Australia-wide study to examine Call Centre workforce

20 March 2006

Sydney, Australia – Leading recruitment firm, Kelly Services, is embarking on a nationwide study of workforce satisfaction in the call centre industry.

In conjunction with research firm, callcentres.net, Kelly Services’ 2006 Employee Satisfaction Benchmark Study will examine the factors that contribute to best practice in managing a call centre workforce.

The study comes at a time of growing concern over staff turnover rates in Australian call centres, and a new focus on how employee satisfaction and retention can contribute to call centre effectiveness.

Stephen Shepherd, Regional Director of Kelly Services said the study has been conducted annually since 2003 and would continue to provide valuable data and insights into the industry.

“The results of this research will be critical in assisting management in call centres to identify, forecast and pro-actively develop strategies to increase performance and improve retention.”

The study uses a diagnostic tool that measures overall employee satisfaction as well as 10 specific factors that contribute to individual job satisfaction and effectiveness.

These variables will enable call centres to benchmark themselves against others in the industry.

“This year we have remodeled the diagnostic tool to better identify links between employee satisfaction, commitment, absenteeism and turnover”, said Mr Shepherd.

A recent success story from the study is IMB, one of Australia’s leading building societies, which has participated in the study since 2003.

IMB used results from the study to implement changes that improved employee satisfaction, retention and consequently, reduced costs.

In 2005, 28 businesses and 1400 call centre agents participated in the study from Australia and New Zealand and Kelly Services is currently recruiting businesses to participate in the 2006 study. 

Organisations interested in participating in the 2006 Employee Satisfaction Benchmark Study can obtain more information at: www.callcentres.net