Contact centre industry returning to growth, though constrained by supply: Australian Contact Centre Survey reports
BearingPoint, who recently acquired Vivaz-Research, has released the ACCS Quarterly Snapshot last week. Key indicators show that centres are returning to growth mode limited by resource scarcity, with higher attrition rates and increased focus on part time staff.
Staffing numbers continued to grow in the September quarter 2010, at 3.1% according to the ACCS Quarterly Snapshot.
The annualised attrition results for Q3-10 were 42.8% up against the 32.4% annualised attrition in the September quarter last year.
The ACCS Quarterly Snapshot results for Q3-10 confirm that the market appears to have swung in the employees’ or candidates’ favour from an employers’ market in 2009.
The market has also turned away from its focus on full time and permanent staffing. While there is still a strong emphasis on full time permanent staff, comprising 63.8% of the market, this represents the lowest proportion of full time and permanent staff in a September quarter since 2002. Part time permanent comprised 30.4%, with 90.6% of centres noting that they used part time staff. This is the highest proportion of centres using part time staff, and the highest proportion of overall staff recorded as part time, in a September quarter in the last six years.
Only 41.5% of centres met or exceeded their service level over the quarter. This compares to 64.1% in Q3-09 and 48.1% in Q3-08. As service levels are an indicator of the balance between resourcing and workload, this suggests the higher turnover rates during this period, and increased hiring, has had a detrimental impact on the customer experience.
However, overall productivity levels were at the highest levels in three years at 67.9%. The proportion of time allocated to processing administration, email and other transactions and special projects, at 16.8%, is the also highest recorded in the September quarter in the last four years.
For more information, on the ACCS Quarterly Snapshot Q3-10 or ACCS Annual Report 2010 visit
www.bearingpoint.com.au
The ACCS is sponsored by Adecco Contact Centre, a specialty division of the Adecco Group, offering temporary, permanent and contractor recruitment services. Adecco has serviced the Australian contact centre market for over 15 years and offers expert support.