2025 Australian Contact Centre Industry Best Practice Report
Now in its 6th edition, the 2025 Australian Contact Centre Industry Best Practice Report remains one of the most trusted snapshots of the industry. It's compiled by Smaart Recruitment.
This year's edition is subtitled The Frontline Agent Edition — and for good reason. For the first time, it includes large-scale participation from over 2,000 frontline agents, alongside more than 250 senior leaders. That's a rare chance to compare leadership perspectives with the real-world experience of those on the front line.
ACXPA has contributed to every edition of this report since 2020. This year we again added selected results from our Call Centre Rankings — the only mystery shopping program in the market that benchmarks customer service performance against national CX standards.
It's a critical distinction: most of the report is based on self-reported data from contact centres. In contrast, the ACXPA Rankings reflect actual customer experiences, captured independently and scored using consistent, real-world criteria.
This article is our summary of the key findings. The full 130-page report is produced and owned by Smaart Recruitment and is available from them at contactcentrebestpractice.com.au.
2,000+ agents surveyed
The first edition to put the frontline front and centre, with 250+ senior leaders for contrast.
Independent validation
ACXPA's Call Centre Rankings add real, externally-measured customer experience to the self-reported data.
Execution over intention
The theme of 2025: the industry has moved from planning transformation to delivering it.
Contributing companies
This sixth edition was again led by James Witcombe of Smaart Recruitment — a big shout-out for another brilliant job — with contributions from across the Australian contact centre industry.
ACXPA has contributed to every edition of this report since 2020. This year our CEO Justin Tippett again contributed the Call Centre Rankings results — an objective, standards-based perspective from our monthly mystery shopping program, to complement the self-reported industry data.
The report was made possible with generous support from:
Executive Summary: The Frontline Takes Centre Stage
The most comprehensive edition yet reveals striking contrasts between leadership perceptions and the real-world experience of agents.
Engagement remains strong but delicate. Flexibility is fading and frustrating. Attrition and absenteeism show old problems in new patterns. AI has gone mainstream — but the hard part, turning it into better experiences, is only just beginning.
The shift that defines 2025
With 69% of centres now running a multi-year strategy and more than half expecting agent headcounts to fall, the industry has moved from exploring transformation to executing it. Execution — not intention — is what now separates leaders from laggards.
Employee Engagement
Engagement continues to be a critical focus. 73% of frontline agents feel connected or very connected to their organisation's purpose, and 75% feel motivated to go above and beyond in their role.
Similar levels were seen among senior leaders (74%), though a subtle downward trend over four years is emerging.
Agents are clear on what drives their engagement. The top five motivators for 2025 were:
- Annual salary increase — driven by cost-of-living pressures
- Increased WFH flexibility — agents are reluctant to give it up
- Recognition of the work done — public and tangible matters
- Professional development and training opportunities
- Regular one-on-one coaching with team leaders
Interestingly, senior leaders selected the same five factors but placed a lower emphasis on pay, instead over-indexing on recognition. This misalignment could be contributing to perceived engagement gaps.
Engagement also varies significantly across sectors. The Public Sector leads in every engagement measure — from purpose connection (86%) to mental health impact and motivation. In contrast, Insurance and Banking consistently rank lowest.
Agents and leaders both agree that customer hostility is rare — only 1% described calls as mostly negative. Instead, emotional fatigue and repetitive work appear to be the bigger threats to long-term engagement, especially in high-volume sectors.
Ultimately, the data reinforces the critical role of team leaders in creating a great frontline experience. Coaching, recognition, flexibility and career development aren't just buzzwords — they're the core ingredients to keeping agents engaged, performing and staying.
Remote & Flexible Working
Remote working has now stabilised, with 54% of agents working from home on any given day — broadly consistent with 2023 (57%), suggesting the sector has reached a steady equilibrium rather than a continued retreat.
Full flexibility (defined as agents choosing where to work 90%+ of the time) dropped again to 13%, down from 14% last year and a sharp fall from 37% in 2022.
Beneath that stability, the direction of travel is tightening. 61% of contact centres reported no change to their work-from-home policies over the last 12 months, but 27% decreased flexibility — more than double the 12% who increased it.
Flexibility is clearly important to agents — 15% cited a lack of work from home as a reason for leaving. Yet only 3% of leaders recognised this as a driver, reinforcing a significant perception gap.
