The third post in our “Generational Hiring for the Optimal Customer Experience” series explores whether different generational groups are more likely to stick with a call center job versus leaving early in his/her employment.
Are different generational groups more likely to remain employed in a call center job?
One of the myths that finds its way into many domestic call centers is that more mature workers (chronologically speaking, anyway) will stick with the job through the good times and bad.? When I first heard a center director say this aloud, I thought to myself “I should’ve been a lawyer.”? Although I understood what the director was saying – that mature workers are less likely to pack up and run at the first sign of adversity - I also believed that the director was confusing age and maturity.? After all, between watching the behavior of "George Jefferson" played by Sherman Hemsley in The Jeffersons and Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men (much less some of the professors in psychology departments around the country), I just couldn’t see how equating age with maturity made good sense.
Over the last few years, the FurstPerson team has been accumulating data that allows us to explore whether different generational groups were more or less likely to stick with a call center job.? The results of this research is very clear.? For example, the research shows that Baby Boomers have:
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9% longer overall tenure than Gen X and 11% more than Gen Y – both results are statistically significant.? It’s also noteworthy that there are no significant differences between Gen X and Gen Y when it comes to overall tenure
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28% longer tenure before terminating than Gen X, and 44% more than Gen Y
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19% lower 0 – 90 day attrition rate than Gen Y and a 28% lower rate than Gen X
The research clearly shows that more chronologically mature workers are indeed more stable in call center jobs.? Although more research needs to be conducted, these results also seem to suggest that television shows may not portray reality.
The next blog post will explore whether generational groups perform differently.
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Topics: Contact Center Hiring, Talent Selection Ideas, Recruiting and Sourcing