I share how to better measure Contact Centre Agent performance including:
- The Job: Do the right things (Quality) at the right time (Productivity).
- Quality: Define a Service Delivery Vision, set channel standards, and run interaction coaching regularly.
- Productivity: Don’t use AHT, Volume, or Occupancy as Agent KPIs; use them for planning and outlier checks.
- Attitudes: Specify the ones that matter, describe what they look like in behaviour, and talk about them.
This article is part of our Contact Centre Management Series — a collection of articles that bring together practical guidance and insights to help Contact Centres run better and deliver stronger results.
What is the Job of a Contact Centre Agent?
When we hire a Contact Centre Agent, we’re responsible for helping them succeed. So a clear definition of the job is the right place to start.
The job of a Contact Centre Agent is to do the right things at the right time.
What’s great about this definition is that ‘doing the right things’ maps beautifully to Quality, while ‘at the right time’ maps well to Productivity
Three Agent Outcomes Every Centre Wants
In management training courses, we share three Agent outcomes that every Centre wants. We want their:
- P = Productivity (this is measurable and can be defined)
- Q = Quality (this is measurable and can be defined)
- A = Attitudes (can be defined and woven into conversations and culture)
Let’s see how we can work to get these outcomes.
Doing the Right Things = Quality
Let’s start with Quality.
Here are key management choices that lift Agent Quality performance.
1. Define a Compelling Service Delivery Vision
A familiar truth applies here: when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
That’s a powerful statement and important when you’re looking to deliver Customer-pleasing quality for your Customers.
Every organisation has its own purpose, its own style and brand, and its own set of desired Customers.
So by design, it should have its own kind of service too.
A well-crafted Service Delivery Vision helps everyone understand what kind of service we deliver around here.
Even better, ask Agents their opinion of what kind of Service we deliver around here and incorporate their voice into the Service Delivery Vision.
Wouldn’t it be great if every Agent could say:
I know exactly what kind of service we deliver here, I can explain it to others, and I know how to bring it to life in my work.
2. Select the Right Performance Standards and Train Them Well
Every channel — chat, email, voice — has its own behavioural practices that separate great conversations from average ones.
For example, in email, it’s important to write the way you speak and use the inverted-pyramid structure to present information.
So first understand those behavioural practices by channel. If your internal Trainers don’t have this know-how, then go to the outside world and get help.
Then filter channel practices through your Service Delivery Vision so that all the behaviours align across channels.
Use separate monitoring forms per channel — though they don’t need to be wildly different from each other.
We find that the monitoring forms across channels are quite similar — with the key differences being those that are channel-specific.
And be sure to document the selected performance standards for each channel and ensure that everyone involved in Quality understands and uses the approved definitions and scoring logic.
3. Don’t Ask Agents to Practice on Customers
I regularly come across Centres that ask their Agents to practice on Customers. For example:
- Email Agents with no formal training in email writing
- Chat Agents handling chats without understanding what separates average from great
- Voice Agents with only orientation/product training
Don’t assume a good heart equals good service. That’s not just untrue, it’s unfair.
There’s a lot to human communication. If you have any doubts about that, just search for ‘human communication’ online and you’ll see what I mean.
Quality Assurance (QA) and Team Leaders should be enablers, helping Agents have great conversations with Customers — not barrier makers or demotivators.
Life is hard enough already without our own people making things worse.
Wouldn’t it be great if each Agent could say:
I know the specific ‘why’ behind the Service Delivery Vision and the Performance Standards my organization chose to guide and measure quality.
4. Implement True Transaction Coaching
Transaction coaching is developmental in nature.
And it’s about both what went well and what can be improved.
Agents who only hear what they did wrong understandably disengage and dislike ‘coaching sessions’.
Or Agents who hear different ‘opinions’ from different coaches understandably lose faith in the process — especially when scores are involved.
Effective transaction coaching is at the heart of Contact Centre Agent performance in Quality. It’s frequent, timely and fair — and every coach speaks to the same vision and standards.
Wouldn’t it be great if each Agent could say:
My boss has high standards and believes in my potential. I receive regular and helpful feedback about my quality performance which helps me understand where I do well and where I can improve.
At the Right Time = Productivity
Now let’s look at Productivity.
More than almost anything else, the key to Agent productivity is to understand what Agent productivity is — and what it isn’t.
Let’s start with what it isn’t:
- It isn’t Average Handling Time (AHT)
The significant drivers of AHT don’t lie in the control of Agents.
AHT’s main drivers are processes, technology, and contact complexity — not individual Agents.
