Frontline performance is under more pressure than ever. As customer expectations rise and operations tighten, contact centres are being asked to do more with less – but cracks are showing.
The UK Customer Satisfaction Index (2025) reports that poor staff competence is now the third-biggest cause of customer dissatisfaction, behind only product quality and speed. Meanwhile, attrition rates continue to climb, and failure demand – avoidable work created when something isn’t done right first time – silently drives cost, stress, and customer frustration.
Many organisations respond by investing in analytics and automation, but data alone doesn’t fix what’s broken. The missing link is competence: the ability of people to do the right thing, confidently and consistently, under pressure.
In this paper, we unpack the root causes of avoidable demand, the psychology behind human error, and practical ways leaders can build competence to cut rework, reduce risk, and improve CX.
