As AI and automation redefine the contact centre, new research from Calabrio suggests performance hinges on more than just technology. Ed Creasey, Vice President of Solution Engineering at Calabrio, explores how leadership behaviours – from clear communication to emotional support – are emerging as the decisive factor in agent retention, resilience and customer outcomes…
For decades, technology has been central to contact centre transformation. From new platforms to smarter automation and, more recently, generative AI, contact centre managers have been focused on providing their agents with the best technology to support them in their roles.
But the latest Voice of the Agent research from Calabrio shows that technology is only one pillar of contact centre success, and that without the right leadership behaviours in place, even the best tools fall short.
Self-service isn’t new – it has been central to CX strategies for years. What’s changed is its scale and sophistication. AI has transformed self-service from simple FAQ deflection into dynamic, conversational resolution. As automation absorbs a growing share of customer interactions, human agents are increasingly focused on complex, high-emotion, and high-risk scenarios – raising both the value of their role and the pressure they face.
In that context, contact centre managers have never been more important. Job satisfaction and agent retention are being shaped less by systems that remove some of the workload and more by how leaders manage uncertainty, emotional load, and trust.
The hidden costs of technology
AI adoption is accelerating across the industry, but it isn’t always clear to agents where it is making an impact. In fact, only 35% clearly understand where AI is actually used in their tools. Although many use AI daily to reduce workloads and increase productivity (albeit perhaps without realising!), as they see customers increasingly using self service tools and chatbots, more than half worry about automation affecting their jobs.
But this tension isn’t a technological failure – it’s a communication one. When leaders don’t explain how AI fits into the role, what it supports and what it doesn’t replace, uncertainty fills the gap. Fear grows not because of AI itself, but because of silence around it.
Empathy is the differentiator — and the pressure point
As technology continues to be integrated into contact centres and agents spend more of their time dealing with emotionally charged customers, empathy remains the defining human advantage. The majority of agents feel confident in their abilities – three quarters say empathy is the skill they excel at most, alongside communication and problem-solving.
Yet, we see a stark contradiction in the findings from the 2025 State of the Contact Center report, where leaders consider empathy to be the skill most lacking in their teams. Despite this, 64% admit that they aren’t prioritising emotional intelligence or social-interaction training.
This highlights a concerning gap in perception and support. Although agents feel confident in their abilities, many aren’t receiving the training or support to help them sustain it. The weight of navigating stressful and emotional conversations can quickly overwhelm agents who don’t have the skills in resilience and stress management to do so – the two areas agents feel they need the most development.
As organisations depend on empathy to deliver customer outcomes, leaders have to actively protect it. That means designing workloads that allow recovery from emotionally difficult interactions, offering coaching that builds resilience rather than just efficiency, and recognising that emotional labour carries a real cost.
Burnout and emotional strain now sit alongside pay as the leading reasons agents consider leaving the industry. With turnover estimated to cost a 500-seat UK contact centre up to £2 million annually, this is a challenge leaders cannot afford to ignore.
It’s not all about money
While pay remains a critical factor in agent retention, the research shows that wage growth has slowed sharply over the past year. In 2025, just 52% of agents received a pay increase, down from 79% in 2024.
In the current economic climate, when businesses are watching their budgets more closely than ever, this decline is understandable. But contact centre leaders must balance pay with other methods of retention. For example, if contact centre managers create a positive working environment, maintain a healthy work-life balance and provide the training to build resilience, burnout and emotional strain are reduced, increasing the likelihood that agents will stay even without a pay rise.
This shines through in the research: agents increasingly define a “good job” by how supported they feel, not just what they earn. Supportive management now ranks alongside fair pay as a driver of satisfaction and retention, and a positive team culture follows closely behind. Regular one-to-ones, visible recognition and feeling listened to all materially affect whether people stay.
When budgets tighten, leaders don’t lose influence – they gain responsibility. Managers who are present, consistent, and visible can offset financial pressure far more than many expect.
The leadership advantage
The contact centres that perform best over the next few years won’t simply be the most automated or best funded. They’ll be the ones led by managers who prioritise mental wellbeing, communicate clearly and make people feel supported and heard.
Technology will continue to reshape customer service, but the major influence will be the emotionally intelligent humans at the end of the phone. Leadership behaviour will determine whether agents stay, grow and deliver the human connection customers still value most. In today’s contact centre, that’s the advantage that matters.