One of the biggest pain points is roster control. While 79% of agents can now swap and/or bid for shifts, many say the actual execution is clunky, limited or inconsistent. They're not just asking for options — they want genuine control over how and when they work.
The concerns leaders raise about remote teams — engagement, connection and mental health — are complex, human issues that no technology can solve on its own, but they are central to sustainable workforce models.
Absenteeism & Attrition
Absenteeism and attrition remain persistent challenges, and while there are encouraging signs in 2025, familiar pressures continue to influence staff turnover.
As the cost-of-living crisis grinds on, salary remains the top reason agents leave — but it's not the only factor. More than half of agents (57%) left for higher salaries and benefits, but leaders may be underestimating other critical drivers.
Flexibility is a major issue: 15% of agents cited a lack of work from home as a reason to leave, yet only 3% of leaders recognised it. Burnout from difficult customer conversations was flagged by 15% of agents, and 11% pointed to a lack of recognition and appreciation. Notably, only 4% of agents blamed their relationship with their leader — reinforcing that dissatisfaction often stems from systemic issues, not individual managers.
Absenteeism trends. Average absenteeism has dropped to 11.3%, down from 12.9% in 2024 and 13.4% in 2023 — though it remains close to double the national workplace average of 6%. Five of the six size groups reported a reduction.
The smallest centres (0–50 seats) saw the sharpest decline, falling to just 9.2%, while centres with 1,000+ seats remain the worst at 15.1%.
Peak absenteeism, however, went the other way — rising to 23.7% in 2025 (up from 22.5% in 2024, though still below 2023's 25.4%). The highest peaks were at both extremes: the smallest centres (0–50 agents: 23.9%) and the largest (1,000+: 24%).
A "win" worth questioning
On the surface, falling absenteeism looks like good news. But as the report cautions, in the shadow of a cost-of-living crisis it may reflect something less positive.
With industry data showing nearly half of Australian workers living pay cheque to pay cheque, financial pressure and job insecurity can push employees to show up even when they're unwell — skipping necessary physical and mental health breaks out of fear they can't afford the time off. The average rate is trending down, but peak absenteeism remains high: a workforce pushing through stress and illness, not because they're thriving, but because they feel they can't afford to step away.
On remote work, 52% of centres report no difference in absenteeism between remote and on-site workers, though 32% say it's worse for those required to work in the office. Encouragingly, 31% of centres say absenteeism is an area they're really struggling with — down from 40% in 2023.
Attrition insights. Average attrition is 29%, up from 27% in 2024 but down from the 2023 spike of 32%. The size breakdown tells the clearer story: the smallest centres (0–50 agents) hold the lowest attrition at 20.8%, while 500–1,000 seat centres face the worst churn at 46.4%, and 1,000+ centres sit at 39.4%.
The reasons agents leave are overwhelmingly financial. 57% left to seek a higher salary and benefits, with a further 19% citing broader cost-of-living pressures. Career development (29%) and pursuing a different career (16%) follow, then burnout from difficult customer conversations (15%) and lack of work from home (15%).
Retention. There's good news: 2025 saw the best first-month retention results in three years, with 90% of new agents staying past one month and 72% still in their role after a year. However, caution is warranted — many agents now appear to stay longer in their early months but leave between 12 and 24 months, suggesting we may be delaying attrition rather than preventing it.
Training & Development
Training and development continue to be critical levers for performance, engagement and retention. But the 2025 report reveals a widening gap between what frontline agents need and what leaders prioritise — particularly soft skills versus technical training.
Agents overwhelmingly want more support in sales, workplace teamwork and communication, yet leaders focus more on product, process and system training.
Only 50% of contact centres have Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for all staff, and 53% of agents say they either don't believe career development opportunities exist or aren't sure. The link is obvious: without a plan, it's hard to see the path forward.
Speed to competency also remains an issue. Just 45% of agents reach competency in under 8 weeks, while 28% take more than 12 weeks. Many of the early hurdles — learning systems, navigating processes and understanding products — could be reduced with better tools and onboarding.
On a positive note, confidence is high: 93% of frontline agents and leaders agree agents are well-equipped to do their job to a high standard, with public sector agents the most confident of all. While the section was heavily skewed towards Knowledge Management Systems, the real takeaway is simple — empowering agents with the right tools, clear career pathways and relevant training remains critical to long-term success.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is no longer the future of contact centres — it's embedded into day-to-day operations for the majority of organisations.
