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The Hidden Costs of Customer Service Agent Turnover and How to Reduce Them
The Hidden Costs of Customer Service Agent Turnover and How to Reduce Them
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Hiring customer service agents is expensive, no matter how you cut it. However, losing them is worse.
A high customer service agent turnover means you have to put up with ever-ending cycles of recruitment costs, along with longer wait times for your customers. Also, such an environment often leads to more burned-out employees.
Overall, this can spell doom for your contact center, and by extension, your brand.
On average, call centers face turnover rates between 30-45%. Gallup data suggests that replacing a single agent can cost up to 40% of their annual salary.
But the hidden costs go way beyond recruitment and training. Lost productivity, declining service quality, and increased agent burnout—a cycle that’s difficult to break.
If turnover is draining your resources and hurting your customer experience, it’s time to act. This guide breaks down why agents leave, the actual cost of customer service agent turnover, and practical steps you can take to retain your team.
Understanding customer service agent turnover
Employee turnover has shifted dramatically in recent years. It all began with the Great Resignation in 2021, which saw record-high quit rates (47.8 million) as workers sought better benefits and work-life balance.
In 2025, turnover still is a big challenge.
While turnover rates have declined from the 2021-2022 peak, they still remain significant. The latest data shows an average U.S. resignation rate of 17.3%, down from 24.7%.
Despite this decline, workers face job dissatisfaction. In 2025, 56% of workers are looking for a new job. Additionally, Forbes predicts a similar scene to the Great Resignation in 2025 as employers are waiving off benefits and cutting salaries.
According to this Reddit thread, some of the major reasons employees are leaving include:
- Burnout and stress: Some users have described their job as “soul-sucking” due to the repetitive nature, demanding metrics, and constant pressure to perform.
- Poor management: Ineffective, uncaring, or power-tripping supervisors contribute to turnover. Other major issues include a lack of support from management and not feeling appreciated.
- Overemphasis on metrics: A relentless focus on speed and efficiency over customer experience leads to employee dissatisfaction and churn. Agents feel like they are treated as machines rather than human beings.
- Lack of career advancement: Limited opportunities for growth within the company can make agents feel stuck and unmotivated. The removal of career advancement resources was explicitly mentioned as a negative factor.
- Low pay and benefits: While some call centers offer decent pay and benefits, others do not. Employees are more likely to leave when compensation doesn’t match the job demands.
- Difficult work environment: Understaffing, constant policy changes, and having to handle multiple responsibilities (calls, back-office work, escalations) create a challenging and overwhelming environment.
- Lack of training and support: Inadequate training, especially in complex systems, leads to frustration and early departures.
- Feeling like just a number: Agents often feel devalued and replaceable, leading to a disconnect and lack of loyalty.
- Better opportunities: Agents will leave for better-paying positions or opportunities in other fields, especially when they feel undervalued or burned out in their current roles.
Change in company culture: A shift in focus from customer experience to speed, stricter metrics, and reduced support can drive long-term employees to leave.Cost of customer service agent turnover
Here are some financial and operational costs associated with high customer service agent turnover:
Financial costs
Recruitment and hiring expenses
These include all costs incurred to fill a newly vacant position, like expenses related to advertising, interviewing, and conducting background checks.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) research, the average cost per hire is nearly $4,700. These expenses could rise further if you include “soft costs,” such as time spent looking for candidates.
Training and onboarding costs
Average costs of onboarding an employee could be up to $1830.
This will also depend on a couple of factors including experience level, training needed, and ongoing support until they reach their full productivity.
Separation costs
All costs related to the employee’s departure, including exit interviews, administrative tasks, and potential severance pay, are covered.
New agent productivity costs
All expenses incurred when onboarding and training a new agent until they can handle all customer interactions efficiently, including the cost of initial training, lost productivity during the learning process, and errors made during the onboarding period.
Employee lifetime value costs
ELTV is the total expected value of an employee's contributions to an organization during their employment period.
The longer the agents stay with your company, the higher the worth. When agents leave your organization, their knowledge and value leave with them, impacting your service level.
Customer satisfaction costs
When new agents are still training, they lack the in-depth product knowledge or skills to solve customer problems swiftly. This can disrupt customer service and lead to dissatisfaction.
Operational impact
Service disruptions and productivity loss
When agents leave, the remaining employees are under additional pressure to get work done.
