- Providing a clear and visible path to success with personalized goals and a common organizational language.
- Adopting a new approach to work-life and rewards that appeals to agents in each demographic.
- Connecting work to a higher purpose and creating trust-based relationships between contact center leaders and agents.
Performance Management Tips for Cross-Generational Success
by Staff Writer
November 11, 2019
What do you get when you put a Baby Boomer, a Gen-Xer, a Millennial, and a Generation Z-er in a room together? A contact center! The generational diversity in today’s contact center is incredible.Varying levels of expertise, coupled with different perspectives on organizational and customer problems, is invaluable to the contact center. But this generational diversity is also a challenge for contact center leaders as they seek the right performance management strategies to keep agents of all ages engaged and performing to their highest ability.The fact that a one-size-fits-all approach to performance management doesn’t cut it should not come as a surprise. Think to your own life – are you, your older sister, your mom, and your grandmother all motivated by the same things? Do you all view employment, technology, and work-life balance the same way? Of course not!Each generation has unique viewpoints, philosophies, and priorities as a result of the societal, technological, and economic environment present during their formative years. Thus, what motivates a 22-year-old agent to meet sales, FCR, or AHT goals is different from what motivates a 47– year-old agent.Given that the repercussions of poor agent engagement ripple throughout the organization – negatively impacting customer experience and revenue – it is critical that contact center leaders adopt a deliberate and strategic approach to engaging their agents regardless of their generation.A couple performance management strategies include: