structure. The findings of this paper are examined in relation to the other literature

available in order to attempt to answer the central questions. This paper was chosen as unlike

other papers found, it does not narrow its investigation to a specific area of retention, instead it

examines a number of different areas which may influence or contribute to retention. In all

subsections the author will conclude by linking the findings back to the attempt to establish this

best practice approach to retention in the call centre environment.

Malhotra et al (2007)

In a recent study of four UK call centres, Malhotra et al (2007) examined the issue of

commitment within the call centre environment. They particularly focused on the link between

reward and commitment, testing the theory that reward plays an important role in building and

maintaining the commitment of advisors aswell as ensuring a high level of performance and

workplace stability. However, their study was not limited to what we commonly take reward to

mean i.e. pay or compensation, instead the study examined various facets of intrinsic aswell asextrinsic rewards and their effects on the three components of commitment: affective,

continuance and normative. To examine this they studied four inbound call centres within the

UK banking sector. All three types of commitment examined linked to retention: normative

commitment is the most obvious link as it denotes employees feelings of obligation to stay with

the organization; affective commitment is the employees emotional attachment to, identification

with and involvement in the organization which can also affect employees want to remain. With

affective commitment, employees also desire to reciprocate the investment that the business

has made in them. Continuance commitment is defined as commitment based on cost thatemployees associate with leaving the organization (Weiner, 1982). This can be as simple as

loss of earnings, benefits etc but is also associated with retention strategies such as golden

handcuffs, whereby employees are encouraged to remain with the promise of a payment at the

end of a defined period and pay-back clauses whereby staff are required to reimburse the


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employer for any genuine costs of training prior to resignation. Employers also organise this

strategy to ensure enhanced maternity pay is reimbursed should the employee not return to

work following leave (Taylor, 2002).

Malhotra et al (2007) tested the following intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and their affect on

normative, affective and continuance commitment in call centre employees: working conditions,

pay satisfaction, satisfaction with fringe benefits, promotional opportunities, supervision, team

support, role clarity, participation in decision making, skill variety, autonomy, feedback and

training. They used a significant sample size of 342 respondents, all of whom were front line

customer service representatives and were representative of the call centres studied. However,

despite being a cross section of four call centres, the study was only conducted in one

organization, i.e. four different sites of the same bank with the same, policies, procedures, pay

scales etc. Without a clear view of the practices, demographics and market conditions of these

centres it is difficult to establish how representative these centres and this organization are of

call centres in general or Carole Nash in particular. As an example the demographic facts we

are provided with are the mean age, average tenure and average length of call centre

experience of the advisors examined. This was mean age 30, average tenure of between 3.2

and 4.0 years across all four and average experience of 9 to 11 years. This in itself raises

possible issues with the studies transferability, as this seems very high by comparison to the

average levels across the UK, and is higher than at Carole Nash where the mean age is 26 and

average tenure is 1.6 years.

However, the study does provide a good starting point in the examination of the issue as it

offers an insight into the reason why people become committed and thus the things that can be

investigated when considering a retention strategy. As Taylor (2002), Arthur (2002), Dawson

(2004) and Steel et al (2002) identify, before embarking on a retention exercise one must first

understand the reasons why staff are leaving and the reasons why they are staying. An

appreciation of the research in the area allows the practitioner to structure their investigation

appropriately. The factors identified by Malhotra et al will now be examined in turn and

compared and contrasted with the findings of other authors before examining further factors

which the literature also identifies as significant.

But first it must be noted that on a practical note, in terms of best practice, the authors above

would not agree with simply assuming reasons for attrition within an organisation based on

applying the findings of research papers conducted in other organisations as outlined below.


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Instead, it is acknowledged that for an organisation to gain an understanding of reasons for

leaving comprehensive analysis of exit interviews, trends, voluntary versus involuntary attrition

etc should be conducted to understand which of the theoretical/possible reasons for attrition

outlined below are responsible for attrition within the organisation in question (Taylor, 2002;

Arthur, 2002 and Dawson, 2004). The reasons could be a combination of all, or even one, or

even an entirely unique circumstance to the organisation, therefore simply addressing

possibilities may do more harm than good.

2.1. Promotional Opportunities

Malhotra et al (2007) found that of the extrinsic rewards studied (i.e. working conditions, pay

satisfaction, satisfaction with fringe benefits, promotional opportunities, supervision and team

support), affective commitment was only significantly influenced by promotional opportunities.

This supports the contentions of a number of authors within retention literature who identify the

provision of promotional opportunities as an essential part of any retention strategy (Arthur,

2001; Taylor, 2002; Bozionelos, 2007; McKeown, 2002). It also ties in with the findings of Moss

et al (2007)s study of14 US call centres. They found that call centres who responded to

workforce demands with approaches focusing solely on pay increases met with relatively little

success, that employees were more interested in promotion opportunities, thus call centres that

provided career growth opportunities reduced turnover (Moss et al, 2007). Barnes (2002) and

Dawson (2004) also support this finding pointing out that one of the most common reasons for

leaving given by call centre representatives is lack of opportunities for progression, though

neither presents full information on the empirical basis of this statement.

However, as Taylor and Bain (1999), Belt (2002) and Moss et al (2007) point out, call centres

have relatively flat structures. In Taylor and Bain (1999)s study they found that operator/agents

made up 71.3% of staff, other clerical workers 11.6% and professional and technical grades 4%

of the workforce. Supervisory grades accounted for only 8.8% of staff and managers only 4.3%.

These ratios demonstrate the constraints call centre managers are under when it comes to

providing career advancement and promotion opportunities.

Is it possible within a call centre environment to offer promotional opportunities to all staff who

may want them? Or is the challenge to maintain the possibility of promotion? Malhotra et al

(2007) argue that call centre workers are aware of the limitations of a flat structure so to them

availability of promotional opportunities is perceived as the organizations concern for its

employees future prospects of advancement. Indicating perhaps that it is feeling developed and


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knowing that as and when opportunities do arise they will be considered and/or prepared for it is

equally as important as actual job moves/promotions. Kinnie et al (2002)s study would appear

to agree with this. In this study the RAC call centre under examination managed to significantly

reduce turnover through a strategy which actually reduced the number of layers within the

hierarchy of the call centre but did, however, offer training and development to staff and moved

towards multi-functional customer service roles and thus offered long term development.

