Overview
This article summarizes my 2018 MBA dissertation, which researched the impact of call center Internal Brand Management (IBM) on Jamaican agent attrition. I received a Merit Award for this body of work, and it has the significance of being one of the few academic research projects done on Jamaican call center dynamics. I hope this information will add to the work underway to take the Global Services Sector forward.
The research was done using a survey of 40 questions which fed into six research elements. Of the total participants polled, 194 usual responses were received. These were Jamaican call center agents. All participants were assured of their anonymity and informed of their ethical rights. Their responses were graded on a 7-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
The survey delved into IBM, Job Satisfaction, Brand Commitment, and Intentions Stay. For comparison, Intentions to Stay was measured against a less packaged offer from a traditional non-BPO company. This was an attempt to assess any BPO brand penalties. The responses were processed in SmartPLS to create behavioral models. These findings were then situated in the realm of academia to see where the Jamaican population had similarities and differences with other studies and theories. These were then worked into recommendations and considerations for future studies.
Research Relevance
Embarrassingly, contact centers in Jamaica and the wider industry have been observed to experience as much as 60% annualized staff turnover or 5% monthly. This means to maintain a staff of 100 employees for a year; a contact center may have to hire 60 replacements. These high turnover rates not only dilute talent pools but also risks demand exceeding supply at important points in the year. Not being able to meet these hiring checkpoints can threaten major client relationships.
Additionally, the total cost of losing and replacing one employee may exceed well over USD $5000, depending on the business model of their programs. About 80% of that cost is split between the disruption in earnings caused by the separation and the cost of training and developing a replacement. Another 13% is attributed to fixing mistakes caused by the replacements. The costs of mistakes can easily balloon with the advent of social media and how quickly employee mistakes can cause incalculable brand damages.
Notwithstanding these alarming data points, I have always had aspirations that a sustainable approach could be developed in the call center space that can deliver 5% attrition annually instead of monthly. I hope that this in-depth research can offer some insight into achieving this.
Research Elements
The following are the research elements the survey attempted to capture. Each element is explained, and the questions relating to it are also listed. This offers transparency into what was being asked for and provides insight into things that may need to be addressed when companies are considering IBM strategies.
Brand Identity focuses on the physical and psychological characteristics of the brand. It was derived from five questions. I know our brand colors and logo. There is a feeling whenever I see our brand colors and logo. The description of our brand identity is unique and convincing. Our brand has a strong personality and presence. I know the stories circulating that express what our brand stands for.
Brand Internal Communication looks inwardly at the messaging directed toward staff relating to the brand. It is comprised of five questions. I know the history and traditions of our brand. I know the values and core competencies of our brand. I am informed on how to behave to represent the brand properly. I feel well informed by headquarters about the brand. I often discuss brand issues and characteristics with my colleagues.
Brand External Communication explored how staff reacted to messaging directed toward the public. It consisted of five questions. When I see advertising for our brand, I am proud to be working it. What I read in the press about our brand motivates me. My company gets good reviews on its corporate social responsibility campaigns. My company’s reputation is good in the community. Outsiders speak highly about my company.
Internal Brand Management (IBM) represents a coordinated effort by an organization to develop an internal aspect of its brand in the interest of its employees to drive engagement and boost productivity. It is based on the premise that businesses cannot fully satisfy their customers unless they care about their employees. For this research, IBM is taken as a construct of the three elements mentioned above: Brand Identity, Brand External Communication, and Brand Internal Communication.
Job Satisfaction sought to gauge the degree to which employees would consider themselves happy and fulfilled in their jobs. These seven questions collected the inputs. I am satisfied with my job security. I am satisfied with my physical working conditions (e.g., seating, lighting, ventilation, etc.). I am satisfied with my fringe benefits. I am satisfied with the pay I receive for my job. I am satisfied with the recognition that I get when I do a good job. I am satisfied with my freedom to do the best I can at my job. I am satisfied with my opportunities for career advancement.
Brand Commitment looks at psychological factors that cause employees to react positively to the brand. Six questions were used. I will work harder than I am expected to make my company successful. I feel very loyal to my company. I talk about my company to my friends as a great workplace. I really care about the future of my company. My values are similar to those of my company. I feel like I really fit in at my company
Intention to Stay assessed the likelihood of employees staying two years or longer with the company and experiencing growth. Six questions were used. I plan to be working for my company for two years from now. I don’t think I will be looking for a new job within the next 2 years. I am looking forward to being promoted in my company. I consider my company a place where I can grow and build my career. My company’s pay and benefits are enough for me to stay for the next 2 years or more. In a traditional, non-BPO company, I would do the same job for slightly less pay and benefits.
Research Findings
The following discusses how the 194 Jamaican call center agents in 2018, pre-pandemic, responded to the survey and how the feedback was interpreted. It should be noted that 194 agents represented less than 1% of the 26,000 Jamaican BPO population at that time. Therefore, while the report can be considered cross-sectional, caution should be noted regarding any generalizations.
IBM, as a reminder, is a construct of brand identity, external communications, and internal communications. According to the model, the Jamaican population showed the highest reaction to external communications, a tenth, over the other two. Their preference being for TV ads, and press write-ups. This may indicate that one of the best ways for a company to grow its brand in the interest of its employees is in the public space. As such, while it is beneficial for the material aspect of the brand to be developed and communicated internally, the population seemed to prefer it was being told to their friends and families just as much, if not more.
