Call Center Generates 500% ROI
This major hotel management firm operates a reservations call center with a primary mission of customer service, and a secondary sales function. This call center experiences wide seasonal workload fluctuations. Both performance and turnover have presented challenges.
In 2003, reservations agents hired in the winter campaign had only a 27% chance of remaining on the job beyond June 30, requiring additional and continued hiring efforts through the spring and summer seasons. The challenge: Design and implement a strategic hiring system, with the goal of increasing retention, reducing the necessity of additional hiring through the spring and summer. The chosen system was a two-stage strategic system, beginning with a low-cost honesty-integrity measure (the Step One Survey, or SOS). Once a candidate was screened into the finalist pool, a targeted job-fit measure was used to predict the probability of success (the Customer Service Perspective, or CSP).
Roughly 10% of all applicants made it to the screening stage. Only the top 35% of this group were included in the finalist pool. For the job fit analysis of the finalists, call center managers chose 5 Top Performers, and a success pattern was constructed, using the Customer Service Perspective assessment. Finalists took the CSP, and were matched to the “Top Performer” pattern. Candidates who matched at less than the 70% were not considered high potential for the position.
Overall, retention beyond June 30 increased from 27% to 58% with use of the HiringSmart System. Results were even more striking in the area of involuntary terminations: A reduction from 31% to only 17% in the study period.
For a very long time, we have been measuring things in hiring and recruitment that have little or no relevance outside HR... and that completely miss the boat when it comes to predicting employee enga...
Myth #1: I can only afford to hire people who have experience (usually at least 3-5 years,) in this country/industry/job.
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