The Real Cost of Losing an Agent (And How to Stop the Bleed)
September 17, 2025
Keeping great agents on your team is harder, and more important, than ever. Customers today expect fast, effortless, and connected service, which puts enormous pressure on contact centers. While many businesses focus on metrics like handle time, resolution rates, and satisfaction scores, they often miss one of the biggest cost drivers: agent retention. Every time a skilled agent leaves, it disrupts the team, erodes the customer experience, and chips away at the bottom line.
The Hidden Cost of Turnover
According to McKinsey & Company, the average cost of replacing a call center agent can range from $10,000 to $20,000 when you factor in recruiting, onboarding, and training. But that figure doesn’t capture the productivity lost during ramp-up, the burden on remaining team members, or the impact on customer loyalty when less-experienced agents handle interactions.
High turnover in a contact center can affect the whole organization. Good customer service becomes inconsistent and difficult to deliver, leaving employees and customers feeling frustrated. When customers don’t get the support they expect, they’re quick to take their business elsewhere. And when employees feel that strain and frustration, they are more likely to leave, creating a cycle of turnover and declining service.
The true cost of losing an agent goes far beyond hiring and training. It means lost revenue opportunities and damage to your brand’s reputation.
Why Agents Leave
Understanding why agents leave is the first step to improving employee retention. Contact center roles are demanding. Agents manage high call volumes, juggle complex customer issues, and face pressure to meet strict performance metrics. Without the right support, recognition, and tools, agents can quickly feel overwhelmed and undervalued.
Some of the most common causes of attrition include:
Burnout: Constant pressure to hit targets without proper support can quickly lead to exhaustion.
Lack of flexibility: Today’s workforce values flexible schedules and work-from-anywhere options. If these aren’t offered, employees will look elsewhere.
Limited career development: Without clear pathways for growth and professional development, agents may feel disengaged in their role.
Outdated tech: Slow or clunky systems create frustration, making it harder for agents to succeed and feel like they are effectively serving customers.
Strategies for Stronger Agent Retention
Improving agent retention requires a thoughtful, proactive approach that puts people at the heart of your contact center strategy. The customer and employee experience are two sides of the same coin, , and leaders have to prioritize both to drive real, lasting success
Here are six strategies that work:
1. Modernize the tech stack. Intelligent automation and AI tools eliminate repetitive tasks and provide agents with real-time customer context. This lets them focus on meaningful conversations instead of manual work.
2. Embrace flexibility. Cloud-native platforms enable remote work, simplify infrastructure, and ensure scalability—all essential for adapting to changing workforce expectations, lowering stress and expanding your talent pool.
3. Invest in coaching and training. Real-time coaching tools offer in-the-moment guidance, helping agents improve performance without added pressure. When paired with regular training and career development plans, these solutions keep agents growing, confident, and committed.
4. Prioritize growth. Providing ongoing training, mentorship programs, and opportunities for advancement signals to employees that they have a future with the company. Not only is it a great motivator, it’s also an investment in the overall skill set of the contact center.
5. Celebrate success. Recognition doesn’t always have to be monetary. Celebrating achievements publicly, offering peer-to-peer recognition programs, and giving regular feedback go a long way in boosting morale and motivation.
6. Support wellness. Wellness initiatives, mental health resources, and encouraging regular breaks help reduce employee burnout. A healthy workforce is more engaged and better equipped to deliver great customer experiences.
The Role of Technology in Retention
Technology can make or break the agent experience. When systems are outdated, agents can feel bogged down by clunky interfaces or tools that are simply too slow to keep up with support requests. This doesn’t just make their job harder; it prevents agents from delivering the experiences customers are looking for.
When you give your team tools that unify channels and surface real-time customer insights, you’re giving them the confidence and support they need to succeed and consistently deliver great service. Tasks like pre-call verification and post-call documentation may seem small individually, but they add up fast — costing agents valuable time and focus over the course of a day.
A recent commissioned Total Economic Impact™ study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Five9 found that the composite organization modeled in the study saved 120 seconds per live agent contact by automating these routine tasks.
These time savings and turnover reductions aren’t theoretical — they directly reduce the burden on agents and allow them to focus more energy on customers.
“Before, our agent attrition rate was 20% a month. Now, we are down to 13%. It is partly attributable to a better interface for the agents and more work flexibility.”
— Senior director of customer care, transportation services
Measuring Success
Addressing call center turnover isn’t a one-and-done initiative. It requires ongoing measurement and refinement. Metrics like employee satisfaction scores, training completion rates, and internal promotion ratios can help gauge the health and happiness of your workforce. Coupled with regular employee feedback surveys, you can then use these data points to build a roadmap for continuous improvement.
Independent research also underscores that investing in the right technology strengthens retention. According to the Forrester TEI study, the composite organization saw a 30% decrease in agent turnover, equating to $2 mil. in avoided replacement costs over three years.
The payoff for investing in retention is significant. Companies that prioritize their people typically see lower call center turnover, higher customer satisfaction scores, and stronger performance.
Agent Retention as a Competitive Advantage
In an era where customer experience is a key differentiator, keeping your best people really is just as important as keeping your best customers. Every lost agent represents more than just a hiring challenge; it’s a risk to the entire customer journey. By adopting modern employee retention strategies, leveraging the right technology, and building a culture of recognition and growth, organizations can turn agent retention into a true competitive advantage.
Find out more about how Five9 helps organizations boost agent happiness and efficiency.