In 2025, 64% of contact centres say AI is meeting or exceeding expectations, up from 47% the year prior. Only 9% now say they have no plans to implement AI, signalling the technology's transition from hype to mainstream.
Usage has matured too. Chatbots, Speech Analytics and knowledge management remain dominant, but Agent Assist showed the sharpest growth — a shift that suggests a growing focus on augmenting human agents rather than replacing them.
Efficiency remains the top benefit, followed by improvements in customer and Employee Experience. But challenges haven't disappeared: 23% of agents say AI caused frustration due to errors, and 31% remain unsure about how they feel about AI's impact on their role — highlighting the importance of getting implementation and training right.
Encouragingly, 70% of agents and leaders alike said AI had a positive impact on their role, and 44% of contact centres created new roles to support their AI strategy. However, cost and internal hesitation are now the biggest barriers to adoption — not the technology itself.
With tools maturing and business cases firming up, AI in 2025 is less about experimentation and more about execution. To realise its full potential, organisations must focus on agent enablement, not just automation — better onboarding, clearer AI strategies and ongoing alignment with employee experience. The message is simple: it's not about automation, it's about augmentation.
Leadership & Culture
Leadership development is under the spotlight in 2025, and not before time. Despite contact centres being a proven training ground for future leaders, many are still promoted without support or experience — resulting in a critical skills gap that impacts culture, performance and retention.
For the first time, this year's report included an in-depth diagnosis of leadership health, empathy and culture. The results are revealing:
Managing conflict and learning & development are consistently ranked the lowest organisational priorities — a telling gap given the findings above.
The disconnect between perception and reality is striking. Senior leaders consistently rate themselves highly on capabilities like trust and empathy, yet front-line agents report feeling undervalued, unheard and unsupported.
On the upside, leaders overwhelmingly recognise that leading through change and customer-centricity are their most important priorities for the next 12 months. But achieving that requires closing the empathy gap — being visible, building relationships, and putting the same rigour into leadership development as we do for technical training. Organisations that build supportive, emotionally intelligent leaders won't just retain more staff; they'll create cultures where people thrive and performance naturally follows.
Health & Wellness
Health and wellness has become an increasingly important focus, with new research providing a rare lens into what's actually working — and what's not. The data reveals high levels of physical and mental strain, but also uncovers clear, actionable strategies.
A large portion of the workforce continues to experience health challenges. 83% of staff sit for most of their shift, 80% report musculoskeletal issues, and one in three report regular stress. While wellbeing initiatives do exist, uptake is patchy, communication is inconsistent, and programs are rarely embedded into daily routines.
Common initiatives include sit-stand desks, stretch breaks, wellbeing challenges, social activities and discounted gym access. Key barriers include unpredictable workloads, limited movement autonomy, poor equipment and a lack of tailored communication. Remote and night-shift workers are particularly underserved by current strategies, and there's strong demand for mental health first aid training and more support for emotionally demanding calls.
The most effective programs were those that were employee-led, flexible and integrated into everyday operations — not just added on as an afterthought. Team leaders play a critical role in supporting engagement, and organisational culture remains the biggest driver (or blocker) of long-term impact. With clear data now linking wellbeing, engagement and performance, the challenge for leaders is less about knowing what to do — and more about prioritising it.
Australian BPO Insights
The 2025 survey includes a dedicated focus on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contact centres, revealing how agent experiences may differ from those in in-house environments. While BPOs accounted for only 9% of senior-leader respondents (and a further 22% used both models), this section provides valuable directional insights into culture, leadership, engagement and the evolving impact of technology in outsourced environments.
Overall, the data paints a surprisingly positive picture of the BPO sector — at least from the perspective of the agents who responded. Compared to in-house peers, BPO agents reported:
- Higher levels of job satisfaction, with 87% saying they feel well-equipped to do their job to a high standard
- A stronger connection to purpose, with 29% saying they feel very connected to their organisation's purpose (vs. 27% in-house)
- Better flexibility and visibility when it comes to making changes to their roster
- Higher usage of cutting-edge technology, and stronger satisfaction with the tools available to do their role
Encouragingly, when asked about workplace culture, BPO agents provided similarly strong results to their in-house counterparts across all eight positive descriptors — including "Supportive," "Respectful" and "Collaborative." Negative cultural indicators such as "Toxic," "Micromanaged" or "Disconnected" remained low across both cohorts.
