Call center attrition rates are nowhere near containment. Attrition matters because of the expense involved in recruiting agents and training new recruits. Also, the seat that each agent occupies is expensive (just as the real estate alone is expensive), so a call center agent who is not yet up to speed could cost more than just the cost of his training.

In order to retain staff, call centers resorted to many ways of reducing attrition, including increasing pay and offering door-to-door transportation services. The pampering did not work. A PSi study on attrition rates in some call centers was puts at as high as 80% (ie., the total staff leaving the company during the year divided by the average headcount for the year equals 0.80).

Attrition measured by the PSi Group at various Indian call centers varies from as low as 12 % to as high as 80%. Interestingly, companies with lowest attrition rates did not necessarily have the highest pay.

Research firm Nelson Hall has found that staff attrition rates within BPO centers in India average 22% per annum, with attrition rates in voice-based services hitting 30%. Average attrition rates in the United States and Europe are higher, says Hall.

Many factors contribute to attrition—badly behaved bosses, boredom, night shifts, pay packets, quality of the work environment, growth prospects or a lack of it, personal change among employees with average age of 24 years.

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