How Well Are Contact Centres Managing Advisor Experience & Engagement?

In our What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2023 Edition) research – sponsored by Sabio – we polled the industry on their advisor experience and engagement levels. Here’s what they said…

Only 15% Said Their Employee Engagement Was ‘Excellent’

2023 Survey Graph 718px How Would You Rate the Level of Employee Engagement in Your Organization?

Level of Engagement	Response %
Excellent	15.4%
Good	46.4%
Reasonable	31.4%
Poor	5.8%
Very Poor	1%

Almost Half of Contact Centres Failing to Engage Employees Well

38.2% of contact centres need to make serious improvements to successfully engage their employees, as 31.4% of survey respondents said their employee engagement was ‘reasonable’, whilst a further 5.8% said ‘poor’ and 1% said ‘very poor’. In contrast, only 15.4% said their employee engagement was ‘excellent’.

Overall, it was somewhat promising that 46.4% said their employee engagement was ‘good’, but with strong competition for the best staff, these results highlight that many contact centres need to do a lot more to maintain a thriving culture and retain the best talent.

23% Don’t Have Time to Engage Their Teams

2023 Survey Graph 718px Do the Managers and Leaders in Your Organization Understand How to Engage Their Teams?

Management Understand Engagement	Response %
Yes	42.5%
Yes, But They Don’t Have the Tools to Allow Them	23.2%
Yes, But They Don’t Have the Time	23.2%
No	11.1%

Lack of Time and Tools Significant Barriers to Engaging Teams

When asked ‘Do the managers and leaders in your organization understand how to engage their teams?’, almost half of survey respondents replied ‘yes, BUT…’, with 23.2% saying ‘yes, BUT they don’t have the time’, whilst a further 23.2% said ‘yes, BUT they don’t have the tools to allow them’. Only 11.1% claimed not to see any sign of managers knowing how to engage their teams well.

This suggests a misalignment in strategic priorities and that many contact centres need to give managers a fair chance to improve it – by ring-fencing time and investing in the tools they need to succeed instead of just paying lip service to the cause.

45% Didn’t Realize Wellbeing Technology Was Available

2023 Survey Graph 718px Have You Considered Using Technology to Monitor the Wellbeing of Your Advisors?

Considered Using Technology to Monitor Wellbeing	Response %
Yes, It is a Key Tool	12.1%
Yes, But We Don’t Know Much About it	28.7%
No, I Didn’t Realise This Technology was Available	45.6%
No	13.6%

Only 12% of Contact Centres Utilizing Wellbeing Technology

When asked ‘Have you considered using technology to monitor the wellbeing of your advisors?’, a staggering 45.6% of survey respondents said ‘No, I didn’t realise this technology was available’, whilst a further 28.7% said ‘Yes, but we don’t know much about it’ – compared to just 12.1% who said ‘Yes, it’s a key tool’.

This suggests that the early adopters of wellbeing technology are already reaping the rewards, whilst most of the industry has yet to realize its potential.

58% Said They Can’t Improve Advisor Experience Due to ‘Budget’

2023 Survey Graph 718px Which Barriers Are Stopping You From Improving the Advisor Experience?

Advisor Experience Barrier	Response %
Budget	58.4%
Contact Volumes / Workload	53%
Coaching Skills of Managers	43.1%
Poor Technology	40.6%
Remote Working	32.7%
Pressure to Perform / Targets	31.2%
Shifts / Schedules / Time off Requests	23.8%
Other	5.5%

Budget and Workloads Leave Many Feeling out of Control

It’s sad to see that 58.4% of survey respondents blamed ‘budget’ and 53% blamed ‘contact volumes and workload’, as both are typically outside of a contact centre manager’s control – suggesting a feeling of helplessness when it comes to improving the advisor experience.

A Third Blame Remote Working as a Barrier to Improving the Advisor Experience

Interestingly, 32.7% said they saw remote working as a barrier to improving the advisor experience, highlighting that not every contact centre has found the right balance yet when it comes to keeping everyone engaged.

Only 23% Claimed ‘We Don’t Have a Problem With Attrition’

2023 Survey Graph 718px Have You Actively Put in Place Processes to Tackle Attrition in the Contact Centre?

Putting in Place Processes	Response %
Yes, and it’s Working Well, Our Attrition Rates Have Stabilised/Decreased	30.2%
Yes, But We’ve Seen No or Limited Change	25.9%
No, We Don’t Have a Problem With Attrition	23.4%
No, We Don’t Have the Budget/Resource	20.5%

Attrition Issues Continue to Plague the Industry

There’s a real divide when it comes to attrition in the contact centre, but it’s something the majority are experiencing – as only 23.4% of survey respondents claimed ‘we don’t have a problem with attrition’.

For the rest, 30.2% are succeeding in actively putting processes in place to tackle attrition, and 25.9% have tried processes to drive improvements but saw little to no change, whilst a further 20.5% claimed they don’t have the budget or resource for such initiatives.

Run in partnership with Sabio, Centrical, Odigo, Scorebuddy, and NICE, this survey focused on the key elements of a contact centre, including advisor experience and engagement, artificial intelligence (AI), customer experience, quality assurance, workforce management, and more!