Discover How to Track and Improve Agent Satisfaction

David Mason at Odigo explores how to calculate agent satisfaction and provides a seven-step approach to effectively measure agent satisfaction and kick-start the improvement process.

The benefits of a great agent satisfaction score are simple to explain. When agents are extremely satisfied in all areas of their work, are they likely to leave? Is quiet quitting a danger?

No. Highly satisfied agents are likely to be dedicated employees who take pride in professionalism and a genuine interest in helping customers.

Step 1: Measure and Calculate Agent Satisfaction

The simplest way to measure agent satisfaction is with a survey and 5-point scale like the one used for CSAT score calculations.

How Satisfied Are You With [XYZ] Aspect of Your Job?

How to Calculate Agent Satisfaction

ASAT = Total number of agents answering satisfied/very satisfied ÷ Total number of responses x100

Assigning numerical values (1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied) and calculating the mean is also an option.

When the goal is increasing the number of agents rating satisfied and very satisfied, the first method is a more accurate measure.

Step 2: Design an Agent Satisfaction Survey and Gather Feedback Effectively

When satisfaction levels are high, one or two general questions every month might be enough for monitoring.

For contact centres with low satisfaction levels, regular detailed surveys can not just illustrate the scale of the problem, they can help pinpoint pain points and even solutions.

When and Where to Use an Agent Satisfaction Survey

CSAT surveys are often post-transaction because the goal is to check how satisfied customers are with service.

For agent satisfaction the goal is to find out how satisfied agents are with their job, so consider applying agent satisfaction questions to every area of wellbeing at work:

• Achievement and purpose
• Professional development
• Effective leadership
• Culture and teamwork
• Pay and job security
• Support and stress management
• Physical comfort and working environment

Some areas may require more in-depth investigation, but for the sake of everyone’s sanity, shorter surveys are better! A second questionnaire to explore low-scoring areas is an option.

Anonymous ASAT Surveys

Although it’s better to know who needs what support and in which areas, if there’s a clear problem and no one is talking, try an anonymous survey.

Step 3: How to Analyse and Enrich Agent Satisfaction Data

An agent satisfaction score of 50% literally means only half of agents are satisfied. 70-90% can probably be considered a good score and greater than 90 is world-class. But it’s not just about the numbers.

Look for Trends and Red Flags

Different agent cohorts often have different professional priorities. It’s worth looking for trends in the data to see if there are any ways in which default development pathways could be adapted.

Add a Comment Box

Agents can not only give reasons for their scores using a comments box they can also offer solutions to pain points.

Don’t Overlook the Importance of Agent Effort

When looking at the practical elements of the job, pairing agent satisfaction with agent effort scores can help highlight process and technology pain points.

Step 4: Support Agent Wellbeing and Growth

While work-life balance is important and it’s something workforce management helps promote, contact centres can do more to help agents achieve professional balance:

• Balancing fresh challenges with time to solidify new skills.
• Aligning individual responsibility with appropriate management.
• Harmonising autonomy with necessary supervision.
• Balancing agent shielding with the right amount of ‘healthy’ stress for professional development.
• Ensuring confidence-building aligns with acquiring the skills to substantiate it.

Achieving this kind of balance not only contributes to agent satisfaction and engagement levels it also reduces the risk of chronic stress and burnout.

Step 5: Optimise Processes

Pretty much everything an agent does has a defined process or series of related tasks. When they aren’t regularly updated, pain points can creep in and make even the best day drag. Here’s a checklist of process problems to watch out for:

• Outdated call scripts: Even a short delay after changes to products, services or terms and conditions can trigger problems.
• Ever-expanding workflows: If tasks are only ever added to a workflow, processes become excessively complex, repetitive and inefficient.
• Lack of training on new processes
• Outdated knowledge management resources
• Overlooked opportunities for automation

If agents can move from interaction to interaction more smoothly, engagement is maintained, and confidence and satisfaction can increase.

Step 6: Target Technology and Agent Effort

Technology can automate cumbersome workflows and support decision-making with AI-generated next-step suggestions.

It should decrease agent effort and improve agent experience, but all too often it’s a source of frustration. Here are some of the leading causes:

Outdated Technology Infrastructure

Ageing systems can be slow, experience more downtime, require manual updating and are more likely to silo information, minimising agent visibility.

This operational drag necessitates a greater degree of agent effort to navigate and resolve issues promptly, decreasing the satisfaction.

Missed Integration Opportunities

Disparate systems that don’t communicate create a disjointed workflow. Agents need to switch screens, navigate multiple platforms and often input the same data several times. This impacts agent effort and query continuity and personalisation for customers.

Inadequate Software Training

If agents aren’t adequately trained, every aspect of handling a customer interaction will involve extra effort, severely impacting performance, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

Insufficient Use of Automation

Automation reduces the burden of repetitive tasks, enabling agents to focus on more complex and rewarding aspects of their role. It can also boost accuracy, eliminating some sources of agent error (and stress) from workflows.

Poor User Interface Design

Complex or confusing user interfaces demand more attention and effort from agents. Improving the design to be more intuitive and user-friendly reduces cognitive load, preserving attention and focus for problem-solving and client-focused activities which contribute much more to overall satisfaction.

Step 7: Reward and Repeat

Satisfaction is not passive. It comes from being good at what you do, making a difference and, to a greater or lesser extent, recognition of those efforts. However, agents can quickly move through the stages of motivation and engagement:

Stage 1: Motivated and Inefficient

• New skills and responsibilities boost engagement.

Stage 2: Motivated and Efficient

• Mastering new skills comes with a sense of accomplishment.

Stage 3: Demotivated but Efficient

• For a while, efficiency continues even when tasks are too easy or there is too little variety.

Stage 4: Demotivated and Inefficient

• When professional development completely stalls or tasks seem overwhelmingly difficult, engagement levels drop and customer experiences are impacted.

This is why the drive for satisfaction is always ongoing and why, in tandem, employee recognition programs work so well, by providing positive reinforcement.

Track and Improve Agent Satisfaction With CCaaS

Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions offer many of the features needed to support agent satisfaction.

Automation can help streamline workflows, simplify processes and AI next-step suggestions for agents, ensuring smoother, more satisfying working processes focused on customer care.

CCaaS solutions also have a range of supervisor and data analytics functions to drive personalised development plans for agents which play to their strengths and highlight the areas where additional support is important.

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of Odigo – View the Original Article

For more information about Odigo - visit the Odigo Website

About Odigo

Odigo helps large organisations connect with individuals through world-class, cloud-based contact centre solutions. Our cutting-edge, proprietary technologies enable a seamless, efficient, omnichannel experience for your customers and a satisfying, engaging experience for your service agents.

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Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.

Author: Odigo