The contact centre and customer service industry has additional challenges that make them particularly vulnerable in an era of worker shortages. The CC&CS industry is suffering from the same hiring problems as other business sectors, but worker demand for a better work/life balance in an industry that is ‘always on’ is a further dampener on recruitment.
As we have seen in other areas of this report, worker needs have changed. Wellbeing, both emotional and physical have become top priorities when staying with their current employer or selecting their next job. For the CC&CS industry, where 24/7 service availability is common, and workers are often subject to rigid work slots across a constantly moving shift pattern, providing the flexible, and sometimes sympathetic, work routines that candidates want can be challenging.
Candidates who have young children or elderly relatives to care for, have further education demands, or who have health requirements that require flexible hours to attend medical appointments, may find themselves particularly unsuited to a work pattern that offers little choice in hours or place of work. If so, they will move on in search of a more accommodating employer, further reducing the pool of talent for CC&CS organisations who must continually recruit to offset the sector’s elevated churn rate.
Since the end of the pandemic, the UK labour market has become an employee’s market, and even if worker bargaining power has been weakened in recent months, employers who ignore requests for WFH and hybrid working do so at their peril. Because of their ‘always on’ customer interface, some CC&CS organisations may find a flexible work approach to be impossible, in which case, they should consider other gambits to attract or retain staff who need support for their out-of-work commitments.
Meeting some, or all the costs of childcare, senior day-care, or providing employee medical plans that permit greater flexibility for medical attendances, would go a long way to satisfying worker needs, and in some cases may be offset by the savings achieved through lower staff attrition.
