Cost comparison
What it really costs to replace an agent.
The advert is the cheap part. Here is where the money goes when you recruit and ramp up one agent, what attrition does to a budget, and how that compares with reskilling someone you already employ.
About the figures on this page. The recruitment, ramp-up and attrition figures are estimates for a UK retail banking contact centre. They are not published statistics, and your own numbers will differ. The calculator lower down uses yours.
1. Hiring
Recruiting one agent: £2,000 to £4,500
For an entry to mid-level retail banking role paying £22,000 to £26,000, the direct cost of each hire is typically £2,000 to £4,500. Here is what it is made of.
Sourcing and advertising
£500 to £1,200
Job board placements, targeted adverts and tools for finding enough candidates.
HR and recruitment time
£800 to £1,500
Screening CVs, arranging assessment stages, running the applicant tracking system and interviewing.
Screening and compliance
£300 to £800
Identity, criminal record and credit checks, references and regulatory references. Banking has strict rules here.
Aptitude and personality tests
£200 to £400
Behavioural assessments, call simulations and risk and compliance checks.
If you use a recruitment agency charging 15% to 20%, add roughly £3,500 to £5,000 per hire.
2. Getting to full speed
A new agent takes five to six months to become a true asset
In banking an agent has to learn several systems, financial products, anti-money laundering rules and how to support vulnerable customers. Output builds up in four stages.
Stage 1: Weeks 1 to 4
Classroom training
0%independent output
You pay the full salary plus the trainer's time.
Stage 2: Weeks 5 to 8
Nesting
30% to 50%of normal output
Team throughput drops and supervisors spend a lot of time supporting.
Stage 3: Months 3 to 4
Live floor ramp-up
60% to 80%of normal output
Calls take longer and fewer are resolved first time. The agent is nearing breakeven.
Stage 4: Months 5 to 6
Full proficiency
100%of normal output
Handles complex calls alone and meets every target. Now a positive return.
3. The total
About £23,000 to £26,000 before an agent pays back
Adding it up for one agent on a base salary of £24,000, here is the investment before they become a positive return.
- Recruitment and screening
- £3,000
- Salary and benefits for six months (including National Insurance and pension)
- £14,000
- Training and onboarding (trainer time, licences, equipment)
- £2,500
- Supervisor and shadowing time
- £2,000
- Lower output and more escalations in months 2 to 5
- £3,500
£23,000 to £26,000 per agent
4. Attrition
Why the cost keeps coming back
Contact centres have some of the highest turnover of any sector, so the hiring cost is not paid once.
30% to 45%
Typical yearly attrition across contact centres
35% to 55%
Typical yearly attrition in financial services contact centres
Up to 50%
Of all attrition happens in the first 90 days
Why people leave
Early burnout
New starters meet complex banking software, often 5 to 8 systems at once, and strict compliance rules. It is not what they expected.
Constant measuring
Handling time, schedule adherence and first contact resolution are tracked all day, which keeps the pressure on.
Pay ceilings
Agents often move to a rival, or another department, for £1 to £2 more an hour.
A 100-seat centre with 40% turnover replaces 40 agents a year. At an all-in replacement and ramp-up cost of £20,000 or more each, that drains £800,000 or more from the budget every year.
5. The alternative
Reskill the people you already have
Someone you already employ is past the first 90 days, knows your customers and systems, and has already been recruited and inducted. Here is how the two paths compare.
Make redundant, then rehire
- Statutory redundancy pay, and any enhanced pay you offer
- Consultation and management time
- Recruiting and training technical staff from scratch, with the ramp-up costs above
- Everything your agents knew about your customers leaves with them
Reskill
- The course for each person
- Their time in training
- You keep their knowledge of your customers, systems and processes
- You have already paid for their recruitment and induction
Calculator
Work out your own numbers
It adds up the same five costs as section 3 for each agent you would replace, adds redundancy pay, and compares the total with reskilling. The starting figures are examples. Change them to match your team. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Replacing one agent
- Recruitment and screening
- £0
- Salary while ramping up
- £0
- Training and onboarding
- £0
- Supervisor and shadowing time
- £0
- Lower output
- £0
- Total for one agent
- £0
Your comparison
- Statutory redundancy pay
- £0
- Enhanced redundancy pay
- £0
- Replacing the agents
- £0
- Redundancy and replacement
- £0
- Reskilling
- £0
- Difference
- £0
These are estimates only. They are not legal or financial advice.
- The starting figures are the examples from section 3, for a UK retail banking contact centre. They are not published statistics. Use your own.
- Statutory pay follows the GOV.UK rules for Great Britain: up to 20 years' service, 0.5, 1 or 1.5 weeks' pay a year depending on age, and a weekly pay cap of £751. You need 2 years' service to qualify. Check your own case with the GOV.UK redundancy calculator.
- The sums leave out notice pay, holiday pay, consultation costs and management time. They also leave out the pay of people while they train.
- The calculator assumes each person made redundant would need replacing. Yours may not.
Want help with your own numbers?
We can talk through the figures for your team.
After the call