Dive Brief:
- Tenured customer service representatives are highly valuable, with experienced employees commanding a 28% higher salary premium over new hires on average, according to a report released Tuesday by Payscale, a compensation management firm.
- Not all industries compensate tenured customer service agents more. Pay for new hires in the business services and consulting sector is 42% higher than pay for tenured employees, according to the analysis of data from 10.2 million employees at 4,500 organizations.
- The difference is likely due to a combination of labor demand and AI, according to Payscale Chief Compensation Strategist Ruth Thomas. The combination of high churn and a short talent supply drives up salaries for new hires, and as AI takes over basic tasks call centers are looking for workers with greater expertise.
Dive Insight:
While AI is a major force shaping the salaries of customer service agents, the specific needs of a given job still play a significant role.
Tenure is valuable in customer service. Product expertise and institutional knowledge generally makes veteran representatives better equipped to handle more complex calls, according to Thomas. However, rapid advancements in AI and the new skill sets associated with the technology create exceptions.
AI is handling a lot of tasks, but companies will still need people who can oversee the work being automated by AI, and those workers may demand a premium.
“There are certain jobs that are more likely to be displaced by AI, but we still need to have people in place to oversee AI, and this is in line with that,” Thomas said.
Customer service jobs where agents are expected to be relationship managers are likely to have the highest competition, according to Max Ball, principal analyst at Forrester. Roles at companies like mortgage brokers are going to be much higher paid than the minimum wage other places might offer.
These kinds of roles take a lot of tact and empathy, Ball told CX Dive. “I hope that's going to be a job that you get very talented people for.”
Customer experience professionals are no strangers to obsessing over data, according to Thomas. If they apply the same level of insight they use for understanding customers to understanding their customer service needs, they can find and keep the best workers.
Teams that fail to apply the same level of rigor to salaries will feel the difference, Thomas said.“Ultimately, underpaid frontline reps will show up in your CSAT scores at some point.”
