What to Do When a Contact Center Team Member Gives Notice

It is Wednesday, the middle of the month and your day is going great so far. You are on top of all your projects that need to be completed, you're fully staffed, and it is a beautiful day. Then you get the dreaded, “Can I talk to you?”

You have an employee that is giving their notice. What are you going to do now? Why are they leaving? How will you ever find someone to fit the dynamics of your current staff? This has happened to us all whether you are a large contact center or a small one.

Let’s look at the three questions of why turnover happens and how to navigate the process. The first thing to do is to talk with the employee about why they are leaving. We will get to that in a bit. Next after notifying your HR or following your policies, you will want to look at your current staffing in the contact center.

Things that I look for are as follows:

• Does my volume allow for my current FTE before notice?
• Am I able to absorb this position with current staffing?
• Is this an opportunity to create or fill a new position that could not be done before?

This is a great time for those questions to be asked and discussed before posting your position. You may find that this allows you to reposition current staff into different roles. This can be a great benefit if you have staff that want to take on more responsibilities and roles.

If that is not an option, are you able to run your contact center efficiently with what you have? If so, then you can theoretically save that FTE until it is truly needed. And let’s be honest, all our bosses want us to save money.

Instead of looking at a resignation as a bad thing, look at what it can do for your contact center.

As I mentioned earlier, you do want to have a conversation with the employee as to why they are leaving. Most employees leave for one of two reasons - more money or bad management. These are two things that you may or may not be able to solve, but they are worth looking at.

Are you able to match their potential earnings if they leave? When seeing if you can match, you need to not only figure in the cost of the increase, but also the cost of a new employee and their training. The training piece can be very expensive and should not be forgotten, yet often is. If it is bad management this is a great opportunity to find out what is going on in the trenches. This is a great time to get honest information from someone who is leaving.

If they are leaving for any other reason, see if there is anything that you can do, if you want to keep them, to help them stay. Do they need to work a different shift or different days? Would hybrid or remote be better for them? Are they remote, but would prefer to work in an office? This is a great time to see what you can do to help them help you.

The final question is how to find someone new to fit within your current dynamics. While this question will affect the smaller contact centers, larger ones can use this opportunity to place them in the right division or group. Do you have a younger staff that may not jive well if you bring in older members, or do you have older staff that may not like the younger crowd? You want to ensure that they can do the job and do the job well, but also enjoy the atmosphere at work.

Also, you need to know if you can wait for the right applicant to come along or if you need to fill the seat right away. I am a huge advocate of waiting for the right person when you can.

Hopefully some of my thoughts will help you the next time you get the dreaded, “Can I talk to you?”