Essentially they offered promotional opportunities/personal development via increasing

opportunities for expanding responsibilities rather than traditional moves up the ladder.

However despite these studies both pointing to similar conclusions, they are not directly

comparable. Kinnie et al (2002)s study was based on interviews conducted with 15-20 people

in the organization including CSRs, team leaders, and senior managers. These respondents

included a cross-section of functions including operations, customer services, IT, and HR aswell

as union representatives. This is a very different sample group to that of Malhotra et al (2007)

who studied only the customer service representatives. The ways in which information was

gathered is relatively similar i.e. interviews and questionnaires, however the conclusions are

drawn differently. Whilst Kinnie et al (2002) examined what had been done and what the

apparent results of these actions were, Malhotra et al (2007) investigated the emphasis people

put on theoretical precedents of commitment and how they correlated to commitment within a

call centre environment. A practical versus theoretical dynamic.

In terms of a best practice model, regardless of the differences in the studies methodologies

their findings point to a similar approach that is, if we are to consider including offering

promotional opportunities in our best practice approach to retention, we do not necessarily

have to increase the number of hierarchical promotions we make, but we would instead need to

demonstrate a commitment to support the advancement and developmental goals of staff and

offer promotions where practicable.

Moss et al (2008) would disagree. They encourage the addition of hierarchical layers in call

centres in order to create internal labour markets with good career growth opportunities for an

increased number of employees (Moss et al, 2008; Bozionelos, 2008). They conducted anextensive study of call centres in the financial services and retail sector in the US over a period

of seven years and found that whilst most call centres started with relatively flat structures in

order to minimize cost, as they developed and strove to recruit and retain a motivated, loyal and

skilled workforce their structures evolved to include several hierarchical layers, with some


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almost doubling the number of layers (Moss et al, 2008). This created more opportunities for

growth for valued employees and ultimately reduced turnover.

This difference between the findings of two UK based studies and this American one could

simply be a matter of the cultural difference between the American versus British employees,

perhaps American employees see development and career progression solely in terms of what

Moss et al (2008) call upward mobility. Alternatively, the difference could be down to differing

methodologies. Moss et al (2008) focused on four measures of retention and promotion: (i)

Policies on promotion from within, (ii) number of job levels between which workers can move (iii)

probability of filling an upper level job from within and (iv) perceived probability and equity of

advancement opportunities. They utilized a case study method, with qualitative in-depth

interviewing and a cross-industry sample group including organizations focused on insurance,

banking, and brokerage within finance; department stores and catalog-based retailers within

retail. They also sampled from multiple sites within these companies and interviewed at a

number of levels i.e. Customer Service Representatives, Supervisors, Managers and HR

Managers. In total 121 interviews were conducted. As with Kinnie et al (2002)s study, it is a

regressive view of what happened in the call centres examined and what the impact was on

turnover. However, by comparison the depth and breadth of data sources examined to draw the

conclusions is significantly greater. On one hand this could make Moss et al (2008)s findings

more relevant, as both Malhotra et al (2007) and Kinnie et al (2002)s findings were based on

single organization, be it multi-site, call centres. However, we cannot escape the possible bias

of the international element. How transferable is US data to UK call centres?

In terms of recommendations for best practice, all studies do still point to what could be deemed

career development opportunities being important even if they disagree with how they should be

created or defined. So, it would appear that organisations looking to improve their call centre

retention, should examine this issue, investigate the opportunities available now, examine

whether there is scope for building further opportunities without adversely affecting performance

or increasing cost and then encourage internal promotions rather than external hires. The

organization should be examined to determine whether additional layers would in fact be

beneficial or if alternate ways to support development of employees would be more appropriate.

Whether it is via additional layers or via alternative approaches it would seem that every effort

should be made to support employees progression goals. This also links to training and

development which will be discussed later.


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As a side note, promoting internally is worth further investigation above and beyond the benefits

to retention as it has also been linked to improvements in call centre performance as studies

have found that within the call centre environment external managers tend to struggle to adapt

(Bozionelos, 2008).

2.2. Pay and Benefits

Many authors point to the importance of reward in the retention strategy. As highlighted above

Malhotra et al (2007) did not find any traditional elements of reward to correlate significantly with

affective commitment, however satisfaction with benefits was found to influence normative

commitment. This correlates with the views expressed by Griffeth and Hom (2001) who discuss

the link between fringe benefits and decreased quit rates. They also emphasise the importance

of relevancy when it comes to the fringe benefits highlighting that whilst higher order needs such

pension and medical cover will engender commitment in some employees, others may not see

the immediate benefit of these and require what they call softer perks. In terms of linking this

to call centres, they maintain that lower paid and less skilled workers respond more to these

softer perks such as childcare provisions, product discounts and family friendly policies, than

rainy day benefits such pension provisions and life assurance. This has been demonstrated in

practice at First Direct when retention rates were dramatically increased following on from the

introduction of a number of soft benefits including an on-site nursery, family days, flexible

shifts and even a concierge service (Kirby, 2005a).

The literature in this area thus highlights the importance of examining the relevance of yourbenefits packages to the staff that you are trying to retain. There is no point in offering benefits

that are not being utilized or appreciated. It will only have an effect if the staff value the

offerings. In terms of establishing a retention strategy it would appear that an investigation

should be held as to what the particular organisations employees would value in this area and

whether it is possible for the organization to provide these.

That said, the importance of pay satisfaction should not be disregarded. Malhotra et al (2007)

found that pay satisfaction did contribute to continuance commitment among their sample of call

centre staff. It is also a contentious point in the literature on retention as studies have found

contrasting results. Whilst some such as Tsai et al (2005) and Holman (2002) support Malhotra

et al (2007)s findings that pay satisfaction positively correlates with organizational commitment,

others have found a negative correlation e.g. Eby et al (1999). Within general literature, pay

and compensation frequently features: Arthur (2002) highlights effective financial rewards as an


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essential component of retention programmes; Barnes (2002) points out that whilst pay is not

usually the only factor that encourages employees to change jobs it can be a contributory factor

if rates are seen as uncompetitive.

