{"id":1745,"date":"2022-02-07T17:18:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T17:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/why-bpos-are-falling-short-and-cant-solve-the-contact-center-staffing-shortage\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T20:46:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T20:46:53","slug":"why-bpos-are-falling-short-and-cant-solve-the-contact-center-staffing-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/why-bpos-are-falling-short-and-cant-solve-the-contact-center-staffing-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"Why BPOs Are Falling Short and Can\u2019t Solve the Contact Center Staffing Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s contact centers are under immense pressure from multiple angles, each with their own unique set of challenges. <\/span><\/p>\n

The most immediate factor, though, is the the \u201cGreat Resignation.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Contact centers are seeing their agents leave in droves and their hiring rates grind to a halt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coupled with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and continued unpredictability from logistic and weather-related events, staffing a call center has become more of an uphill battle than ever. <\/span><\/p>\n

Contact centers regardless of size, industry, or location, are looking for answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Great Resignation
\n<\/b>The Great Resignation has caused stress on contact centers as employees reevaluate what meaningful work is. Many who would once have been prospective employees now don\u2019t want boring, monotonous and repetitive jobs. <\/span><\/p>\n

The labor pool is shrinking, taking even more of a toll on organizations and their customer support. This has caused new, unforeseen and unplanned workforce management issues and made retention that much harder.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>U.S. Labor Department<\/span><\/a>, more than 4.5 million people voluntarily left their jobs in November of last year. That was up from 4.2 million in October and was the most in the two decades that the government has been keeping track.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Global Pandemic
\n<\/b>The pandemic is upending every aspect of business. It has taxed organizations greatly, leading to agent shortages, higher stress for employees who are still working, and unhappy customers (which negatively impacts customer loyalty). <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>Harvard Business Review<\/span><\/a>, the pandemic has created 68% more call escalations, 50% more difficult calls and 34% longer hold times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unpredictable External Forces
\n<\/b>Third, catastrophic weather events, cybersecurity threats, supply chain disruptions and other unpredictable crises are creating massive customer service challenges. <\/span><\/p>\n

Companies can\u2019t scale up and down quickly enough to meet customer demand in the face of these events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No longer do the operations models of the past predict future forecasting needs as it relates to hiring and surges in customer service volumes. <\/span><\/p>\n

With each passing storm, service outage, and supply chain disruption, contact centers are experiencing heightened call volumes and customers are becoming more on-edge about the status of their services and security of their information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Download<\/a><\/h2>\n

Why BPOs aren’t Enough\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cModern problems require modern solutions.\u201d The old adage, cliche as it may be, could not be any truer than it is for today\u2019s contact centers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The WFM challenges of 2021 were unprecedented and have accelerated the need for innovation in the contact center. It\u2019s imperative that every stakeholder in your organization\u2019s customer service operation takes a step back in 2022 to reassess how they traditionally addressed WFM, and evaluate the limitations of those solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drawbacks of seasonal or temporary hiring
\n<\/b>Record-setting resignation rates have increased the need for labor. But where seasonal or temporary hires would step in to fill the gaps in years past, today\u2019s unprecedented resignation rates are exposing the risks of quick hires. <\/span><\/p>\n

The drawbacks of seasonal or temporary hiring include:<\/span><\/p>\n