Employee experience (EX) is one of the key factors driving success in a contact centre. In a recent survey, Cisco found that employee experience in a contact centre had a significant impact on customer experience (CX). For 79%, it is directly reflected in business outcomes like revenues or sales. So, it makes sense for contact centres to invest in the quality of employee experiences, ensuring that agents are willing, motivated, and equipped to reach the highest levels of productivity possible.
What is Employee Experience in a Contact Centre?
You can define employee experience as the overall physical and emotional journey undertaken by an employee throughout their tenure in an organisation, from the initial recruitment and onboarding stages up until severance and offboarding. In the context of the contact centre, this takes on an added dimension.
Contact centre employee experience (also called agent experience), can be defined as the cumulative sum of impressions derived from the work at hand – including work schedules, shifts, the nature of customer interactions, customer behaviour, compensation, technology usage, career growth, and interpersonal workplace relationships. Given that contact centre agents operate under high-pressure environments, their EX is already at risk. This is compounded by salary constraints and the iterative nature of the role.
That’s why it is so important to leverage WFO and alter working conditions in a manner that alleviates stress, encourages productivity, and instils a sense of fulfilment.
How Does WFO Influence Employee Experiences?
Workforce optimisation (WFO) is the practice of employing scheduling strategies, employee engagement techniques, and digital tools to arrive at the optimal productivity mix for a contact centre. The goal is to increase service levels and enhance CX, without overburdening agents. Incorrect implementation of WFO could sacrifice EX quality in a bid to prioritise throughput, which is never sustainable in the long term.