Whilst the importance is recognized it is also widely accepted that addressing turnover with

purely financial measures will not usually result in successful outcomes. That without

addressing underlying causes the pay increase is just a temporary fix (Griffeth & Hom, 2001). It

stands to reason that effective HR managers must keep abreast of market rates within their

sector. Should another local call centre offer significantly more pay then staff may well leave.

Therefore, the effects of pay cannot be ignored. A full examination of the link between pay and

retention is beyond the scope of this paper, however in terms of finding a best practice

approach, this highlights the need to ensure that rates are not seen as uncompetitive and that

employees level of satisfaction with pay should be assessed.

2.3. Role Clarity, Autonomy and Participation in Decision Making

On the intrinsic side, role clarity, autonomy and participation in decision making were shown to

have a significant positive effect on affective commitment (Moss et al, 2007). Training and

feedback were not found to have a significant influence, however they did significantly affect

normative commitment and will thus be discussed later.

It could be argued that role clarity is easily provided within call centres as call centre roles are

typically highly prescribed, monitored and measured. The integration of telephone and computer

technologies means that are seen as being at the forefront of increased automation with close

monitoring, tight control, high routinisation and labour division (Taylor & Bain, 1999; Koskina,

2006). Each advisor has a role to play and that role is clearly controlled via the systems that

they are required to use. The design of call centres thus easily lend themselves to providing this

intrinsic need. Little room exists within the structure of roles for advisors to be unclear on what

they are expected to do within their roles. Perhaps the challenge to call centre managers will be

to ensure advisors have clarity on the standards to which these tasks must be performed and

where their role links with overall organizational goals.

However, for the same reasons, autonomy and participation in decision making are not so easily

provided within a call centre environment (Sergeant and Frenkel, 2000). The study shows the

importance of these factors as not only to they contribute to affective commitment they also

significantly correlate to normative commitment (Malhotra et al, 2007). This agrees with the

findings of Holman et al (2002) who, in a study of customer service representatives in a UK


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bank, found that greater employee control over methods and procedures, combined with less

frequent monitoring and facilitating team leadership positively effects various aspects of

employee well-being including job satisfaction while decreasing anxiety and depression and

thus intention to remain. They also found that to customer service representatives control over

how they talk to customers and how they do a work task is more important than control over

when a call is taken.

But despite this, autonomy and discretionary decision making is not always possible within the

confines of the role structures and high control monitoring and measuring systems which prevail

in call centres (Russell, 2008). The prevalent job structures and the way in which advisors

interact with the customers and each other is often tightly controlled by the IT system on which

they are working and/or the dialer controlling the pace of the calls coming through to them.

Advisor performance is also highly targeted within this. This is especially true within financial

services call centres where activities are often tightly controlled by regulating bodies and calls

are often highly scripted as a result.

Malhotra et al (2007) acknowledge this issue and suggest involving employees in higher level

decision making about their jobs given that their day-to-day tasks are relatively fixed. They

suggest, for example, involving the employees in decisions regarding performance management

systems, overall working conditions and scheduling. Essentially, the message is to involve

people whenever and wherever possible in order to give them a feeling of involvement, to make

them feel valued and listened to. This approach is highly supported by Arthur (2002) who

suggests involvement strategies such as suggestion schemes and gaining staff feedback and

opinions regarding change in the organization as essential to any successful retention strategy.

It also links with theories on the retention benefits of employee engagement and voice.

A CIPD (2006) survey found that employees feeling heard contributed to a feeling of

engagement which they in turn lead to intention to stay in an organization. However, as Russell

(2008) point out specific research into the presence and/or influence of voice within a call centre

environment is relatively sparse and conspicuously absent from studies such as that of Holman

et al (2002) above and Kinnie et al (2000) below, who examine high performance working in callcentres.

Russell (2008) maintains that despite the research which points to the advantages to retention

of gaining employee involvement in decision making and asking their opinions on working


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practices, other than occasional exceptions, within call centre environments the treatment of HR

issues completely ignores the representational element of the employment relationship.

Kinnie et al (2000) examined how organizations could balance the high control management

approach within call centres with the organizations needs to develop strategies to increase

organisational commitment. They found that the call centres they examined, RAC and Banco,

the HR teams developed what they described as developed HR practices which resembled the

high commitment management approach, while, at the same time, maintaining a highly

controlled and measured work environment. They explored the ways in which these businesses

managed to combine fun and surveillance. Employees were encouraged to take responsibility

for their own performance and that of their teams and make suggestions for improvements. Pay

systems were changed to reward high performers and to encourage more short term incentives

and teamworking was introduced. Within call centres team structures are not required in order

to complete the required work, however the call centres under examination introduced team

working structures in an attempt to exercise normative control over attitudes and behavior and

to provide a social dimension both at work and occasionally outside work. They found that the

use of these practices not only increased the level of performance within the call centres but

also lead to significant decreases in turnover. However, despite the success of the strategies

they discussed, it must be noted that all strategies were still peripheral to the role i.e. the central

issue of call centre roles being monotonous and highly controlled was not changed, they just

added some niceties around the edges. High control management did still prevail but the

addition of further incentives and team activities would appear to make this more bearable for

the employees. Perhaps this contributes to their continuance commitment. Employees may be

aware that the grass is not greener elsewhere. That they may not get these additional benefits

and softer HR elements may be lost by leaving.

The study did not examine the reasons that staff stayed, it simply recited the conditions and

practices of the call centres examined and the effects that this had on the figures around

turnover and performance.

In terms of best practice the literature in this area indicates that every attempt should be madeto provide the staff with discretion and autonomy within their roles as well as involving them in

decision making wherever possible in order to increase their feelings of involvement. In line with

the recommendations of Russell (2008) the presence or absence of employee voice should be

examined and investigations should be included as to whether this can be improved if present,


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or implemented if entirely absent. Role structure should be examined to determine if constraints

are too tight. Is there scope for allowing a degree of discretion to advisors? Perhaps this could

be linked to seniority and experience within the department.