Technology continues to be a major enabler. 76% of BPO agents said technology had made their job easier, compared to 70% of in-house agents. BPOs also reported greater benefits in areas like automation and job satisfaction, reflecting the sector's investment in scalable tech deployment and more efficient onboarding.
Agent sentiment around AI was broadly similar across both groups, though BPO agents were slightly more optimistic overall — with 34% feeling "excited" about the impact of AI in their role. However, both groups showed high levels of uncertainty, reinforcing the need for deeper engagement, clearer communication and more accessible training during rollout.
Engagement scores for BPO agents were broadly in line with the national average, though a few sectors like health insurance and banking showed slightly lower results — a likely reflection of the emotionally charged and complex nature of those industries. Interestingly, 50% of BPO agents reported having clear career aspirations within their current centre — a strong endorsement of the development opportunities in larger outsourced environments.
While some caution should be applied due to unknown sample-size differences between BPO and in-house respondents, the findings help challenge outdated perceptions. Modern BPOs appear to be building strong, tech-enabled cultures that can deliver both performance and purpose — provided the right investments are made in people, not just platforms.
Future Predictions
Contact centre transformation has officially entered the execution phase. While previous years were full of theoretical promise, 2025 marks a tipping point, with leaders now focused on practical implementation. AI and automation have moved beyond buzzwords — the majority of centres now expect agent headcounts to fall over the next three years, confirming a shift from hype to tangible, cost-optimised service models.
Rather than eliminating human roles, the shift is elevating them. As AI handles routine work, contact centres expect to recruit "Super Agents" — customer experience specialists skilled in empathy, judgement and problem-solving. The recruitment outlook has stabilised, with most centres expecting hiring difficulty to ease slightly by 2027, and many hopeful that augmented roles will attract better candidates and improve retention.
On recruitment, 55% expect conditions to remain the same and 28% expect them to become easier. Despite the transformation, appetite for outsourcing remains limited — 53% say it is extremely unlikely they'll outsource more work to third parties in the next three years, a potential challenge for BPOs as in-house AI solutions gain traction.
The outlook on headcount shows a clear divergence across timeframes. In the short term (12 months) there's a near-even split between increasing and decreasing headcount. In the long term (3 years), 56% of centres expect agent numbers to fall while 38% expect an increase — confirming a clear pivot toward automation and efficiency.
Senior leaders identified staffing, burnout and workload volume as their top challenges for the year ahead. New pressures are emerging around training, technology integration and remote-work cohesion, with maintaining morale and managing remote performance now as critical as traditional operational KPIs.
Digital transformation now dominates strategic roadmaps. The top focus areas reported in multi-year strategies are digital transformation and self-service, customer experience enhancement, technology modernisation, operational efficiency and automation, and agent empowerment and development. The report closes on a clear note: transformation is no longer about if, but how effectively it can be delivered — and execution, not intention, will be the differentiator.
Mystery Shopping: The ACXPA Call Centre Rankings
Back for a second year, the 2025 report includes the latest results from the ACXPA Call Centre Rankings — the only national mystery shopping program that benchmarks phone-based customer experience against consistent, independent standards.
Unlike the majority of this report, which is based on self-reported data, the Rankings provide an external view of performance by measuring what customers actually experience when they call a business. The results are derived from real mystery shopping calls made throughout the 2024 calendar year and assessed using the Australian Contact Centre CX Standards.
Each call is evaluated across more than 80 individual metrics covering accessibility (how easy it is to reach a live agent), agent mastery (the skill, professionalism and service quality of the agent), and overall CX (a combined score reflecting the total customer experience).
The leaderboards below highlight the top-performing sectors and individual contact centres from 2024 — an independent Voice of the Customer lens that goes beyond NPS or internal QA, showing how the industry really stacks up from a customer's point of view.
Salaries & Bonuses
The cost-of-living pressures that dominated 2024 remained firmly in place throughout 2025, continuing to challenge households and contact centre operations. While the economy shows signs of stabilising, salary expectations remain elevated — and with AI reshaping workforce strategies, there's greater scrutiny than ever on the value and cost of each role.
