How to boost agent satisfaction & why you should?

An organization’s success is built on the efficacy of its teams. While organizations employ various metrics to measure agent productivity and performance, very few measure agent satisfaction, believing the metric to be unimportant. This, of course, is a false notion, as agent satisfaction directly impacts productivity, customer satisfaction, absenteeism, and even agent churn.

What is agent satisfaction (ASAT)?

The term agent satisfaction refers to the percentage of agents in an organization that reports good levels of job satisfaction. The metric helps measure an organization’s efforts towards striving for employee engagement (a state of being in which employees are motivated, productive, and loyal to their organizations).

Agent satisfaction may come across as an intangible concept. However, organizations that have taken measures to boost the same learned that culture and workplace specificities play a huge role in determining overall satisfaction.

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For instance, Gallup’s research uncovered that only 1 in 3 employees state that they have all the pertinent resources to do their jobs, which explains why most organizations report high disengagement numbers. By simply addressing the issue at hand, organizations can eliminate a major cause of dissatisfaction and improve agent productivity in the process.

It is essential to note that low levels of agent satisfaction can contribute to higher attrition rates. As a result, organizations stand to lose money while hiring, onboarding and training new resources.

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Agent satisfaction is not just limited to how an agent feels when at work — it also measures the agent’s perception of the brand itself, which directly impacts customer service. When agents are unsure of what makes their organization different, they are unable to convey the same to their clients. They are also unable to meet their KPIs and the brand’s overall objective.

An agent satisfaction strategy is typically aligned with an organization’s goals. For instance, as a contact center, your overall culture may be a highly customer-centric one. However, if this culture is not reflected accurately during the hiring, onboarding, and workflow processes, it is likely to not reflect in your agent’s behavior either.

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Customer satisfaction relies on helpful agents who make the customers feel heard. Engaged employees are likely to perform to the best of their abilities, as they truly are motivated to meet their goals. However, when there is a lack of agent satisfaction, your agents are likely to simply do the job’, clock in their hours, and call it a day.

Glassdoor’s research shows a direct link between customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction, with the two working in tandem.

Thus, ensuring agent satisfaction isn’t just beneficial from a cultural perspective. Agent satisfaction impacts customer satisfaction, which ultimately determines how fast your organization can grow.

How to enhance agent satisfaction?

Organizations can enhance agent satisfaction by offering tools that can improve their workflow, be customized to suit an agent’s role, and offer learning and development opportunities. Implementing a knowledge base and automated CRM software can help organizations achieve the same in the following ways:

1. Connecting agents with the brand’s purpose

Each brand has its ethos, however, most employees report feeling like cogs in the wheel — working on tasks without really understanding the true purpose. Gallup’s research shows that connecting agents to the mission of the organization results in 51% lower absenteeism along with a 29% increase in the quality of their work.

One of the ways a knowledge base can help connect your agents with the larger brand purpose is by integrating brand values in the customer service content in a way that makes the values implementable, rather than simply seeming like corporate buzzwords.

Additionally, Glassdoor research finds that empowering call center agents to speak with customers regularly helps boost both customer satisfaction and employee engagement, especially when the larger purpose of the brand is to give back to the customers.

2. Offer regular agent training

A lack of growth and training is one of the main reasons for high attrition. A study by Gallup revealed that the primary reason why your talent leaves your organization is to find better opportunities for growth (Figure 5). Thus, one way to ensure agent satisfaction is by ensuring growth and development.

Organizations can offer regular training (without investing in training and development each year) by implementing a knowledge base. With bite-sized modules that can be accessed anytime, a mix of mandatory and optional courses, as well as regular evaluations, organizations can help instill a sense of learning in their agents.

This goes a long way in boosting agent satisfaction, lowering attrition, and ultimately developing a workforce of talented, engaged employees who are motivated to meet your organization’s goals.

3. Empower agents by offering efficient content

Irrespective of the industry they belong to, agents must have a comprehensive understanding of the brand and its products to provide good customer service. However, many agents report that they do not have the right information to perform their jobs.

A knowledge base gives your agents access to all the information they need, along with a system that makes searching and identifying the right document simple. This not only improves customer service by reducing hold-time and ensuring faster resolutions but also by eliminating agent error to a large extent.

Typically, a knowledge base also offers agents access to call center scripts that exemplify brand values, adding to the agent’s connection with the organization. It can also contain contact center content that can be shared with clients to help them resolve their queries. By making an agent’s job easier to perform, you can boost their satisfaction levels tremendously.

An automated CRM software that makes an agent’s to-do list shorter by taking care of tasks like sending welcome emails, conducting live chats, sending text updates and so on can also improve an agent’s overall experience in the workplace. With your teams freed up to handle big-picture tasks, you can rest assured that more employees will feel engaged with their work.

In Conclusion

The onus of ensuring agent satisfaction lies with the organization, and not the agent. To retain top talent, organizations must ensure their teams grow professionally, receive regular feedback, enjoy a rewards-based strategy (as a form of acknowledgment of their work), and have access to helpful tools such as a knowledge base. To implement a knowledge base for your team, get in touch today!

Originally published at https://knowmax.ai on February 24, 2021.