The Impact of Fit on

Attrition
Findings from survey in November 2007
About the Survey
In November 2007, Knowlagent invited 535
registrants to a webinar on fit and attrition to
participate in a survey on the topic.
128 completed the survey

Functional Areas of Respondents

Other, 21%
HR, 34%

Training, 7%

Call Center,
39%
Agent-Reported Reasons for Leaving

What are the top 3 reasons agents give for leaving?

Not prepared to do the job 9%

Bad relationship with supervisor 15%

No opportunity for advancement 39%

Other 43%

The job is not what was expected 48%

Not the job for me (bad fit) 52%

To make more money 63%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

There are causes for attrition at all stages of the agent lifecycle,
but bad fit and incorrect job expectations have the most
potential to be addressed through improved hiring practices.
Approach to Fit

Which approach to fit for the job do you use?

I don't know our approach

10%
to fit.

We identify non-fits. 16%

We look for the best overall

73%
fit.

Most hiring processes are geared to find the best fit as opposed
to identifying non-fits.
Determining Fit

How do you assess fit?

Testing 30%

Interviews 70%

The majority of hiring processes rely heavily on screening for fit

via interviews.
What makes a bad fit?

Have you identified the top 2-3 things that make agents a bad fit?

No 34%

Yes 66%

Most respondents can name why agents fail.

Bad fits happen to good centers

Do you ever hire agents that you know are a bad fit but do so because your
hiring needs are so great?

No 75%

Yes 25%

The demands of hiring for the call center sometimes drive

recruiters to knowingly hire bad fits.
How Assessments Are Used

We use hiring assessments to inform

5%
coaching or nesting plans

We use hiring assessments to adjust training

5%
for new hires

We do not use hiring assessments and don’t

13%
plan to in the future

We plan to use hiring assessments in the

19%
future

We use hiring assessments to determine

20%
attrition risk

We use hiring assessments to determine

44%
personality fit

We use hiring assessments to determine if an

67%
agent has the right skills

68% use hiring assessments, but only one in five use them to assess
attrition risk.
Who Owns Attrition in the Call Center?
Who is accountable for improving attrition?

Call center management

3%
3% 2%
3% Different groups at different
5% stages
Business unit

7% Call center operations

44%
Call center HR
9%
Corporate HR

No one

Don’t know

25%
Other

Call center management has the ball in 44% of the organizations. Within the 25%
who answered different groups at different stages, HR, training and the call
center typically share the ownership, depending on when the agent leaves.
The prioritization of attrition

What statements apply to attrition at your organization?

None of the above 27%

We have funding to improve

8%
attrition

We have a timeframe for

25%
attrition improvement

We have assigned a team to

30%
work on attrition

We have a management
66%
directive to improve attrition

Two thirds of companies responded that management

has issued a directive to fix attrition.
About Knowlagent

Knowlagent has enabled

companies around the world to
manage call center agents for 13
years.
Hiring
Training
Communications
Coaching

Easy to use on-demand software

No capital expenditures
Deployable in 30 days
Accessible via the Web
Enabling more companies to optimize
frontline performance faster and more
affordably than ever before.

For more info:

kengle1@knowlagent.com