8 Stats That Show How Customer Service Agents Have Changed

Customer Service Representatives Are Evolving

This month, we’ve taken a look at the ways in which the pandemic has changed customer behaviors, and how resulting challenges have pushed contact centers to accelerate their automation plans.

But what’s missing is the perspective of the customer service representative. Arguably no job has been more affected by the events of the past two years than that of the contact center agent.

After all, contact center agents already had one of the most high-stress, demanding jobs in existence prior to the pandemic. Once you mix in a hybrid work environment, rising call volumes, and workforce shortages in the industry, it’s easy to see why employees in customer service can use support from solutions like Contact Center Automation.

Here are eight statistics that show how contact center agents have changed, and why their job has never been harder:

1️⃣ 69% of employees say they have been experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home.

2️⃣ Despite the challenges of working from home, 81% of employed adults say they either don’t want to return to a traditional workplace or would prefer a hybrid schedule.

3️⃣ A record 4.5+ million people voluntarily left their jobs in November of last year,  up from 4.2 million in October.

4️⃣ 96% of agents feel acutely stressed at least once a week. Almost half cite ‘too many calls’ as their biggest challenge. They’re being asked to manage 7.2 more calls per day.

5️⃣ It costs $9,000 a year to keep a disengaged worker and between $25,000 and $100,000 to replace them. For a company of 10,000 employees with an average salary of $50,000 each, disengagement costs $60.3 million a year.

7️⃣ Call center outsourcing vendors have disclosed that training class show rates are down to 40%-50%, some as low as 20%.

8️⃣ 66% of unemployed adults are seriously considering changing their field of work. One-third say they have already taken steps to do so.

9️⃣ 83% of agents cited a lack of data and/or appropriate tech tools as the largest barrier to resolving customer issues.

BONUS QUOTE: “Delivering a great employee experience will be the leading indicator of business success in 2022.”

Learn more about how Contact Center Automation is helping customers and contact centers adapt to the new normal by serving the customer, the agent, and the contact center through our customer stories.