Contact Centers: When It’s Time to Change Compensation Plans

Are you thinking about changing your contact center employees’ compensation program? No doubt, you’re finding it difficult to change plans already in place.

“You can’t very well start taking money away from people,” says Liz Kislik, president of Liz Kislik Associates, a management consultancy based in Rockville Centre, N.Y. “So if you’re working with an older compensation plan, you’ll need to rationalize that to make it fair across the board.”

She offers tactics to try:

* Pilot, test and run scenarios.”Determine exactly how the program will affect people’s paychecks. If the new plan will pay certain people less, figure out if it’s a flaw in the plan or if the person actually could do something more to retain his or her current average salary,” Kislik advises.

* Make it clear you’re testing a new compensation plan with a small group of employees, while holding everyone else accountable to the current program, says Kislik.

* Take a mid-line compensation plan, and run those numbers for every one of your employees. Get HR’s help if needed. “Then for the influencers -- and you know who they are -- run worst-case scenarios, and then go back and fix the plan.”

* Be sure you’re still paying a living wage.”Imagine you make $9.75 per hour base, and you could make an extra $1.50 per hour if you hit all of your marks every time. Would you trust that your payroll department would get the amount right?” Kislik asks rhetorically. “Now picture trying to hit all of your marks while working with your least-competent contact center supervisor. Could you do it?”

To reach Kislik, call (516) 568-2932 or e-mail: liz@lizkislik.com.