Should CSRs Be Paid for Performance?

same opportunity to earn a little something extra from time to time," Cleveland says.

When it comes to the criteria used in determining bonuses and incentive pay, the most common factors are call duration, first call resolution rates, Net Promoter Scores, upselling and cross-selling successes, attendance, and availability, according to ContactBabel's research.

Besides showing up for work, there are really two areas where the most attention should be placed, according to Cleveland—schedule adherence and quality. "Basically, it should come down to two questions," he says. "Was I in the right place so I could be there when the customer needed me, and did we accomplish what the customer wanted? Did we provide the right solution to the problem?"

Weighing these two factors "consistently yields the best results," he says. "Combined, they're very powerful."

Companies would also do well to consider whether the goals being sought provide any real value for the company. If not, there's no reason to push employees to achieve them, Cleveland says.

It also helps to consider whether the goals warrant extra pay.

Koma maintains that sometimes a little recognition in the form of modeling some behaviors across the entire company can go a long way. "In many instances, this can be more powerful than monetary compensation."

Koma also cautions against tying incentives to the wrong behaviors. "If employee compensation is tied to customer surveys, then the employees must have an ability to impact ratings," he says. If not, it can discourage them or lead to situations where agents specifically request that callers give them high marks on post-call surveys.

After all, the last thing you want is for agents to try to influence the outcome of the surveys, Cleveland says.

That's why Cleveland and others recommend using post-call survey questions that can be answered with yes and no responses.

It also doesn't hurt to allow supervisors to weigh in. Supervisor scorecards are used in 48 percent of programs, according to ContactBabel, but that number should be much higher.

This is always a good idea in any contact center, even without a pay-for-performance program in place.

"If you look at why people are leaving call center jobs, one of the main reasons is that they're not getting the attention they need from their supervisors," Fluss contends. "Recognition, in conjunction with rewards, makes it better. And employee engagement, with recognition and rewards, is even better still."

Cleveland agrees. "It's not a trivial thing," he says. "It can keep people around. It can be a motivator, but it has to be part of the broader company environment."

No matter how you cut it, pay-for-performance programs can work well for some employees motivated to reach certain goals. However, they cannot and should not take the place of a positive workplace environment and proper agent training. Companies that keep these two factors in mind can avoid repeating Comcast's recent public relations nightmare themselves.

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News Editor Leonard Klie can be reached at lklie@infotoday.com.

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