Base salaries for frontline roles have continued to increase modestly across most states, though the pace of growth has slowed. This year also marks a stabilisation of team leader and specialist salaries, with few changes since 2024 — a possible sign the market has caught its breath after prior sharp increases.
💰 Looking for the latest salary data?
The figures below are from the 2025 report and reflect that point in time. For the most current benchmarks across every contact centre role, see our Australian Call Centre Salaries page — always kept up to date.
Frontline Customer Service salaries by state
| State | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Australia | $55,000 | $58,000 | $62,109 | +$4,109 |
| Queensland | $55,600 | $57,500 | $62,288 | +$4,788 |
| Victoria | $57,600 | $60,000 | $61,996 | +$1,996 |
| New South Wales | $62,800 | $63,500 | $64,530 | +$1,030 |
| Western Australia | $64,500 | $65,000 | $65,500 | +$500 |
National averages (2025)
Frontline Customer Service salaries by industry (2025)
| Industry | Avg base | Avg bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Public Sector | $70,475 | $1,500 |
| Superannuation | $70,143 | $2,250 |
| Education | $69,238 | $6,300 |
| Banking | $65,106 | $1,671 |
| Health Insurance | $64,558 | $2,959 |
| Insurance | $63,969 | $2,000 |
| BPO | $53,240 | $2,100 |
Team Leader salaries (2024)
| Role | Base | Avg bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Team Leader | $89,500 | $8,900 |
| Inbound Sales Team Leader | $84,100 | $12,000 |
| Outbound Sales Team Leader | $85,000 | $15,000 |
| Collections Team Leader | $84,500 | $12,900 |
| Helpdesk / Technical Team Leader | $88,700 | $6,100 |
Workforce & Knowledge Management salaries (2024)
| Role | Avg base | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce Manager | $133,000 | 1 in 3 exceed $150K |
| Knowledge Manager | $130,000 | Wide range by seniority |
| Forecaster | $95,800 | 40% exceed $110K |
| Scheduler | $86,500 | 14% exceed $110K |
| Real Time Analyst | $78,400 | 38% exceed $90K |
Leadership salaries (2024)
| Role | Base | Avg bonus | % with bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operations Manager | $127,000 | $11,000 | 40% |
| Senior Operations Manager | $152,900 | $15,900 | 100% |
| Contact Centre Manager | $129,000 | $11,800 | 28% |
| Senior Contact Centre Manager | $153,800 | $20,900 | 63% |
| Head of Contact Centre | $179,500 | $25,600 | 50% |
| Head of Customer Service / CX | $198,800 | $24,625 | 67% |
| Customer Service / CX Manager | $136,000 | $12,500 | 66% |
| General Manager | $205,900 | $25,600 | 75% |
All salaries + super. Frontline figures are from the report's 2025 survey; team-leader, workforce and leadership figures reflect 2024 data carried into this edition. Source: Smaart Recruitment 2025 Australian Contact Centre Industry Best Practice Report. For current benchmarks, see Australian Call Centre Salaries.
Conclusion
The 2025 report confirms what many already suspected: Australia's contact centres are evolving fast, and the frontline is at the heart of it.
From AI adoption and digital transformation to shifting employee expectations and workplace flexibility, the industry is facing a period of significant change. What sets this year apart is the clear call to action — execution now matters more than intention. The insights are there and the technology is here; what's needed is leadership that listens, enables and acts.
Agents are telling us what they need to stay motivated, grow their careers and deliver consistently high customer experiences. They're not asking for gimmicks — they're asking for fair pay, meaningful development, empathetic leadership and modern flexibility. Organisations that get this right will retain talent, boost performance and build reputations for exceptional service.
Likewise, AI is no longer hypothetical — it's embedded. But the biggest benefits will flow to those who use it to augment people, not replace them. Whether it's Agent Assist, smarter knowledge tools or speech analytics, the future of service is hybrid — powered by tech, delivered by people.
As we look to 2026 and beyond, the defining advantage won't be who's adopting the latest tools — it will be who's using them to create better experiences for customers and staff alike.
Get the Full Report
This article is our summary of the key findings. The full 130-page 2025 report is produced and owned by Smaart Recruitment and is available from them at contactcentrebestpractice.com.au.
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