TRAINING DURATION | IN-HOUSE TRAINING OR OUTSOURCED?

The duration of training depends significantly upon the industry and the employer. The greatest emphasis on training tends to occur during induction with a fall off after this, which is replaced with on-the-job training and coaching. It would appear in some cases that, ‘Whilst organizations recognize that induction is essential, ongoing training is o en viewed as a luxury’.

In general, there would appear to be a positive correlation between the degree of job complexity and industry regulation, and the length of induction training. For jobs requiring low skills levels, induction periods were relatively short, but for those that were more complex the training period was considerably longer.

The average duration of induction training in the UK during 2003 was 36 days; however, this significantly decreased during 2004 to 21 days. Undoubtedly the upfront costs of training will have been reduced as a result of the shorter duration; however, the long-term costs would appear to have increased. The reduced length of induction appears to have contributed to decreases in customer satisfaction and first-contact resolution, and increases in call abandonment and staff attrition during the same period. It is a matter of judgement about the trade-off between the costs of training and the costs of employees not functioning well. Yet, using the word ‘cost’ is rather misleading; training should be considered an ‘investment’ not a cost!

With regard to ongoing training, agents receive approximately 3 weeks of training per year; however, those in outsourcing tend to receive the least. Much of this training is in the form of coaching, with agents receiving approximately 20 minutes per day, which equates to four hours/day in a team of 12 for a team leader. ‘Public services team leaders are said to spend most of their time in coaching – which we believe should be the main role of team leaders.’

Also, team leaders in small contact centres tend to spend almost twice as much time coaching as those in large organizations: 1.9 hours/agent versus 1 hour/agent. This may be due to more paperwork and administration in larger centres. Smaller contact centres tend to have fewer agents per team leader, which may mean that they are able to offer more coaching. Alternatively, it may be that because the agents receive less induction training they are more in need of it when they are in a fully operational role.

Furthermore, ‘99 per cent of people working in call centres today have undergone formal training for their current jobs’. In addition, 90 per cent of employers had a written training plan and 87 per cent possessed an annual training budget. Most training is delivered in-house and 69 per cent of organizations use on-the-job training and 69 per cent use coaching.