2.4. Job Design and Burnout

The issue of autonomy in decision making and role clarity leads on to the influence of job design

and its affect on employee burnout. These roles have high levels of customer contact, which

can often be of an intense nature e.g. complaint handling. Because of this frequency and

intensity of customer contact, a number of authors point to the emotional labour of call centre

workers and its influence on the incidences of burnout (Holman et al, 2002). As Deery and

Kinnie (2002) point out, in their interaction with customers call centre employees are often

forced to express emotions they do not feel such as friendliness or happiness or to suppress

emotions they do feel such as anger or frustration. This can lead to the employee feeling an

emotional dissonance and may result in anxiety or burnout. The link between emotional labour

and burnout is not unique to the call centre industry, however it can be argued that the design of

roles and management control structures within a call centre environment further intensifies the

issues surrounding emotional labour. For example, call scripting in itself forces employees to act

a role, to play a part. Employees do not even have the freedom to react to customers in a

natural manner, to utilize their own phrasing and build rapport and provide a service to the

customer in a way that comes naturally to them. Sustained customer contact with little

opportunity to vary pace or methods of work can significantly increase levels of stress and

likelihood of burnout (Morris & Feldman, 1996). Added to this are the findings of Deery et al

(2002) who found that employees who spent longer on calls experienced a lower level of

burnout and that levels of stress were higher where there was pressure from management to

maximize customer throughput at the expense of customer service. This does not sit well with a

call centre structure that places strict targets regarding call lengths for advisors.

Holman et al (2002) recommend that employees job control should be maximised and practices

such as insisting that calls are handled within an exact time and excessive call scripting should

be resisted. Job demands and role breadth should be such that they provide a challengingenvironment and one in which the customer service representative has a variety of tasks to do.

Again, as previously discussed, these studies do have limitations in terms of how

representational they are of call centres in general and thus how transferable the results are,

however, the literature available in this area all seems to agree that there is a link between the


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design of the jobs, the emotional labour involved and employee burnout/lack of well being and

thus can be considered significant.

In terms of best practice retention one must also consider the design of the roles and its effects

on the stress levels of staff. Are targets around call length employed and if so, are they having a

negative effect on the emotional wellbeing of the staff? Are the staff experiencing burnout and is

this a significant contributor to the turnover levels?

2.5. Training

Many authors highlight the importance of providing training to the retention of staff (Arthur,

2002; Barnes, 2002; Taylor, 2002). Malhotra et al (2007) also found that provision of training

positively affected normative commitment; that training employees makes them feel more

satisfied and confident in their jobs and thus feel more obliged to continue to stay within the

organization. The fact that it is connected to normative commitment implies this link is present

due to the employees wanting to return the investment made in them, however this may be due

to the type of questions asked which were linked to training e.g. induction, without the

inclusion of questioning around development. Training can often be taken to mean just the

formalized processes i.e. classroom based but other studies have demonstrated that other

forms of continuous development can also have an effect on the commitment of call centre

employees.

Holman et al (2002) examined the effects of performance monitoring on employee wellbeing

and found monitoring can play a positive role in improving well-being when it is seen to be part

of a broader system aimed at improving employees skills and abilities that it is the employees

increased ability to cope with demand that produces the improvements in well-being.

Performance monitoring within call centres is abundant, so much so that they have been

frequently compared to twentieth century electronic panopticansand assembly lines in the

head (Askin et al, 2007; Deery & Kinnie, 2002; Taylor & Bain, 1999). Many authors including

Holman et al (2002) point to the possible detrimental effects of the intensity of the monitoring on

employee well being and commitment to the organization. They found that excessive monitoring

may, over the long term, make employees more depressed and less active. In addition, higher

levels of anxiety brought about by excessive monitoring may cause employees to devote their

resources to dealing with their anxiety, rather than focus on providing a quality customer

service. However, if the positioning and approach of monitoring can be examined to give it a

developmental focus Holman et al (2002)s findings would suggest that it can have a positive


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impact, that employees will see it as the company investing in their development, thus

increasing their feelings of value.

Holman et al (2002) recommend that levels of monitoring should be minimized and effective,

developmentally focused performance appraisal and training should be implemented. They also

maintain that efforts should be made to ensure that team leaders are skilled in administering

performance appraisal and monitoring practices and have a supportive and facilitative style.

However, as with most studies in the call centre arena, their research was based within a single

organization (be it on multiple sites), therefore one cannot assume that their recommendations,

if implemented will be fully effective it differing organizations.

Therefore, when considering best practice approach, rather than blindly following the

recommendations, an investigation into the current performance monitoring processes should

be included to establish (i) the perceived intensity and (ii) the perceived purpose i.e. seen as

developmental or punitive?

In terms of formal training, Callaghan and Thompson (2002) identified that in a call centre

environment it is typical for training to be given initially to all new employees for communication

skills, products and work systems and then after that, a regular update on training is provided

only to poor performers. However providing ongoing training only to poor performers will not

have the retention benefits required. They may encourage the poor performers to hang in there

but that is not the object of a retention exercise. Retention strategies are intended to encourage

the good performers to remain, as such on-going training and development should be providedto all staff; poor performers to help them achieve the required standards and good performers to

help them to further develop their skills and show them that they are valued and that the

organization is concerned with their development. This correlates with the opinions professed by

Armistead et al (2002) who commented that although all call centres invest in training pertaining

to basic procedures and standards required for hard statistical analysis, the more successful

centres in terms of staff retention appear to be those who also offer developmental and soft

skills training.

The exact types of training with the most benefit to retention are not discussed in the literature

however, so again, investigation or requirements and desires for training among the employee

population must be included in the construction of a retention strategy.


