Partnership for Turnover ReductionOperations and Human Resources

Key Focus Areas Impact on Attrition Role of Human Resources

Role of Operations

Agent Selection Effective screening for qualifications and ensuring a good job match is essential to reducing turnover.

A proper fit will increase likelihood of the success of an employee. If an employee is not happy or successful in the position, they are more likely to leave the position.

Develop and administer effective screening processes.

Provide a realistic job preview Represent Convergys positively in all

phases of selection. Balance quality and quantity Gather relevant job/project information

from operations to ensure best fit.

Define job expectations Work with HR to provide feedback

and input to processes and results Provide accurate information to HR in

ample time for scheduling, advertising and recruiting needs.

Agent Preparedness Agents who feel unprepared are more likely to be dissatisfied and leave.

A verbal and visual job pre-employment preview will prevent person from landing in job other than what they expected.

Adequate initial training will increase comfort level and likelihood of remaining in position.

Ensure new hires fully understand job expectations, HR policies and procedures

Provide a realist picture of the position and the nature of the project and industry.

Provide easy to use reference materials.

Supervisor meet new team members as soon as possible, and orient them to operational policies/procedures.

Ensure effective training programs. Provide nesting period and ongoing

support.

Agent on the Job Support Having the appropriate support during training and on the calling floor can have a significant impact, particularly during the first weeks of employment.

Communicate open door policy. Spend time on the calling floor talking

to phone reps, establishing relationships and responding to questions/issues.

HR should always be available as support and mediator.

Use transition time to provide more concentrated support and direction during initial weeks after training.

Ensure supervisors are available to assist on the calling floor.

Provide ongoing support in other employee issues, i.e. paycheck discrepancies, career counseling, etc.

Supervisors Ability to Effectively Manage People

Effective management of our staff is key to retention. Supervisors are primary source of information and the first point of contact.

The inability or inexperience of a supervisor can effect the whole team. The moral/attitude of solid performers who observe the mis/non-handling may be negatively impacted.

Provide ongoing, consistent and timely training and development.

Work with Operations to provide feedback on supervisor effectiveness.

Ensure quality Team Supervisors hires/placements.

Communicate success or challenges of attracting adequate Supervisor expertise for offered pay of position.

Provide direct staff development for supervisors. Managers must own development of their team.

Take necessary developmental action for those who are not effective supervisors.

Review employee files and discuss actions as a development step.

Competitive Wages and Benefits Within the Local Market

Competitive wages are the primary recruitment tool in our industry. For those that only work for money, this is the key to retention; however, we should not focus on this segment of the workforce. Benefits can

Continue to maintain and evaluate current market and competitor wages and benefits.

Make recommendations to Operations and Corporate HR regarding

Accept cost of doing business at market rates to ensure fair and equitable compensation for employees, positive community relations, and longevity for the center.

help to attract a more long-term workforce; however, our agents cannot afford benefits for two years, and don’t accrue PTO until six months.

If an individual can go elsewhere and get better benefits or more money, they will, unless there is another factor that compensates (i.e. culture, environment, the people they work with).

compensation and benefit plans. Promote from within and advertise the

success of do so.

Implement sales incentive plans. Proactively work to “save” persons “at

risk” of term based on pay/benefit issues.

Accurately capture any wage/pay-related terminations in term/exit process.

Provide a Fun, Safe Working Environment

Although by it self this is not a major retention factor, coupled with other key factors, it increases morale and job satisfaction.

Culture and attitude may be the biggest opportunity to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

Work with Operations to introduce creative employee relations programs and activities.

Work with Facilities to ensure all safety regulations are met.

Monitor and manage worker’s compensation issues.

Work with HR to implement creative employee relations programs.

Introduce contests, rewards and other activities as needed which are specific to employee and program needs.

BE POSITIVE AND SUPPORTIVE. This alone can make work more fun.

Supervisor to Agent Ratios

The impact on turnover is greater during the first 90 days. Once an employee receives effective training and a high level of support during the 30-60 days following training, the supervisor to agent ratio impact decreases.

Provide feedback to Operations on employee concerns.

Help develop temporary supervisors. Support Supervisor in their efforts to

adequately support their agents, get their questions answered, etc.

Determine targeted ratios for number of agents and FTE’s, and communicate.

Maintain a reasonable ratio. Assess the effectiveness of transition

time after training. Consider lower ratios for the first 90

days. Be readily available and visible to

agent population as “next step” resource when Supervisor is not there.

Nature of Calling Program

This can have a significant impact on turnover if an employee is placed in a program which does not match his/her skill set or desires (i.e., Outbound, Inbound). If the program handles primarily dissatisfied customers, this will have a major impact.

Match applicants with programs during the selection process.

Effectively communicate to applicants the client driven nature of business and the possible impact on schedules, programs, etc.

Ensure a realistic job preview. Establish timeline and process that will

allow persons to change projects. Look at those “at risk” or who have

submitted resignation to save by placing on more appropriate program.

Attempt to offer voluntary shift and program changes when possible rather than mandatory.

Offer incentives for programs with difficult (angry) callers.

Encourage internal transfer and promotional opportunities

Push back on client to resolve issues related to customer dissatisfaction.

Alert HR to incorrect placement decisions and support move vs. term.

Merit Increase Cycle If our wages are at or near the market wage, more frequent merits can have an impact on retention. Six months should be the minimum time for the first merit.

More frequent increases in the first year may help with the initial frustrations and incent an employee to “stick it out”.

Implement a consistent merit cycle across all centers and programs.

Effectively communicate the earning potential to applicants and new hires.

Report late merit reviews to management.

Complete merit reviews and related paperwork in a timely manner.

Ensure merit increase process is administered and communicated to agent population consistently and constructively while differentiating between top and low performers.

