Do Age Differences Among Agents Impact a Customer s Experience?

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1 Do Age Differences Among Agents Impact a Customer s Experience? 1

2 Do age differences among agents impact a customer s experience? Call centers live and breathe on data, but sometimes data are displaced by myths that through some unbeknownst force become reality. There are not very many businesses that are as data focused as call centers. The amount of data being monitored on a second-by-second basis is staggering. Center leaders use these data regularly to improve operational performance via coaching, call routing, etc. Despite being one of the most data-centric businesses in the world, many call centers continue to allow myths to influence perceptions of agents tenure and on-the-job success. Many call center insiders believe that an agent s generation affects longevity and the quality of the customer s experience. Without question, driving a better customer experience is important because it impacts customer loyalty 1 and improved profitability 2. What is less clear, however, is whether different generational groups produce different customer experiences. Therefore, FurstPerson conducted research to examine whether generational group membership is related to tenure and/or the customer s experience. Age of Call Center Applicants The generational profile of call center applicants varies widely between brick-andmortar and at-home centers. Data from more than 156,000 call center applicants indicated that 22% are 40 years of age or older. After separating the applicants into at-home and brick-and-mortar pools, the generational profile becomes even clearer. Fewer than 1 in 5 brick-and-mortar applicants (18%) was 40 or older compared to only nearly 1 in 3 at-home applicants (32%). These data suggest that, at a minimum, at-home applicant pools tend to be composed of substantially more people who are 40 or older. 1 A closer look at customer experience and loyalty. Tempkin, B. (2008). Forrester Research. 2 The business impact of customer experience, Burns, M. (2010). Forrester Research 2

3 Defining Generational Groups There seems to be some disagreement on how to define Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y. Some people define the Baby Boomer generation as those born from the early 1940 s to the mid 1960 s while others define it from the early 1940 s to the early 1960 s. Although the definitions overlap considerably even small differences could substantially impact research. We chose to define the generational groups in the following manner: The above framework synthesizes the various definitions of the generational groups into the categories that guided FurstPerson s research. Generational Groups in Call Center Recruitment Many call center leaders and recruiters believe the ideal call center agent is between the ages of 27 and 45. In fact, a commonly held view in call centers is that older workers are more mature, stable, and reliable. It seems that this belief, whether intentional or not, often influences recruitment and hiring decisions. There are approximately 144,000,000 people in the U.S. workforce today. Well over half of these workers are members of the Baby Boomer or Gen X groups - in fact, 48% or 69.1 million are 40 years of age or older. The good news is that there are a lot of Gen X and Baby Boomers in the workforce from which to choose. The bad news is that we haven t found much empirical research that supports the conclusion that older workers stay longer and perform better than younger generations. Many contact centers appear to prefer to hire older workers when given the opportunity. The extent to which this preference generates the expected outcomes (better retention and performance) remains to be seen. 3

4 Tenure of Different Generational Groups FurstPerson s conducted analyses to evaluate the tenure of different generational groups in call center jobs. The results indicated that Baby Boomers have: Significantly longer tenure than Gen X (9%) and Gen Y (11%) 3 28% longer tenure before terminating their employment than Gen X and 44% more than Gen Y A 19% lower 0 90 day attrition rate than Gen Y and a 28% lower rate than Gen X. The data suggest that older workers are indeed more stable in call center jobs. Generational Group and Customer Experience Although more mature workers are less prone to attrition, an equally important issue concerns whether generational groups produce an equivalent customer experience. Agents who remain employed and deliver marginal or poor quality customer experiences can be more costly to a company than early-life attrition. The phenomenon in which marginal or poor performers remain employed with a company is something we call The Dark Side of Retention and many call centers are plagued by it. Many call center leaders believe mature employees produce a better customer experience, so the FurstPerson team examined the belief empirically. In this research, we define the quality of customer experience using Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores collected from post-call surveys. The results proved to be very interesting. For example, we found: No differences between generational groups CSAT scores, regardless of tenure A trend suggesting Gen Y may produce better CSAT scores in technical jobs, but the result was not significant 3 There were no significant differences between Gen X and Gen Y in overall tenure. 4

5 The results suggest that more mature agents will stay longer, but they may not produce a better customer experience, particularly in more technical jobs. What it all means Do more senior generational groups stay longer and deliver a better customer experience than younger generational groups? Based on FurstPerson s research, the answer is mixed. On one hand, Baby Boomers are significantly more likely to remain employed longer than younger generations. Perhaps one explanation comes from research by Dilip Jeste that shows older people are less impulsive and controlled by emotion, which many might call wisdom. And, as anyone who has worked in the call center industry can attest, being resilient and unaffected by emotion is critical to success. The results also reinforce the need for call centers to remain data-focused when screening and placing talent. Conducting good empirical research before settling on a pre-hire assessment process and using those data to inform talent management and process decisions will help improve a center s ability to identify the right people for the right job. In fact, using the data from your company to inform the pre-hire process is the most effective way to improve the quality of hire, minimize legal exposure, and produce the desired customer experience. 5

6 About FurstPerson What we do: Develop and operate web-based pre-hire, employee selection assessments that help customer contact organisations hire and develop the right employees. Our experience: Thirteen years of research and implementation experience working with all major call types including customer care, sales, collections, win back, and technical support. Implemented our solutions in over 250 labor markets in the United States, Canada, UK, the Philippines, and Latin America. Home agent hiring since Average client is a multi-site, multi-call type organization with complex hiring workflow models and job profiles. Developed award-winning assessments featuring interactive simulations. Differentiators: Predictive assessments with demonstrated bottom line results ranging from: o Improved new hire performance (up to 40%) o Reduced turnover (up to 70%) o ROI - $1 invested yields $10 to $20 in return o Lower recruiting expense Hiring solutions based on empirical research supported by ongoing job and validation analysis. Customized solutions leveraging our extensive contact center hiring expertise and industry leading assessment solutions. To learn more about FurstPerson, please visit our website at or us at info@furstperson.com or call us at