Use AHT to spot outliers for root-cause analysis and for forecasting/staff planning, but give it low weighting on an individual scorecard.
- It isn’t Number of Calls Handled
For Service-Level channels (voice/live chat), agents don’t control volume; don’t set quantity targets. For Response-Time channels (email/correspondence), volume targets can be appropriate.
This mistake in thinking that # of calls is a valid productivity metric is among the most damaging in the industry.
Not to mention the damage created to Customer Satisfaction, Employee Engagement and the opportunity for Agents to develop a powerful communications voice & style of their own.
Which isn’t just a Contact Centre skill — it’s a life skill.
- It isn’t Occupancy
Agents don’t control how ‘busy’ they are when they are signed in handling Service Level based contacts.
Management is the ultimate driver of Occupancy through activities that include setting Service Level objectives, Forecasting & Staffing and Managing Service Level in Real Time.
We’re talking here about how to help your Agents improve their performance – and Occupancy isn’t in their control.
Mathematical realities such as the Pooling Principle further highlight how wrong it is to target Agents on personal Occupancy rates.
It’s not so great when your Agent says:
My Centre wants both productivity and quality, but the KPIs compete with each other. I’m never sure if I should be fast or be good.
Adherence to Schedule
We turn back to our definition of the job of a Contact Centre Agent.
The job of a Contact Centre Agent is to do the right things at the right time.
At the right time is best expressed through ‘Adherence to Schedule’.
Simply put, when your Agent adheres to the schedule they’re given — particularly on an interval basis — your Centre Service Level improves and stabilises. That’s a great thing.
Adherence to Schedule is at the heart of Contact Centre Agent performance for Productivity. And it makes intuitive sense.
When you’re short by even a small number of Agents, your Service Level goes down and all sorts of important KPIs go awry.
When you’re overstaffed by any number of Agents, your Service Level barely improves — and resources have been misapplied.
Putting the right people in the right place at the right time is not just a mantra. It’s a way to manage your Frontline resources efficiently.
Weighting Metrics
When it comes to Agents, choose the right measures for productivity – with an emphasis on Adherence to Schedule.
Combine your selected Productivity metrics into a ‘basket’ and assign a specific weighting to each one to come up with an overall Productivity score.
Wouldn’t it be great if your Agent could say:
I work in a Centre that has defined Productivity very clearly for me. And the productivity measures don’t compete with Quality.
P & Q together
One of the powerful aspects of this Productivity (P) and Quality (Q) approach is that P & Q don’t contradict each other.
Don’t frame P and Q as a trade-off. With the right definitions and measures, you can — and should — achieve both.
There’s one more dimension I’d like to look at before closing this article.
That’s the power of attitude.
Attitudes: Be specific
It’s quite normal to hear a Manager say, “I think my Contact Centre Agent has an attitude problem.”
But is this a fair assessment? I don’t think so.
There’s really no such thing as a generic ‘attitude problem’ because there are simply so many different attitudes at play in any job role.
In my former VP Operations days, if a Manager came into my office and said their Agent had an attitude problem, I’d ask them to tell me specifically which attitude was the problem.
And if they couldn’t, I’d suggest that we figure it out. So that would could do something about it.
Every job, from the top on down, requires a certain set of specific attitudes to succeed. And it’s our job to know the attitude requirements for any job role we manage – in this case the Contact Centre Agent.
Examples of attitudes I come across for Contact Centre Agents include –
- Adaptability
- Ownership
- Positive Attitude
I’d recommend you work through the selection and definition of the attitudes that make the most sense for your Agents. Then be ready to explain what those attitudes really ‘look like’ at work.
Don’t be vague with your definitions, because people need clarity to bring something to life.
What It Helps to Know about Attitude
Nobody is a superstar at every attitude.
Some attitudes were inculcated in us through how we were raised while some we learned from trusted teachers and mentors.
Attitudes evolve and develop over time, especially with the right guidance.
For me, I’ve found the following two thoughts about attitude to be helpful:
- An attitude is a settled way of thinking or feeling about something.
- People can choose — and change — their attitudes over time.
The goal is for the Agent to make a conscious, personal choice to adopt the attitude for their success.
So in closing, here’s what I’ve learned:
When Agents improve their P, Q, and A, everyone wins.
Thank you for reading!
I regularly share stories, strategies, and insights from our work across Contact Centres, Customer Service, and Customer Experience. If this resonates, I’d love to stay connected.
You can drop me a line anytime, or subscribe via our website.
Daniel Ord
[email protected]
www.omnitouchinternational.com
