Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

When I was in charge of training, attrition was one of my metrics.  It is part of a trainer’s metric as well since we were all accountable for ensuring all, if not a major part of the students passed with flying colors.

But, I’ve always thought of the right number.  Was it 20% or perhaps it was something higher or lower.  What we’ve done is to base it on historical data but this wasn’t a good number as well.  What was realistic?

I can’t say I’m an expert in putting a number out there but I had to depend on my so called resource plan.  It is a spreadsheet that forecasts the percentage of attrition on the floor every month and also outlines the training modules a program has to go through.  It is a good gauge to plan more efficiently.   Every week I need to update it with actual data and this will serve as a trigger on how many new agents we need to hire.  This will also tell me an average percentage of training attrition.

Right now, we are hitting 6% training attrition as opposed to an initial 23%.  This to me is great because not only do we figure out what the perfect profile is for that certain account; it also helps operations manage their own attrition in the long run. 

So, what is the standard?  I say, "you create your own numbers and set your own goal".