Attrition has long been one of the contact centre industry’s most persistent challenges. At its worst, it can add to recruitment and training costs, put strain on workforce planning and affect the service that customers receive.

When CCMA Benchmark first captured attrition data in 2021, employee attrition stood at 18.6%, with internal attrition (advisors moving to other roles within the same organisation) at 6.7%.

A year later, both rates had risen sharply. Employee attrition reached 33.2% and internal attrition 26.9%, in the wake of the pandemic and the ‘Great Resignation’.

The picture has since settled, but challenges still remain. The latest CCMA Benchmark, based on 2025 data and published in February 2026, shows employee attrition at 25.76%, around seven percentage points higher than in 2021. Internal attrition sits at 18%, almost three times its 2021 level. The upshot is that the average contact centre is still replacing one in four advisors a year and losing far more experienced people to the wider business than in 2021.

At the same time, AI is changing the advisor role faster than ever, raising a new question for organisations as they gear towards submitting data for the next iteration of CCMA Benchmark – what does it take to ensure good people are retained in a job that is increasingly being redesigned around them?

The Causes Run Deeper Than Pay

Salary undoubtedly plays an influence on retention, but evidence clearly shows that attrition is about much more than remuneration. Even back in 2011 this was well-understood. Research by Rosemary Batt and Alexander Colvin at Cornell University found that contact centres that invest in employee involvement, development and long-term incentives have lower turnover than those focused on short-term performance gains. Contact centres with higher employee turnover also delivered poorer customer service, confirming what many leaders know instinctively already.

Advisors today are saying much the same, too. In the State of the Agent Experience 2026 study it was found that the greatest frustrations among advisors considering leaving their roles were repetitive work and inflexible scheduling, with 90% saying flexibility matters most when choosing where to work, not pay.

AI Changes the Picture

Interestingly, the same study stated only 8% of advisors were worried about AI replacing their roles. Indeed, as AI, automation and self-service handle more routine enquiries, a widespread shift in contact centres has been that the contacts reaching advisors are becoming more complex, emotional and demanding.

With 61% of advisors expecting their roles to become more complex or technically demanding within three years, this might spell good news for those worried about overly-repetitive work.

Yet, stress and burnout are key reasons for advisors to consider leaving a role too. If organisations simply remove the ‘repetitive’ and routine contacts and leave advisors unprotected from more complexity, pressure and scrutiny, attrition is still likely to rise. The job becomes harder without becoming more rewarding – exactly the pattern that research links to higher turnover.

However, if AI cuts admin, automates after-call work and surfaces knowledge faster, it may yet remove many of the frustrations that drive people out.

Five Practical Actions for Leaders

Mel Lomax, Head of Learning and Accreditation at CCMA Academy says there are five actions that need to be considered when reviewing attrition in your contact centre.

• Look at job design, not just retention metrics. Advisors handling more complex conversations need more autonomy, not tighter controls.
• Use monitoring to support development. Performance insights should help people succeed, not just check compliance.
• Take flexibility seriously. For many people, flexible working is now an expectation rather than a perk, asking new questions about what’s possible in contact centres.
• Establish what’s causing internal attrition. Advisors moving elsewhere in the organisation can signal a healthy talent pipeline, but at 18% it still leaves vacancies to fill and questions to answer.
• Understand why people leave early. High turnover among new starters often points to problems in recruitment, onboarding or early support.

A 25% rate may be a concern in one contact centre operation and typical in another, depending on sector, operating model and location. However, what matters is how organisational data compares with relevant peers, and whether an organisation’s own trends are moving in the right direction. Close analysis of correlations with new technology implementation are also crucial.

High attrition in the sector isn’t necessarily a given, and organisations that invest in better job design, clearer development paths, real flexibility and technology that supports and assists, gives people fewer reasons to leave.

As the advisor role keeps changing and the influence of AI increases, these elements will likely prove to be significant competitive advantages.

Register to take part in our ninth annual CCMA Benchmark programme: https://www.ccma.org.uk/resources/ccma-benchmark/