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2.5.1. Batt (2000)

In a study which potentially links with both the sections on training and promotional

opportunities, Batt (2000) examined high-involvement HR systems and how they influenced

sales growth and quit rates in a cross functional sample of US Call centres. In this study high

involvement systems were taken to include three dimensions: (i) emphasis on the selective

hiring of employees with high general skills (or formal education) plus a firms investment in

initial training, (ii) the design of work to provide opportunities for individual discretion and

ongoing learning through collaboration with other employees and (iii) provision of opportunities

for continuous learning through participation in "off-line" problem-solving groups (in which

employees and supervisors meet periodically) and "on-line" groups (such as self-directed

teams) in which groups rather than individuals form the basic unit of production and are

responsible for many decisions. As well as various performance related implications, the study

also found that greater use of these high-involvement practices is positively associated with

lower quit rates and higher sales growth in customer service and sales call centres. It thus

further supports the findings of those studies outlined above.

However, as this study did not limit its investigation to the individual elements which formed

each of the dimensions it took as meaning high involvement HR practices, nor did it manage to

fully eliminate the possibilities of influence from other factors it is difficult to accurately assert

that the HR practices alone are responsible for the lower quit rates. Nor is it possible to

determine whether any of the individual factors within their description of high involvement is

most influential. Also, as with the earlier issues associated with the study by Moss et al (2008)

the study, though covering a large variety of organizations across multiple states in the US, Batt

(2000) did not involve comparison to other geographical locations and thus it is possibly

inaccurate to assume that its findings are easily transferrable.

2.6. Managerial Support

Malhotra et al (2007) found that feedback from managers or team leaders had a direct positive

influence on normative commitment of call centre frontline staff. Their results also indicated that

where performance-based rewards are limited, constructive feedback received from superiors

can be used as a powerful motivating tool for enhancing normative commitment. This implies

that call centre representatives feel more obliged to stay with their organization when they

receive due recognition and praise. Malhotra et al (2007) state that this is because they then

realize that their efforts have not gone unnoticed.


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In a study of 477 Dutch Call Centre employees Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2003)

examined how different categories of working conditions are related to sickness absenteeism

and turnover intentions. In similar findings to those discussed above, they provide evidence that

job demands (like work pressure or changes in tasks) are important predictors of health

problems leading to absenteeism and affecting an individual s turnover intentions. However,

they also found that job resources (like social support, coaching, performance feedback) are

predictors of involvement and also determine turnover intentions but this time for the better.

They assert that call centre employees who can draw upon job resources such as social support

from colleagues and performance feedback feel more dedicated to their work and more

committed to their organization, and, consequently, are less inclined to leave the organization. It

would thus appear that to counteract the negative effects of job demands, call centre managers

should provide their employees with increased job resources.

However, this study also has limitations. Though the on-line questionnaire issued had a very

high response rate at 88% and is thus a good representation of the business examined, as with

other studies discussed above, this study is based on a single organization, so its transferability

to other call centres and or other countries is unclear. Also, as with other studies, this data was

based entirely on self reports and thus has reliability limitations. This is particularly an issue with

this study as they relied on self reporting for number and length of absences as the Human

Resources Department was unable to provide this information as record keeping was sporadic.

This raises some alarm bells as to the type of call centre and how representative it truly is of the

typical call centre as described throughout this paper. As has been discussed, call centres are

renowned for the sheer volume of data gathered, recorded and analyzed regarding staff so to

be told the HR department are not recording something as vital to call centre operations as

absenteeism raises questions.

That said, the findings are supported by other authors such as Kinnie et al (2002) who found

that increased managerial support was one of the factors which influenced the RACs decrease

in call centre turnover. Deery et al (2000) also found that customer service advisors who have

supportive team leaders experienced less burnout, which as discussed previously can be a

precursor to employees leaving.

Therefore, in terms of best practice, it would appear that the literature suggests further

investigation into the relationships between staff and their line managers and between team


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members. Are they feeling supported? Is there an environment of team work and support

amongst the team members, are they even structured in teams?

On a practical example various initiatives around team working and team socializing have been

credited by the management of Thomas Cook for reducing their levels of turnover by over 20%.

They cite initiatives such as the introduction of a social club as contributing to increasing the

bonds between employees and ultimately increasing team moral and team working. Employees

felt more supported by eachother and by management.

2.7. Recruitment and Selection

A number of authors have commented on the importance of effective recruitment and selection

strategies on retention of staff in the wider business context and within the call centre

environment in particular (Taylor, 2002; Callaghan & Thompson, 2002) . As outlined above, call

centres present a number of unique challenges to those who work within them. There are the

pressures of job design, propensity for burnout, levels of monitoring and performance

expectations. It therefore stands to reason that selecting staff who do not have the correct skills,

attitudes and behaviours for work will have a significant impact on levels of staff turnover.

Research into the leaving patterns of call centre staff has demonstrated that for a number of

organizations a significant peak in turnover happens with the first 3-6 months of staff joining the

organization (Pollitt, 2007). This could indicate issues with the recruitment and selection

practices, and thus identifies their significance in the retention strategy.

However, please note, whilst it is acknowledged that recruitment and selection programmes

have a significant impact on the turnover levels within call centres a full examination of the

presence in the literature of a best practice approach to recruitment and selection within the

call centre environment is beyond the scope of this paper. For further information in this area

please refer to Townsend (2007), who examined recruitment and induction training and its links

with turnover within the call centre environment. Aswell as outlining a practical case study the

paper also provides an overview of literature in this area.


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2.8. Summary of Retention Literature

The literature in the area of retention in call centres would appear to suggest various

recommendations towards establishing a best practice approach, however as outlined above

the studies on which the information is based have a variety of limitations. For the most part

each study focuses on one factor and its contribution to attrition/turnover and examines it in

depth. The contribution to turnover is measured, tested and confirmed but a practical method

which call centres can put into practice as part of a best practice approach for overcoming its

influence is rarely given.

Also, the majority of the studies are conducted on one centre or multiple locations of the same

organization. Without extensive knowledge of the demographics of the call centres examined

and the product/service and labour markets that they are operating within it is difficult to assert

with confidence that the findings of the studies are transferrable across all call centres.

As such what was found is that whilst the literature provides pointers towards a best practice

approach, it is more useful in terms of highlighting areas that should be examined by any

practitioner looking to implement a retention plan. During the execution of this research piece

these areas will be considered as to their importance in the organizational context of Carole

Nash.