Their absence can lead to frequent disruptions in workflow, and high work pressure can easily overwhelm and stress the employees, leading to decreased productivity.
Decline in customer service quality
New hires can take time to learn professional skills and speed up services. This can lead to long-drawn wait times, inconsistent service, and more escalations with unresolved issues. This results in more customer frustration.
Negative organizational culture
Frequent turnover can create uncertainty, making employees question job stability. Moreover, constantly disrupted relationships can weaken team cohesion and make employees feel undervalued and overworked.
How to reduce customer service agent turnover
Controlling agent turnover has long-term payoffs. Proactively solving its root causes leads to higher productivity, stronger agent engagement, and consistently better customer service.
Here are some expert-recommended strategies to reduce customer service agent turnover:
Identify early warning signs
Agents don’t decide to leave overnight. There are a series of signs you need to watch out for to identify hints of abandonment:
- Decreased enthusiasm and engagement
- Rise in absenteeism
- Decline in performance with agents struggling to meet their targets or a drop in quality
- Negative interactions with customers or colleagues
- Increase in complaints expressing frustration or dissatisfaction with their workload or management
If you notice any of these signs, communicate with your employees, understand their concerns and work on improving their experience.
Arrange flexible working conditions
A US Career study indicated that in 2024, over 95% of workers desired some form of remote work. Specifically, 54% preferred to work fully remotely, 41% favored a hybrid schedule, and only 5% wished to work in the office full-time.
Offering remote and hybrid arrangements can motivate employees to work better. All you need to do is support your employees with necessary AI-powered tools, CRM access and omnichannel communication tools to work effectively from anywhere.
Improve onboarding & training
Well-trained agents can be far more productive and less stressed.
Create a comprehensive training program that covers everything from product knowledge to best practices and escalation protocols. Ongoing training helps agents build confidence while managers actively monitor performance and suggest improvements.
Provide better tools to distribute the workload
Confusing processes and a lack of proper support can increase agents' stress. To mitigate this, use data and insights to identify pain points, streamline workflows, and simplify processes.
Try implementing AI-powered chatbots to handle initial customer interactions and skilled-based routing to forward calls to the most appropriate agent.
Provide clear career paths
Outline clear career paths to show your agents that there’s growth for them. Outline the steps involved, the skills required, and the potential benefits in store for them. Also, you should provide avenues for professional growth through mentorship, training, and skill development.
Additionally, schedule regular performance evaluations and career discussions to monitor progress and offer support. This will motivate the agents to stay with the company.
Reward & recognize
Create a formal recognition program that acknowledges and celebrates good performance through public recognition, monetary rewards, or other meaningful incentives.
Additionally, introduce leaderboards and competitions to create friendly competition and motivate agents to perform better.
Review & learn from exit interviews
Use exit interviews to gather candid feedback on workplace experiences and obstacles. Ask open-ended questions to encourage honest feedback on their experiences, management interactions, and workplace challenges.
Look for trends in responses and make necessary changes to address the root causes of turnover.
Reduce turnover impact with Plivo CX’s AI agents
While retaining skilled human agents is crucial, businesses also need a fallback plan when turnover spikes. This is where Plivo CX’s AI agents come in.
Plivo CX is an AI-first, omnichannel customer service platform that seamlessly integrates with your CRM, billing systems, and knowledge base to provide accurate, context-aware support for sales, customer engagement, and technical troubleshooting.
Here is what it can do for your business:
- Always-available customer support: Operates 24/7 without breaks, ensuring uninterrupted customer service
- Seamless integration with business systems: Connects with CRM, billing, ticketing systems, and knowledge base for accurate, context-aware responses
- Versatile AI agent roles: Specialized AI agents for sales, customer engagement, retention, and support
- Intelligent, human-like conversations: Uses approved content (FAQs, policies, articles) to provide accurate and reliable responses
- AI-powered omnichannel support: Supports voice, WhatsApp, webchat, and other communication channels to ensure a unified experience across platforms
- Enhanced customer engagement & sales: AI-driven abandoned cart reminders, personalized offers, and proactive engagement to boost conversions
- Reducing workload for human agents: Minimizes the impact of high turnover by filling workforce gaps
- Compliance & security: SOC 2 certified and GDPR compliant for secure customer interactions
Book a demo to learn more.
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