When NASA engineers were designing the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters — the iconic cylinders on the sides of the main fuel tank — they faced an unexpected design problem. Because the boosters were built at a factory in Utah and shipped by train across the country to Florida, their maximum width was limited by the dimensions of the tunnels the train would travel through along its route.
The width of those tunnels, of course, is defined by the size of trains, which are built to the U.S. standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches. And that very specific number can be traced back to wagon wheel spacing, which had to be wide enough to accommodate a pair of draft horses.
Rather than approaching the design of the solid rocket boosters with a clean slate, NASA engineers were constrained by shipping limitations based on long-outdated technology — the horse-drawn wagon.
Is your contact center doing the same thing?
Outdated technologies don't meet modern expectations
Many processes and procedures in contact centers were put into place decades ago, and they were driven in large part by the technology available at that time. Technology, however, has since transformed, and younger generations who grew up with digital technology are entering the workforce with vastly different expectations — expectations that aren't being met by the current outdated processes. Millennial and Gen Z workers
tend to value transparency from their management. They prefer
authentic, unscripted interactions. And they want
flexibility when it comes to work-life balance.
This disconnect between expectations and reality can cause significant frustration, which is reflected in increasing employee attrition rates. When contact center processes aren't able to deliver the transparency, authenticity and flexibility agents are looking for, is it any wonder when they start looking for another job?
Updating your contact center's processes is easier than you think
It will take some major feats of engineering to widen the U.S. rail system's tunnels enough to change the design of NASA's solid rocket boosters. Fortunately, updating your call center's technology is much simpler.
Nearly three quarters of all contact center workers are now Millennials, and with the average annual
turnover rate for agents in U.S. contact centers at 29 percent, figuring out how to meet the expectations of this population is critical to a contact center's bottom line. Implementing modern workforce management software solutions can help you meet — and exceed — the expectations of Millennial and Gen Z workers.
By making the scheduling process transparent, you can increase the levels of workplace trust. You can also provide self-scheduling options to allow workers to trade shifts and request time off — all intelligently monitored by pre-set rules to avoid loading even work more onto management's plates. And, of course, all this can be done through cloud-based solutions that are optimized for mobile, meaning that your employees can interact with their schedules anytime, anywhere.
Isn't it time you considered updating your contact center's processes to reflect the latest available technology and the expectations of your workers?
Learn more about how
NICE Employee Engagement Manager helps you engage employees and meet their expectations, improving agent satisfaction levels and enabling you to get a handle on employee attrition rates.
