Telnet has long supported the living wage movement in New Zealand, and our commitment to paying above minimum wage for frontline contact centre roles reflects a genuine belief that paying well is not just ethically right — it’s commercially smart.
The economics of contact centre staffing are often misunderstood. The visible cost of higher wages is real and immediate. The hidden cost of high turnover — recruitment, onboarding, reduced productivity during learning curves, quality degradation from inexperienced staff — is larger but less visible.
The Turnover Calculation
Contact centre turnover in the industry averages 30–45% annually. Each departure and replacement costs a significant fraction of annual salary: recruitment fees, training time, the productivity gap during the first months of employment, the supervisory overhead of managing new starters.
At Telnet, we’ve found that paying competitive wages — wages that genuinely attract and retain good people — significantly reduces this turnover. The higher wage cost is more than offset by reduced turnover costs and the productivity premium of an experienced, engaged workforce.
The Quality Premium
There’s also a quality dimension. People who feel fairly compensated tend to be more engaged in their work, more willing to go the extra mile for customers, and more likely to stay long enough to develop genuine expertise. The quality of customer experience delivered by a stable, experienced team is meaningfully higher than that delivered by a team with constant churn.
This quality premium has commercial value for our clients. Better customer experiences lead to higher retention rates, lower escalation rates, and improved Net Promoter Scores — outcomes that directly impact our clients’ bottom lines.
Our Position
Telnet pays above the living wage for all our frontline roles, and we’re proud of it. We believe it’s the right thing to do for our people, and we know it’s the right thing to do for our business.
