New Survey Results Help Understand Contact Center Shrinkage

Knowlagent, an agent productivity solution for the world’s 10 million call center agents, announced findings from the Contact Center Shrinkage Survey - a first of its kind for the call center industry. Shrinkage is commonly understood to be any part of an agent’s time that is consumed by activities other than customer interactions and an unavoidable operational cost for the industry.

According to the survey, shrinkage can take up a considerable amount of an agent’s work day - as much as 30 percent of an agent’s time can be spent on off-phone activities. A distinct difference between types of shrinkage is noted in the survey. Primary loss accounts for 54 percent of shrinkage – this relates to activities falling outside of call center management’s control – i.e. tardiness, lunch or absenteeism. And secondary loss is attributed to activities that can be managed – i.e. training, social learning or project work. Secondary loss constitutes 46 percent of shrinkage and, overall, 12 percent of an agent’s day.

The Contact Center Shrinkage Survey breaks down shrinkage by activity, industry, call center size, channels supported and contacts handled. Findings include:

-- Activity – Of the secondary loss category – shrinkage is largely allotted to training and coaching tasks;

-- Industry – Outsourcers report the lowest percentage of time in shrinkage;

-- Size – The largest and smallest centers surveyed reported the least shrinkage;

-- Channels – A growth in support of social media, chat and text is trending for larger organizations;

-- Contacts handled – Collections has the highest percentage of shrinkage – 26 percent;

-- Improvement – The vast majority would be happy with shrinkage improvement between 1 and 10 percent.

More information on Call Centers can be found at www.SupportIndustry.com.