Key Traits of a Great Contact Center Agent Learning Experience

Everyone agrees that a blended learning environment that uses a variety of channels and approaches is the most engaging and effective. E-learning is critical for the contact center because it allows for practice and testing.

Fremont, CA: One can all recall one's first few days at a new job. Anxious, excited, and overwhelmed Onboarding, or the first few weeks of a call center agent's employment with a company, is frequently overlooked. Recent research found that well-thought-out Onboarding improves employee retention by 82 percent and productivity by more than 70 percent,

When a large portion of your call center team works remotely, Onboarding takes on a whole new meaning. This new reality gives organizations an opportunity (and a requirement) to rethink their contact center agent onboarding and training strategies.

Everyone agrees that a blended learning environment that uses a variety of channels and approaches is the most engaging and effective. E-learning is critical for the contact center because it allows for practice and testing. With that in mind, the following are ten essential requirements for a successful agent learning experience if one is revamping one's contact center training:

Have a Solid Plan

It goes without saying that one needs a plan; however, the plan must be specific for a remote working environment. One may have previously hired contact center agents in groups to fill a classroom. Alternatively, a single agent could be accommodated with less formal on-the-job training. One's new plan must be able to support both a single agent and larger teams of agents. And it must guide an agent through each and every minute of the day without the assistance of a course instructor. The following requirements will be critical to achieving this goal.

Embracing Learning Management System

While one may have used e-learning in a limited capacity to cover some content, the time has come to embrace the Learning Management System (LMS). One's learning assets can all be uploaded to the Learning Management System, making them available to both remote and local learners. It is important to note that it tracks each learner's progress, test results, as well as other key details while also guiding agents through their own learning path.

With this in mind, ensure that one's LMS allows one to create custom learning paths for specific contact center roles and offers testing with real-time reporting. This is especially important for remote call center agents, as one will want to know how well they're absorbing the material and progressing through the course. If one believes they are not on track, one should contact them via phone or chat as soon as possible.

If one does not have an LMS or simply wants to try one out, many FREE options are available that are adequate for smaller organizations. One can avoid the costly per-learner fees associated with off-the-shelf contact center learning programs by owning one's content and hosting it on one's own LMS.