3 Trends for the Future of Contact Centre Training

The world of contact centre training is complicated. Trainers are responsible for helping the onboarding process run smoothly for new agents by delivering the best possible training program tailored to the training class and industry.

ProcedureFlow believe training and onboarding should be smooth, stress-free, and effective and have put together a research study to get to the bottom of the current state of contact centre training in 2021.

Read on to explore the 3 top trends for the next year, to help your trainers stay ahead of the curve.

Trend 1: Engagement, Engagement, Engagement!

Engagement may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of contact centre training – however, that may be on track to change.

According to the findings, half of training professionals reported wishing their training was more hands-on and engaging. Working on improvement engagement was a top-rated response, so techniques such as scenario-based learning, simulators, and role-playing will be here to stay.

For example, organizations that implement scenario-based learning in their training programs have increased employee retention and engagement, as the combination of storytelling and practice applies the hands-on techniques needed to keep employees interested and learning.

Trend 2: Remote Is Here to Stay; Kind Of.

The switch to remote and virtual training was sudden, but not completely unexpected. Virtual training tools and solutions have been on the rise for years, and the pandemic was the push they needed to become an industry staple.

The survey showed that 73% of contact centres will be keeping remote training, even after the pandemic has settled down. That being said, the future of training likely won’t be “all remote” or “all in-person”.

The study participants stated that large portions (at least 60%) of their training program will remain remote, with a blended learning style being taken into effect.

Trend 3: Shorter Training and Onboarding.

For an industry with turnover rates of 30-45%, long training and onboarding times seem to be the accepted industry standard. Over half of survey participants stated that their total training time ranges from 6 to 12 weeks.

On top of that, a third of training professionals feel it takes 5–7 months for their agents to become fully proficient after their training ends. In fact, helping agents reach proficiency faster was the number 1 reported area of improvement in our findings.

The overhead costs attached to long training and onboarding stand enough on their own as an argument to shorten the training lifecycle.

Adding in the forgetting curve (longer training time + less practice = less knowledge retention), it’s easy to see why contact centre leaders want to work toward optimizing their training and onboarding programs.