Survey Reveals Average Call Center Agent Salary
September 25, 2007
While we often look to the establishment of call centers and contact centers on U.S. soil as a boost to the local economy and a reaffirming that it is not always better to offshore the customer service aspect of the company, the quality of jobs that accompany that call or contact center can determine the benefit provided.
Salary.com, Inc, a provider of on-demand compensation management solutions, The Titan Group LLC, a strategic human resources consultancy, and Keiter, Slabaugh, Penny & Holme LLC, an employee benefits and human resource management consultancy, recently published the 2007 Greater Richmond Compensation and Benefits Survey report.
The compensation survey reports employee pay data for more than 180 key jobs found in the greater Richmond area. The benefits report includes competitive data on employer practices regarding health and retirement benefits, leave programs and disability insurance.
"The 2007 Greater Richmond Compensation and Benefits Survey reports provide employers with market data to confidently price their employees," commented Christine Midwood, director of survey services at Salary.com, in a statement. "This helps ensure employers set compensation at levels that attract the best talent and retain employees in a very competitive marketplace."
The 2007 Compensation Survey report provides base pay and variable pay data for 183 benchmark jobs. These jobs are in such key categories as Not-for-Profit, Hospitality, Communications, Call Center, Construction, Retail and Distribution.
The call center industry proved to offer competitive salaries as compared to other industries. In fact, inbound call center representatives made a median annual salary of $31,632 with a median total cash compensation of $31,862.
"Annually, employers are making adjustments to their benefit programs in this time of escalating healthcare costs, and this survey gives employers a valuable tool to ensure their benefit programs are competitive in the local market," comments Tom Mackay, a partner with Keiter, Slabaugh, Penny & Holme, LLC, in a company statement.
"The survey enables employers to review local data on a host of benefit plan elements, including medical contributions and plan design, consumer driven health plans, retirement plans and leave programs."
The results of this survey indicate that call center employees in the Richmond area are making a decent living. Thus, the establishment of future call centers to that area would be likely to bring benefit to the community as new companies would be in a position to want to effectively compete with other companies in the area.
While this one survey is not necessarily indicative of all U.S.-based call centers, it does provide valid data on the status of such a center and the average salary paid to its agents. For those organizations that adequately compensate their employees, they are more likely to control employee churn and ultimately deliver a better experience for the customer.
