This post draws from a story first presented by our sister program, the Marketing Leadership Council, in their blog Wide Angle.

The U.S. is in a kind of tough place right now.

• Unemployment is hovering around 10%, not only idling millions of workers but keeping millions more stuck in jobs they don’t like
• It’s shaping up to be the hottest summer on record in many parts of the country
• To top it all off, traffic is getting worse as local governments run out of money to invest in public transit and new roads.

Add these (and many, many other) factors up, and it’s no secret why your average American is a little on edge these days.

So when JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater made a dramatic exit from his job recently, delivering an expletive-laced tirade to passengers over the intercom before grabbing beer from the service cart and sliding down the plane’s emergency chute, it wasn’t surprising when he became something of a cause celebre. A Facebook fan group established after the news broke now has more than 200,000 fans, and there’s talk of a legal defense fund (Slater was cited for public endangerment). Slater has been hounded by reporters and paparazzi since being released on bond, and his relatives have made the talk-show rounds.

On the same day, pictures surfaced on TheChive.com (slightly NSFW language), ostensibly of a young woman quitting her job via e-mail in similarly dramatic fashion. She includes about 30 pictures, each picture featuring a different message written on a dry erase board she’s holding. In the process of quitting, she calls out her boss for, among other things, sexual harassment and spending large chunks of the work week playing the social game FarmVille. Although it turns out to be a hoax, the story clearly captured the imagination of a lot of people; more than 500,000 have shared the post on Facebook.

We all love a good quitting story, but two high-profile ones within one week speaks to a deeper public dissatisfaction—a trend we think merits further examination.  An industry notorious for its high attrition levels, we are not immune to disgruntled employees.  After all, our front line handles calls for hours upon hours from customers who likely unhappy about something.  So, before your staff arrives at the point of verbally abusing your callers, here are some thoughts on keeping call center staff happily engaged:

• Communicate a career path.  Having a visible career path tied to specific skills or competencies is by far the most significant driver of intent to stay.  Because call centers often lose high performers to other parts of the organization as well as external competition, make sure your staff know about how they can grow their careers within the customer contact organization. | CCC members, our case from Dow Chemical illustrates one approach that improved retention 8%.
• Empower flexible call handling.  Sixty-eight percent of call centers measure calls for consistency.  We all know that scripting provides a rote customer experience, but we still hold reps highly accountable to a rigid set of standards (typically via QA) in efforts to provide a “consistent customer experience.”  My favorite articulation of why this isn’t wise comes from a comment on our recent HBR blog: Imagine greeting everyone the same way – your wife, sister, brother, uncle, client, boss, girl friend, daughter, the banker, your pals from college……do u do that in normal life??? why do we do it in business life when each customer is so unique?  Guess what?  Not only does the script bother your customers, it degrades your employee morale as well. | CCC members, learn more about our upcoming research on QA.
• Help staff see their role in the bigger picture.  Your front line may often feel like lowly cogs in a corporate machine…when in reality, customer service is an important part of your customer loyalty.  Treat your reps accordingly, and create tangible ways to illustrate their central role.  | CCC members, see how Nedbank’s “Ask Once” Service Commitment accomplishes this.
• Ask them.  Did you know that 30% of “satisfied” employees intend to leave within the next 12 months?  Take advantage of CCC’s employee engagement pulse survey, which steps beyond typical “employee satisfaction” questions to measure actual commitment to the company.  | CCC members, click here for more information on the survey.

Related posts:

1. Are Your FAQs Doing Their Job?