Do you need to adapt to meet the needs of a younger workforce?

A vital element in building a successful, high performing contact centre is attracting the right young people: recruiting, training and retaining them may require a different approach and some flexibility.

Don’t necessarily seek employees with previous experience

It’s helpful to remember that you can teach IT skills; what you can’t teach is putting the customer first, resilience, work ethic and understanding how to interact with other people. Perhaps a young person has only done bar work before: but perhaps that experience makes them exactly the kind of person you’re looking for!

Young people have a highly developed sense of social conscience

Young people’s needs as employees are quite different to older people’s; they are aware of the issues that affect mental health and the support they need. With 45% of advisors working from home, it’s worth thinking about whether a young employee is ready for this kind of isolation: perhaps they need to get comfortable working in the office before returning to a hybrid working environment.

Think about how young people view your corporate culture

If you want to recruit young people, think about how your business might look to them. Whilst some new employees might be comfortable with a smart dress code, others might not: in the current economic climate, do you really want to lose a great prospect because they might not be able to afford a new, smart wardrobe for work?

Show them the future

Where could your young employees go from here? What are their future opportunities with your company? What could they achieve with the skills you’re going to teach them? Show them!

Involve and invest in your young people

Sit with your new young advisors; make them part of your brand; show them how important they are to your business and the difference they are making; make them feel involved. Do this and your advisors’ quality scores, key metrics and employee satisfaction will all increase.