Only one in three customer service reps are actually engaged – the remaining reps are neutral or disengaged, says research group Gartner in a new report.
The Gartner 2021 Customer Service Rep Role and Experience Survey of 600 customer service reps, reveals disengagement is rampant among customer service reps.
Disengaged reps are 84% more likely to look for a new job than engaged reps, and even neutral reps are 43% more likely to engage in job-seeking behaviours. Left unchecked, this can lead to poor customer outcomes and economic cost, especially as disengaged and neutral workers make up two-thirds of the workforce.
“Disengaged reps engage in behaviours that drive a high-effort customer service experience three times as often as their engaged counterparts,” says Brent Adamson, distinguished vice-president in the Gartner Customer Service and Support Practice. “These behaviours include failing to provide first-contact resolution, making customers repeat information, and failing to reduce the number of steps customers must take to resolve their issues. Therefore, reps are much more likely to provide a poor customer service experience, negatively impacting loyalty and customer outcomes.”
Source: Gartner (June 2020)
Gartner research shows these high levels of disengagement are not driven by current events such as Covid-19, or the sudden move to work from home. This disengagement is also not driven by the difficulty of the work, or how well-suited the rep is to the work. Instead, disengagement is largely driven by unclear or conflicting goals, lack of clarity in how reps contribute to those goals, and a general lack of support for reps’ well-being.
Customer service and support leaders responsible for talent management should take the following action to mitigate rep disengagement:
• Assess the current level of disengagement among their service reps through rep surveys.
• Align rep metrics with business objectives to help reps understand how to prioritise when dealing with conflicting goals.
• Educate reps on their specific role in achieving these business objectives to help them better understand what is in and out of scope for their role.
• Support rep well-being, not just performance, by giving reps the opportunity to take a break from their work after emotionally draining situations.