2024 JANUARY CCW MARKET STUDY | Future of Contact Center Employees
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
DIGITAL
www.customercontactweekdigital.com |
When it comes to contact center cliches, none trumps
“the customer is always right.” There is, however, one
with nearly as much ubiquity: happy agents equal happy
customers. The mantra has become a driving force for
the contact center community, spurring innovation around
everything from automation solutions, to office culture
initiatives, to workforce management strategies.
Of course, when a cliche becomes so universal, it is
worth questioning the extent to which the message still
resonates. Is the “happy agents equal happy customers”
phrase lingering due to familiarity and complacency, or is it
enduring because contact center leaders truly and actively
swear by the concept?
The latter answer is the correct one. A whopping 95% of
contact center leaders acknowledge a crucial link between
employee and customer experiences.
Is Employee Happiness Still An Objective?
Nearly two-thirds continue to take the phrase at face value,
believing confidently that emotionally happy employees
deliver better experiences for customers. Thirty percent
(30%), meanwhile, take a less literal approach to the
phrase. They see the adage not necessarily as a call to
focus on emotional happiness but instead as a reminder to
empower overall agent performance.
But regardless of whether one focuses on emotional
happiness or operational empowerment, one thing is
abundantly clear: the employee experience still matters
greatly to today’s contact center leaders.
Befitting this reality, contact center leaders plan to
prioritize numerous employee experience initiatives
in 2024. Particular priorities include satisfaction and
retention (93%), training and coaching (90%), performance
management and measurement (88%), and empowerment
through better tools, technology, and/or data (86%).