However, according to the model, IBM does not directly create the Intention to Stay with the participants. To keep employees in the company, IBM needs to either mediate through Job Satisfaction or Brand Commitment. Both of these elements had a direct correlation with employee Intention to Stay. In synthesizing the previous findings, IBM needs to create Job Satisfaction and inspire Brand Commitment with a public-facing agenda, to maximize employee stickiness.
While both Job Satisfaction and Brand Commitment positively correlated with IBM, the former had a tenth higher reaction to IBM than the latter. This may indicate an expectation for brand philosophies to involve direct job satisfaction elements. These tend to be more material and immediately impactful than some of the intangibles related to the psychologically-based Brand Commitment. It may be interpreted that Job Satisfaction elements are dissatisfiers and Brand Commitment are satisfiers and possibly delighters.
Job Satisfaction had the highest scores in Job Security and Opportunities to Grow, which is promising considering the recent call center flacks in these areas. Not surprisingly, however, improvements in the physical conditions of facilities and fringe benefits scored the lowest and represent attention areas. All the readings for Brand Commitment were strong. However, the inspiration to work harder than expected scored the lowest, a tenth below the highest, feeling like they fitted in. This variance may indicate that Brand Commitment can continue beyond the limits of pay and benefits to help employees reach their full potential in organizations.
Intention to Stay had its strongest reading in the areas where participants said they could see themselves staying with their companies for at least two more years and growing in the process. Interestingly, however, the participants had a significant appeal to do the same job with less pay and benefits in a traditional non-BPO Jamaican company. This may be for many reasons, including Job Satisfaction opportunities. Unfortunately, the research did not have in-scope interviews to hear directly from participants on their reasons for this. However, by the data, it is clear that the full BPO value offering may be running at a discount in the open job market. The exact discount rate is to be determined.
An extrapolation of the model further indicated that Brand Commitment is enough to keep employees loyal to their current BPO jobs; however, it had little effect in warding off the slightly less packaged non-BPO jobs. On the other hand, job Satisfaction, its counterpart, through its range of elements, had resistance to non-BPO threats. This would indicate that both outputs of IBM need to work hand in hand to retain employees. Brand Commitment to ward off BPO-to-BPO competition, and Job Satisfaction to deter consideration of lesser packaged non-BPO jobs.
Other Results and Recommendations
In addition to the questions, the survey collected gender, age, highest education, BPO experience, and tenure in current jobs. Analyzing these subcategories showed degrees of reactiveness and variations in IBM preferences. These indicate a need for IBM efforts and strategies to be tailored to consider population subsets to maximize impact.
Male Intention to Stay biased towards Brand Commitment associated with Brand Identity, over External Communications. This may indicate that males are more likely to stay in jobs they are not satisfied with if they were committed enough. Internal Communication did not show any significant correlations, perhaps indicating that males could go for longer periods without Internal Communication once they saw things happening that were congruent to expectations.
Females had Job Satisfaction being the more dominant influence on Intention to Stay, with External Communication being the leading contributor to IBM. This may be an indication that females are inclined to say in jobs that they were not committed to, if the work conditions were appealing enough, especially if the company appeared reputable and stable to the public.
There were similar variations across the other subcategories which won’t be covered. The point, however, is that IBM certainly impacts the overall population’s Intentions to Stay. IBM is mediated through Brand Commitment and Job Satisfaction and the strategies employed should consider population subcategories to prevent broad brushing. For example, on average, 70% of the BPO population tends to be females; however, as the model indicates, males value Brand Commitment more than Job Satisfaction elements, which is the opposite of females.
Intentionally, I am not going deeper into the subcategory findings to avoid the implications of hiring profiles that may rank certain groups as inferior to others. Instead, a takeaway is that a level of deliberateness appears to be needed to ensure small subcategories are not neglected and can be supported to find success in the BPO environment. This is also a caution against large-scale uses of averages since the middling effect runs the risk of not making any particularly group happy.
Conclusions and Next Steps
As discussed, IBM on its own does not create the Intention to Stay and certainly not against competition from non-BPO jobs. IBM must have a goal, whether to drive Brand Commitment or Job Satisfaction. There are also requirements for the focus of IBM to be tailored based on organizational needs and the subcategories in its population. This is also as averaging and broad bushing may neglect key groups.
IBM realistically is not a panacea in the fight against employee turnover in contact centers. There are hosts of business practices that are presently finding success and allowing the industry to experience growth and win client confidence, even at 60% annualized attrition. This may also be why attrition is not higher than 60%. However, there are benefits to performing better than 5% monthly, especially in specialized programs where the time to proficiency is six months or more. In these cases, it is possible to have employees join and separate without ever achieving proficiency at their jobs.
Additionally, an opportunity is to figure out how to operationalize IBM quantitatively to drive results better than 60% annual attrition in ways that are adaptable to varying needs. This quantification and reproducibility will allow organizations to better prioritize it and allocate resources that are aligned to specific outcomes.
There is undoubtedly a need to repeat this research in the current COVID era and amidst the ‘Great Resignation’ phenomena being experienced. If there was ever a time for call centers to increase the stickiness of their employees, it is now. So, while IBM may not be a magic elixir, figuring out how to tap into it may just be a silver bullet.