Predicting Service, Sales, and Claims Retention in the Insurance Industry
Background
A multi-site insurance organization with Service, Sales, and Claims inbound call types wanted to improve the front-line agent hiring process. Several specific goals were highlighted during the needs analysis:
- Better evaluate job candidates prior to hire for performance potential across all three job families;
- Reduce new hire attrition by hiring candidates with the greatest potential for long-term job success;
- Improve the candidate experience through an automated hiring process;
- Develop a best in class, data-driven hiring model in line with key contact center performance goals.
The firm used a third-party consultant with a PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology to conduct a request for proposal involving several pre-hire assessment firms. After comparing these firms, FurstPerson was selected.
Solution
FurstPerson conducted a job analysis examining the critical competencies required for success in the insurance company’s Service, Sales, and Claims positions.
Next, using the job analysis results and the client’s business goals, FurstPerson recommended three assessments to be used in the pre-hire candidate evaluation process- AutoScreen® Plus, CC AIMS, and CC Audition®. From there, FurstPerson conducted a validation study linking candidate assessment scores to performance metrics and turnover/retention data. The validation study results were used to calibrate a scoring model on the assessments specifically for the client’s Sales, Service, and Claims positions.
In addition, the hiring process was entirely web-based and integrated with a third-party applicant tracking system.
Results
Based on the client-specific scoring model, FurstPerson was able to demonstrate that the three recommended assessments did improve new hire retention and days on the job. In addition new hire overall performance improved by 4%. The chart below illustrates the new hire retention improvement. 
In summary, the client was able to improve the candidate experience by deploying a web-based, automated hiring process that resulted in a more accurate hiring decision. The job analysis and validation analysis provided the right foundation to create a specific scoring model for the client that delivered critical results.