2.9. Consultancy Approach

In terms of the approach to consultancy, it was decided by the Carole Nash HR Team that the

author would assume a similar role to that held prior to her departure from the organisation,

sitting within the HR department. Relationships with the key stakeholders in the business were

already in place as contact had been maintained following departure therefore, typical issues

surrounding consultancy such as negotiation of entry and building of trust and confidence was

not an issue in this case (Pellegrin-Boucher, 2006). However it was made clear in all

interactions with staff throughout the project that the author was working on an external

consultancy basis for Carole Nash and that the project had the dual purpose of providing

information for the business to form a strategy for retention, but also to form the basis of a

consultancy based dissertation. An announcement to the effect was sent to all staff and the

message was reiterated during each interaction with employees throughout the project.


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This approach was appropriate to the organisation given the existing relationship of the author

with the organisation.


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3. Methodology

This section will outline the methodological approach used in order to address the research

aims and objectives as outlined above. The specifics of the approach taken will be discussed,

as well as the limitations identified before and encountered during the undertaking of the

research.

This will be a consultancy-based dissertation. It is not intended to prove or disprove any theories

or hypotheses, but to utilise the resources available to produce recommendations to solve a

particular business problem.

The HR Manager within Carole Nash issued a project brief (see Appendix 1) which was utilised

to construct the overall aims and objectives of the project. The project has essentially been

approached in two stages. The first stage concerns the first two research aims: (i) identify

whether, based on actual performance metrics, it is possible to prove that it is more

economically sound to retain surplus staff during the quiet periods as they will perform more

effectively than new starters when call volumes increase and (ii) establish the optimal number of

staff to be carried over.

The second stage could only be commenced once the first phase was completed and involved

addressing the second two aims of the project: (iii) produce analysis of the current attrition

statistics and exit interviews and identify trends and (iv) recommend interventions which will

curb the trends in attrition and facilitate retention of the required number of staff as identified in

point 2

The phases and research aims were agreed by the briefing HR Manager prior to commencing

phase 1.

3.1. Phase 1

3.1.1. Proving the financial benefit of carrying over existing staff

It was necessary to first prove the economic value to the organisation of carrying over the

additional staff as if this could not be proven then Carole Nash did not have need of a retention

strategy. They would continue to require staff numbers to be reduced in September to

December as business needs decrease and then increase from January in order to prepare for

the dramatic increase in demand during May to August. This meant having to prove that staff

with 12 months service or more outperform new starters.


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3.1.1.1. Group Selection

In order to have as representative a group as possible, all sales staff with over 12 months

service as at 1 January 2009 were chosen for inclusion in the group representing existing staff.

In the data charts this group is referred to as the core group. In January to December 2009 the

sales department was split into two sections, new business sales and renewals. In 2009 the

Carole Nash call centre was split into five departments. New Business dealt with the sale of

motorcycle insurance policies, Renewals dealt with all policy renewals, Personal Lines sold

home and car policies and outbound sold all policies but only made outbound calls whereas the

others took only inbound calls. Lastly customer service dealt with all post sales enquiries and

policy alterations. For the purpose of this study only New Business and renewals were

examined as (i) They are income generating (ii) were the biggest departments in terms of

income generation and advisor numbers (iii) the are therefore the most recruited for (iv) they

have the highest turnover and (v) given their size they are the only departments where carry

over is possible. Also, both departments, rather than just the biggest (New Business) were

examined for the purpose of this study as in early 2010 the departments were combined to be

one Sales Department. Therefore analysis would need to take both into account.

The core group remained constant throughout, i.e. as other staff reached 12 months service

they were not added to the core group. Whilst this was is in some ways a limitation of the data, it

was necessary as due to recording system of the organisation to extract the data in this way

would have been prohibitive to the project given the additional time taken. It was therefore

decided to continue with new starters being a growing group and existing staff actually

decreasing in numbers over the 12 month period of analysis as individuals from the original core

group left the organisation.

The number of staff in the two core groups decreased steadily across the 12 month period

starting at 24 in new business and 16 in renewals in January and decreasing to 9 in November

and December in new business and 13 in renewals (See Appendix 2 for numbers in each group

and all calculation figures).

Inductions commenced in January 2009 which meant the new starter groups began to take

calls in February 2009. As each group joined the sales floor their stats were added.


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3.1.1.2. Data Gathering Income Generation

It was initially proposed to utilise performance metrics readily available within the business to

compare and contrast performance of between the two groups. It was hoped that the

performance against all key performance indicators could be analysed for advisors with 12

months experience or more versus advisors with less than 12 months experience. This would

involve examining income generation, quality scores and compliance scores. However, upon

commencement of the project it was discovered that this data was not entirely accessible by the

business within the timescales required. It was therefore decided, in consultation with the Carole

Nash HR Manager, to concentrate on what was seen by the business as the most important of

all the performance metrics, income generation.

To do this the sales made and the number of calls taken by the advisors in each group were

then tracked over the 12 month period from January 2009 through to December 2009. These

dates were chosen as they covered the full recruitment and attrition cycle for Carole Nash for

one year. These were then used to calculate the average conversion rates of each group.

Conversion rate is the number of insurance policies sold versus the number of calls taken and is

expressed as a percentage. An average conversion rate for each month was then calculated

and recorded based on the number of advisors in the group for that month.

The data on conversion rates and numbers of calls taken was provided by the resourcing team

at Carole Nash. This was then used to calculate the unit variance which was difference in the

number of policies sold by new advisors versus the core group based on the average number ofcalls taken. This gave an early indicative figure of the income lost by new starters taking calls

during January to December 2009.

The data was then used to calculate projected income for both groups. This was done by using

the average number of calls taken, average conversion rate and the average income per policy

during the peak period which was 85.

However, it was acknowledged that the data regarding conversion rates is not as straight

forward as it may first appear. There was no way of analysing whether the customers who rang

and spoke to the new starters and did not buy the policies, called back at a later time and spoke

to a member of the core group who then sold the policy, increasing their conversion rates. The

system at Carole Nash did not allow analysis of this type. It was therefore necessary to assume

that this would happen in both cases, i.e. that there would also be individuals who didnt buy


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from the core staff group who later called back and bought from the new starters (See Appendix

2 for all data gathered).

