How the Great Resignation is impacting contact centers (and what to do about it)

Hiring and retaining contact center employees became even more difficult in 2022. Prior to 2022, staffing was already one of the biggest challenges facing contact centers. 

The new and current reluctance to seek employment, especially in the United States, spells trouble for many contact centers. 

The Washington Post recently shared personal stories of those who left the workforce. They had had enough and, to their surprise, realized that they didn’t need to work in their old role or perhaps at all.

The Great Resignation’s Effect

Call it what you will – the Great Resignation, the great reset, or the great realization – one thing is clear: it has created a double whammy for contact centers looking for qualified employees.

More employees are quitting, driving up already high attrition rates for contact centers. The unemployed are making do or looking for at-home positions as alternatives to in-person employment. 

This issue isn’t limited to contact centers. In-person businesses of all types have felt the crunch hiring and keeping employees. According to economists, this trend will continue into 2022.

In fact, according to the U.S. Government, the U.S. economy added 450,000 new jobs in January. While that’s good news for the economy, many of those jobs are in competing industries and roles. Contact centers are up against robust alternatives for their prospective employees. Companies ranging from pizza restaurants to grocery stores to goods delivery, including Amazon, are offering hiring bonuses to people who sign on for employment. 

In addition, the tight labor market has pushed companies to offer higher salaries, if they can find the workers in the first place. 

When you combine all this with the difficulty most contact centers have training employees to handle the complex service requests left over from AI, it’s becoming an untenable problem. 

Many businesses are looking to AI for help, but AI is still limited. Far from being self-running, chatbots require direct human involvement, and even still, the solutions are challenged to deliver high CSAT scores. 

GigCX solves the hiring dilemma

The good news is that there is a way to resolve this dilemma. It’s called gig customer service, or GigCX. 

It is helping some of today’s biggest brands with their customer support, delivering higher CSAT scores, lower costs, and more empathy in the customer experience.

GigCX is good for business

GigCX meets the needs of businesses because you can tap into a limitless pool of product or service experts anywhere in the world, instantly.

GigCX is on the rise. According to Gartner, 35% of CX work will be gig-based by 2023.

GigCX experts are typically your existing customers and brand advocates and bring their own expertise to the rescue.

Because they aren’t located in a contact center, you can save money on a space for them.

GigCX experts are paid when they complete customer support tasks– you only pay for completed work, not headcount. They already have their own equipment – a mobile device or a computer. And you’re not hiring them, so bonuses aren’t appropriate. 

With the distributed nature and size of the crowd, GigCX experts are truly on-demand. When you experience increases in customer contact volume, the magic of the GigCX crowd picks up the slack. This helps you achieve the shortest response times for digital channels.

GigCX is good for workers

GigCX fits the bill for the reluctant workforce because it allows people to earn money from their preferred location anywhere in the world, including their own home.

With a low commitment and low barrier to entry, GigCX representatives control their own schedule, enabling them to enjoy their desired lifestyle.

GigCX experts don’t have to pay for a training course and can start earning money quick by answering customer inquiries.

And because they bring their own equipment – a mobile device or a computer - it’s easy and quick for them to get started.

At Limitless, we’re committed protecting and treating the gig crowd fairly. That’s why we established our GoodGig principles, which guide us as we embrace practices that positively impact the gig crowd.

It’s time to embrace gig

If you’re struggling to attract and retain contact center employees and want a better way to source talent and improve your customer experience, it’s time to consider GigCX.

We can help. Get a free GigCX assessment from our team today.

Want to learn more? Check out our annual GigCX industry report or our ebook, 5 Reasons You Need a GigCX Plan.