Program Stability Mandatory downtime has an obvious impact Help to find creative ways to encourage Attempt to optimize resources during

on turnover. Voluntary downtime is more often a positive even though it is related to the program’s stability. Likewise, mandatory overtime has an impact if it is excessive or has a short lead-time.

If perception (or reality) is that the job could be temporary or lay-off could be expected, individuals may continue to look for what they view as more stable employment.

downtime and overtime when needed. Not impact benefit eligibility due to

downtime. Work creatively and proactively to

reduce possibility of lay-offs by anticipating downsizing and ramp-ups, etc.

periods of instability by working with other programs, locations or divisions.

Push some risk to the client for instability caused by the client.

Communicate as soon as possible any mandatory changes. Work with HR to minimize employee relations issues.

Communicate to and work with HR to plan proactively to handle downsizing to ensure no lay-offs.

Call Center Growth Curve Any ramp brings a natural increase in turnover. Centers in a constant state of growth will experience higher turnover because most occurs within the first 90 days. Centers that ramp higher than the labor market will sustain higher turnover.

Recommend optimum center size to match the labor market.

Maintain balance of quality and quantity.

Anticipate growth by maintaining a pending file of qualified staff candidates, and then hire to keep up with growth curve. Promote from within when possible.

Size the center appropriately. Provide as much lead-time as

possible. Anticipate growth and submit reqs for

staff positions necessary to support that growth. Identify internal candidates and communicate to HR.

Develop your employees towards advancement.

Difficulty of Program Program difficulty does not have a large impact on turnover. In fact, the more difficult programs typically pay more and have agents with higher tenure.

Match candidates with programs based on skill set and desire.

Implement compensation structure that reward higher skill sets.

Give realistic job preview/description. Realize likelihood of burnout or

boredom in considering requests for move between projects.

Ensure adequate agent support and help resources are available.

Accept cost of paying higher wages for more difficult programs.

Identify with HR and support any needed moves between projects to ensure retention of good performers.

Realize likelihood of burnout, stress or boredom and adjust the manner in which you support different projects and individuals.

Length of Agent Training This can have an impact on turnover if training is so short that agents do not adequately grasp necessary skills and knowledge.

If training is too long there will be turnover due to absences and missed training.

Provide agent feedback and recommendations to Operations.

Verify schedule availability of candidate to ensure no conflicts through training period.

Clearly define attendance expectations during training before hiring the candidate.

Work with training department toward more flexible training schedules, times, make-up sessions.

Continually evaluate training and make revisions as appropriate.

Consider creating “make-up” sessions for unavoidable/excused absences.

Upward Mobility Upward mobility to various levels of agent or various program complexities with associated pay increases does play a role in retention. Upward mobility to supervisor or other staff positions does not have as big an impact on retention.

Develop fair and consistent internal posting and promotion processes and policies.

Effectively communicate to applicants and new hires the opportunities available for upward mobility. Show

Accept and promote transfer and promotional policies.

Balance company needs with employee needs. Look globally, not as project specific implications.

Provide career counseling of direct

them there is internal growth. Ensure postings are consistently and

readily available to all employees. Recommend employees for promotion

(look for opportunities for key performers).

Implement agent level job and compensation structure.

Advertise successful promotions from within.

Provide honest feedback. Provide career counseling.

reports. Encourage and support application for

change or advancement when qualified.

Give honest feedback. Determine and arrange for training to

help develop direct reports towards advancement.

Local Unemployment Rate

This has a high impact on turnover as employees run the market in areas with extremely low unemployment. In areas with higher unemployment, employees are less likely to job hop.

Work with asset management to recommend sites with higher unemployment.

Seek alternate labor sources. Differentiate Convergys from other

employers (design programs, rewards that are distinctive).

Keep positive Convergys attributes visible to employees (Good News for the year posted).

Adjust recruitment efforts based on unemployment rates and competitors.

Identify what applicants and employees want and try to implement (i.e. tuition reimbursement, childcare).

Understand the market and size the business appropriately in each center.

Exhibit and contribute consistently to a fun, friendly, and supportive work environment.

Assist HR in recruitment efforts in course of everyday life (i.e. recruit the sales person that helped you at the mall and gave you such great service).

Number of Indirect or Direct Competitors

While competition within our industry promotes a higher skill level of candidates, it also promotes turnover.

In order to attract and retain employees there needs to be something that differentiates Convergys from the competitors (pay, benefits, culture, environment, or location).

Know the competitors and be in position to counter their offerings with Convergys positives.

Identify opportunities to make Convergys “employer of choice”.

Create work environment and working relationships that are more desirable than our competitors.

Same as HR’s role.

Relationship Between Line and Management

The Agent population has many choices. They may readily find similar jobs, similar pay, and similar benefits. The culture, environment and relationships within the workplace may be the largest opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves as “a great place to work” and “ a great company to work for”.

Advertise and sell applicants on Convergys as “a great place to work” and “ a great company to work for”. Exhibit behavior and practices with both applicants and existing employees that support that stance.

Speak to people, smile, know their names, help them, provide encouragement, and recognition.

Same as HR’s role.

Additional Key Focus Areas – Effectiveness of Training

This has a very high impact on turnover. Training not only must be long enough, but

Provide feedback to Operations. Develop a more effective, consistent

Train the trainers effectively and monitor and evaluate performance

more importantly must be conducive to effective learning. This includes the talent of trainers, the medium used, the adaptations available for individual pace, training content, live phone time, and ratio of trainer to trainee.

orientation program using multi-media. often. Utilize more live phone time in

training. Use transition periods after classroom

training. Use advanced technology (CBT). Allow some individually paced

training to keep the experienced or fast learning agents going forward and challenged.

Ensure ratio of trainers to trainees is appropriate.

Utilize dedicated, professional trainers when possible.