3.1.1.3. Data Gathering Cost of Carry Over

From here further analysis was required. First the Finance Department provided figures whichcalculated the average cost of an adviser per month (see Appendix 2). This took into account

the following metrics: salary, overtime, sales bonus, year end bonus, pension, employer national

insurance contribution, health care, incentives, cost of recruitment, and cost of training, travel

and entertainment.

It may be assumed that the training costs would be greater for the new starter group than the

existing staff group due to the induction training, however as Carole Nash are proposing that if

the existing staff are carried over and the trainers are therefore freed up from inductions, they

will use the resource to provide additional training to the existing staff the average costs were

still utilised. Also, recruitment costs were taken as an average as at Carole Nash they are

relatively low per advisor and it is anticipated that they will be counterbalanced by the HR time

used to manage the retention of the existing staff if they are retained.

The Finance Teams analysis reported an average monthly cost per call centre adviser of

1621.81. This cost was then used to calculate the maximum cost of carrying staff over the

quiet period as if they were not required to take calls they were purely an overhead. Therefore

the cost of carry over was calculated as 1621.81 x four months (October January) i.e.

6487.24 per FTE.

3.1.1.4. Data Gathering Profit Differential

The cost of a new starter for the 8 month peak period, i.e. 1621.81 x 8, 12974.48 was then

subtracted from the income to give the average profit generated by a new starter over the 8

month peak period.

The same calculation was then performed for the core group using their average conversion.

However, the costs for the core staff group was calculated over 12 months to take into account

the cost of carry over during the quiet period.

These figures were then compared to establish whether experienced staff did in fact (even when

extra cost of carry over is taken into account) generate more profit than new starters over the

same period.


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3.1.2. Establishing optimal number to be carried over

It was originally anticipated that once the data had proven that existing staff out perform new

starters a cost benefit analysis could be carried out to establish the optimal number of staff to be

carried over. To do this it was anticipated that the projected call volumes and target sales

information for 2010 2011 would be available to use. This would provide the optimal number

of staff required during the 2010 2011 to take the anticipated number of calls. Knowing how

many people would be required during the busy period would, it was expected, give a clear

indication of how many could be carried over. However, the information will not be available until

after this deadline for the project and too far into the quiet period for the business to make the

necessary plans and changes. Therefore the decision was made to present a number of

different scenarios based on the metrics gathered to the HR and Finance Managers for them to

make a decision based on the information currently available.

The output of this decision will be discussed in the results section.

Once optimal numbers are established phase 2 of the project could begin i.e. establishing the

reasons behind the currently high levels of attrition within the Carole Nash Call Centre and

utilising that information to propose a retention strategy which would result in the optimal

number of staff being retained during the quiet periods and ensuring where new starters are

recruited that they are then retained in the business.


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3.2. Phase 2

Following the analysis of the metrics in order to justify the potential carry over of staff, analysis

was undertaken regarding the leavers from the organisation during the same period of January

2009 to December 2009. The purpose of the analysis was to attempt to identify trends among

leavers which could then be explored in order to address common issues regarding retention.

For this analysis Carole Nash had requested that all call centre departments were examined,

i.e. customer service, new business, renewals, personal lines and outbound sales. This request

was made for the following reasons (i) the organisation believes that the issues on the

departments will, for the most part, be the same (ii) they believe that if each department is

looked at in isolation the numbers will not be statistically significant (iii) whatever retention

strategies are recommended will need to be adopted across all departments even if they are not

actively seeking to carry over additional staff as they do not wish call centre staff to feel that

they are treated differently based on what department they are in.

3.2.1. Leavers Data Analysis

Information regarding the leavers was provided by the HR department and included the

following: department, hire date, leave date, termination reason, and employment status i.e. full

or part time. The information was used to attempt to analyse the reasons for leaving, forced

versus voluntary attrition and trends regarding length of service.

Reasons for leaving for each employee should be recorded on the company HR system

Ceridian. However, when the information was extracted, of the 105 leavers during the period, 10

reasons were not recorded, 17 were simply recorded as resignation with no actual reason for

the resignation, a further 21 were recorded as resignation new job with no reason for why

they sought a new job. 3 more were recorded as resignation job not suited. Another 9 were

dismissed having gone absent without leave (AWOL), again their reasons for doing so were

unknown. This meant that other than providing information on the rate of forced attrition versus

voluntary these data sets could not be used for further analysis. This left only 48 leavers for

analysis regarding actual reason for leaving. Less than half the original total. See appendix 3 for

all data.

Forced versus voluntary attrition was examined. Forced attrition is taken to mean those who left

at the behest of the organisation i.e. probation not confirmed or dismissed due to sickness,

lateness, absence, performance or conduct. Voluntary was those who resigned or went AWOL

i.e. those who voluntarily made the decision to leave the organisation.


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The data was also used to analyse any trends regarding length of service. Firstly, the ratio of

trained staff to non trained staff was analysed. Trained staff were regarded as staff with at least

3 months service. The 3 month marker was chosen in consultation with the training department

who highlighted that staff attend a 4 week induction training period following by a further 8

weeks of settling in on the department with occasional spells back in the training department

dependent on need. Only following 12 weeks service are they regarded as fully trained.

Also examined was length of service, with average and median length of service being

calculated. The length of service of each advisor was then flagged as one of the following, 0-1

month, 1-3 months, 4-6 months, 7-12 months and 12 months plus in order to try and identify any

trends in this area.

The information was then cross referenced with information from the training team and

resourcing department to identify the following: induction group and team leader. It was

proposed to utilise the information regarding team leader and induction group to attempt to

isolate any trends associated with who ran induction training sessions and which team leaders

staff were managed by.

As will be discussed later, all of the information gathered was of an unsatisfactory nature. Due

to the very limited amount and often absent information recorded on the system in most areas

the analysis provided no significant information that could be utilised to establish trends.

