1. Recruit the right people
In order for your employees to be more long-term, it is important to recruit the right people right from the start. Customer service can be a challenging job. Because of this, it is important to recruit people who are solution-oriented and enjoy working with people. Paying attention to your employer branding and creating and promoting a good company culture makes it easier to find the right candidates. When an employee is satisfied with their work, they will tell other people about it. In order to find the right candidates, it is important to evaluate your previous recruitment efforts to determine which were successful, which employees became long-term employees and why. But it is also important to consider which characteristics have the greatest important. At Transcom, for example, we pay close attention to personal attitude and mindset – the right person should be energetic and have enthusiasm for the job. It is important to remember that those of us working in the customer service field are "in the people business" – it is only through the people in the company that we find success.
2. Offer opportunities for development
Once you have the right employees in place, you also need to provide them with an opportunity to develop competencies and room for advancement so that you don’t risk losing them to other sectors or employers. The prospect of a promotion to team leader is a good start, but opportunities should be more varied than that. Maybe you can create roles in sales coaching, or allow your employees to develop their expertise in a specific area? For example, Transcom has employees in second line support: This means they are experts on a particular product or service and they work exclusively with that product or service.
3. Outsource customer service
If you hope to free yourself of the burdens created by staff turnover, recruitment and sick leave in your customer service department, outsourcing can be your best option. A professional customer service partner can provide you with the right staff according to the needs of your company and ensure that these staff members stay up to date in their training and development. Once you decide to outsource, you no longer need to worry about staff turnover and can focus instead on developing other areas of your business. If you end up needing more staff for a short period of time, during an operational disruption for example, you can increase your staffing level without worrying about hiring too many or having too few employees.
A good work environment provides an incentive for staff to stay at the workplace longer. Therefore, it is a good idea to evaluate work conditions regularly. Is it possible to get a full-time position? Can you get the schedule to your employees one month in advance instead of just one week? Focus on what you can do to improve the work environment for your staff based on the company's needs and conditions.