People

Are You Doing Enough to Help New Starters Settle In?

Published On: 7th Oct 2026 08:00

The early weeks of any job can make or break the new starter experience. Especially as even the littlest things have the power to make your recruits feel either very welcome – or like they’ve made a massive mistake – during such a short, emotionally charged period.

For leaders, this is a critical time to pull out all the stops and do whatever it takes to help new starters settle in for the long haul. So, what makes the biggest difference? We spoke to the team at TTEC to find out.

1. Listen to Fresh Perspectives With an Open Mind

New agents bring fresh insights because they see the contact centre with new eyes. Creating opportunities for them to share feedback shows that their voice matters.

Contact centres can schedule regular check-ins where leaders ask questions such as:

What has been the most challenging part of your experience so far?
What ideas do you have that could improve our processes?

By actively listening and responding to feedback, leaders demonstrate our value “Seek First to Understand”, which builds trust and engagement.

2. Demonstrate Transparency, Fairness, and Open Communication

Agents are more likely to stay in environments where they feel respected, supported, and treated fairly. Therefore managers should demonstrate transparency, fairness, and open communication with new starters as soon as possible.

After all, when leaders consistently model ethical behaviour, agents feel secure and proud to be part of the contact centre. This reflects our value to “Do the Right Thing”, which strengthens trust between agents and leadership.

Contributed by: Cadice Pillay, Manager, Learning & Development TRAINING OPERATIONS

For advice to improve communication in your contact centre, read our article: The 7 Cs of Effective Communication

3. Prioritize the Basics

Rather than overwhelming new agents with everything at once, we prioritize the basics. This includes core tools, essential knowledge, call flow, and the behaviours that lead to success.

When expectations are well understood, anxiety goes down and confidence goes up. Agents show up knowing what they are working toward, which leads to faster readiness and fewer early exits.

4. Focus on Progress – Not Mistakes

Coaching plays a critical role throughout the journey. We coach early and often, especially after difficult interactions. The focus is not on mistakes, but on growth by discussing what worked, what can improve, and what to explore next time.

We intentionally recognize small wins too, such as handling a tough customer well, improving quality, or showing strong empathy. These moments help agents see their progress and stay motivated.

If you are looking to improve coaching in your contact centre, read our article: Take Your Coaching Strategy to the Next Level

5. Support the Emotional Side of the Role

Equally important is supporting the emotional side of the role!

When agents know it is okay to struggle while they learn, they become more resilient.

Contributed by: Maria Dolores Yuson, Manager, Leadership Development TRAINING OPERATIONS – SHARED SERVICES

6. Mirror Real-World Schedules

Ensure training shift patterns (including weekends or lates) match the actual floor schedule to avoid “culture shock” post-graduation.

7. Give Them Hands-On Product Familiarization

Provide physical products, catalogues, or live software environments for agents to “touch and feel” before they handle live queries.

For advice on how to inspire your agents to love your products and services, read our article: How to Ensure Agents Love Your Products and Services

8. Introduce the “Show, Don’t Do” Rule

Train all mentors to teach agents how to find solutions independently rather than simply fixing problems for them.

9. Plan Ahead for Extra Support and Much-Needed Breathing Space

Maintain a higher ratio of team leaders to new agents during the first two weeks to ensure questions are answered promptly.

Also, build one-week gaps between intense training modules to allow information to bed in through side-by-side shadowing.

Contributed by: Nahush Shirke, Manager, Leadership Development TRAINING OPERATIONS – SHARED SERVICES

To help find the best team leader to agent ratio in the contact centre, read our article: What’s the Best Team Leader to Agent Ratio in the Contact Centre?

10. Establish Clear Feedback Loops to Capture Issues (Big and Small!)

It’s important that, as leaders, we create clear feedback loops to capture our agents’ pain points and concerns – big and small – with their work set-up, work environment, and agent development. For example, through a quarterly survey.

You’ll be surprised to see very simple issues that could make a big impact like availability of food in certain intervals in relation to their scheduled breaks or lunch, or even the availability of tissue paper in the bathroom.

Contributed by: Sony Vergel Baes, Senior Trainer, Learning & Leadership Development – SHARED SERVICES

★★★★★

Successful Onboarding Is Built on Dozens of Seemingly Small Decisions

In a competitive labour market where attracting talent is only half the battle, contact centres cannot afford to overlook what happens after someone signs their contract.

Therefore, investing in the first few weeks of an agent’s journey pays dividends in confidence, performance, engagement, and retention.

But it’s not enough to smile on day one and hope for the best! As these examples demonstrate, successful onboarding is built on dozens of seemingly small decisions. Importantly, these ideas all share a common thread: they put people first!

And rather than expecting new starters to immediately adapt to the business, they acknowledge that contact centres also have a responsibility to create an environment where agents can learn, ask questions, make mistakes, and gradually build confidence.

After all, when people feel psychologically safe and genuinely supported, they are far more likely to engage with their training, develop resilience, and stay committed for the long term.

Ultimately, there is no single initiative that guarantees a successful onboarding programme. Instead, it is the accumulation of thoughtful, people-focused actions that makes the difference.

Together, they create an environment where new agents feel welcomed, supported, and motivated to succeed.

If you are looking for more information to better support new starters in your contact centre, read our articles:

Author
Megan Jones

Megan Jones, Editor, Call Centre Helper

Megan interviews inspiring people across the contact centre industry to capture these amazing voices and turn them into best practice articles – covering all elements of what it takes to deliver truly outstanding employee and customer experiences.

Connect with Megan on LinkedIn