3.2.2. Exit Interviews

The next step was to examine exit interview output to analyse whether it could bring depth to

the basic metrics gathered from the HR department. The exit interviews are all conducted by the

HR team and recorded on a central excel spreadsheet. If procedure is followed then all

voluntary leavers should be interviewed prior to leaving the business. The data gathered is then

made entirely anonymous with only the overall figures for each question recorded against each

call centre department. The same questions are asked to each individual with their answers

recorded on a scale related to each question. See Appendix 7 for exit interview questionnaire

and the data which was provided by the HR department.

As will be discussed later the information from the leavers information and exit interviews

proved to be for the most part inconclusive due to the inconsistent quality of data gathering and

recording, therefore it was decided to gather primary data as outlined below.


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3.2.3. Primary Data Gathering

Two methods of data collection were chosen, questionnaires to all call centre staff and

workshops for a representative sample of staff. These methods were chosen for a number of

reasons.

3.2.3.1. Workshops

Workshops were chosen to enable the gathering of qualitative data from a range of sources

within a short period of time. Workshops are frequently used at Carole Nash to gather data

during the scoping phase of projects and thus the employees are familiar with participating in

data gathering of this type.

Workshops were run with staff from each call centre department with a minimum of 12 months

service. It was decided to only include individuals with a minimum of 12 months service as these

individuals would be able to comment knowledgeably on why people stay within the

organisation as well as provide insight as to why they believed colleagues had left. The

numbers in the workshop were decided by the business and based on the number of staff that

they could afford to allow off the phones at any given time. Based on the number provided an

invite was then issued to all staff with the required service looking for volunteers for the

workshops. It was explained within the invite that the workshops had a dual purpose of

providing information for the business and for the completion of this report. Participants were

assured of the confidentiality of their input at all times. The resource department permitted 5

workshops of 10 participants each. Due to the number of volunteers, holidays and other

commitments, 4 workshops were run with a total of 30 participants. The split in the sessions

were as follows: 15 Sales Advisors, 8 Personal Lines Advisors, 3 Outbound Advisors and 4

Customer Service Advisors.

The format of the workshops was kept simple to gather as much information as possible in the

relatively short time available. A copy of the invites issued, facilitators notes and the output of

the workshop can be found in Appendix 4. The use of brown paper and post it notes is a

common method of information gathering in the organisation. It allows for participants to easily

record the output of their conversations regarding the topic and then working as a group, identify

trends of their own output. The session was also run for a group of team leaders, invites issued

to all 12, 6 attended the session and also 4 of the 5 section heads. The output of these sessions

is also in Appendix 4.


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The output of these sessions was then analysed to identify overall trends in the opinions of the

groups and then compared and contrasted with the information gathered from the questionnaire

and the other secondary sources.

3.2.3.2. Questionnaires

Questionnaires were chosen as they allowed the collection of data from potentially every

member of the advisor level staff of the department without disrupting the business as usual.

The questionnaire was designed around the areas identified as significant in the literature

review as detailed above but also included a question regarding targets. This was included

following on from the workshops where it was identified alongside policies and procedures as a

major issue.

Also identified as an issue in the workshops but not included in the questionnaires was levels of

satisfaction with policies and procedures. This was not included in the questionnaire for three

reasons, (i) it was not identified as an area of significance within the academic research and (ii)

it was felt that seeking opinion on policies and procedures from the general staff population

could create issues internally and (iii) The data in leavers available did not show a significant

number left because of the policies and procedures.

The policies at Carole Nash are used extensively and have been utilized in their current form

for a number of years. Opening the door to possible criticism without a plan of action to address

was seen as potentially counterproductive and therefore was mainly excluded on this basis.

Also excluded was reference to burnout as it was felt by the HR Manager that, along a similar

line to her concerns about policies and procedures, questioning advisors on this area was not

appropriate to this medium as it could cause an issue where one may not exist.

A simple likert scale was chosen to ensure that the questionnaire could be completed quickly,

thus increasing the likelihood of a good rate of return and also ensuring that the completing of

the questionnaire did not distract from the activity of the call centre. The questionnaire was

distributed in paper form to all call centre staff with instructions regarding how to complete and

how to return confidentially. Instructions explained the dual purpose of providing information forthe business and for the completion of this report and assured the participants of the full

anonymity and confidentiality of their answers. Of the 148 questionnaires distributed, 63 were

returned. A response rate of 42.57%. According to the HR department at Carole Nash this was

a good response rate. Their typical response rate for annual employee surveys which are


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distributed and collected in the same way runs at an average of 46% (See Appendix 5 for copy

of questionnaires and outline of information provided to participants).

Following the analysis of the results of the questionnaire a brief one to one interview was held

with the Section Head of Sales during which questions were asked regarding the potential

reasons behind some of the results. The time available for this interview however, was relatively

brief due to the volume of work she had to complete.

3.2.3.3. Other Methods

Another method which was considered was contacting leavers from the organisation to

interview them and gather information regarding their reasons for leaving the organisation.

Previous studies such as that conducted by Barnes (2002) found that independent individuals

contacting leavers following their departure from organisations, often gain valuable insight from

interviewees which they have not previously shared with the organisation. However, following

discussion with the HR Manager of the organisation, this was ruled out as she did not feel

comfortable contacting previous employees in this manner given the potentially personal or

sensitive reasons for departures and the amount of time lapsed since many had left given the

study was examining data from January to December 2009. Therefore primary data gathering

was limited to workshops and questionnaires.

3.2.4. Policies and Procedures

The companys policies around sickness, lateness, performance, KPIs and conduct were

examined to attempt to establish whether they were overly strict and thus affecting attrition. This

involved desk based research of the policies and examination against the leaver figures.


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4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Staff Carry over

The first key objective of this project was as follows:

Identify whether, based on actual performance metrics, it is possible to prove that it is more

economically sound to retain surplus staff during the quiet periods as they will perform more

effectively than new starters when call volumes increase.

As outlined above this was the first piece of analysis completed. Data can be found in Appendix

2. The results demonstrated that during 2009 experienced staff i.e. the core group,

outperformed new starters. As can be seen from figure 1 and 2 the unit variance across both

departments was also significant, indicating that on basic metrics existing staff out perform new

starters.

Download - Horan project

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