A UK call centre has bucked the upward trend by reducing staff attrition by
almost 30 per cent after a radical overhaul of its management system.
Fujitsu Services employs around 3,000 call centre staff and has increased
revenue and cut operating costs by a quarter.
Overall staff turnover dropped from 40 per cent to 12 per cent, but in some
areas of the business staff turnover has fallen to as low as 6 per cent.
Fujitsu traditionally measured staff by volume, looking at things like the
number and length of calls, but it found 50-70 per cent of all calls were
preventable.
A system called ‘sense and respond’ introduced a culture where staff were
encouraged to solve the root cause of customers problems and assessed staff on
how they addressed problems.
The firm implemented a major training programme for managers and staff,
teaching them to analyse customer problems and eliminate the root cause.
Steven Parry, head of call centre strategy and operational development at
Fujitsu, said: "I think staff became more motivated and finally felt they
were being listened to."
"The business gained a wide range of tangible benefits."
