Cost · ROI · Staffing
Receptionist Turnover
Backfill costs, morale impact, and the hidden productivity hit when staff leave.
Every exit forces rehiring, retraining, and weeks of partial coverage.
Define the cost problem
- •Staff exits leave phones exposed
- •Remaining staff juggle phones and front desk
- •Owners/managers step in and lose strategic time
Hidden costs
- •Lost calls during churn
- •QA burden on new hires
- •Morale risk triggering further exits
Rough ranges
- •Recruiting + ramp: 4–8 weeks of reduced service
- •Backfill OT to keep phones covered
- •Retraining and QA load on experienced staff
Compare options
- •Accept churn and keep rehiring
- •Use temps/agency to patch coverage
- •Forward to answering services off-hours
- •Use AI reception to stabilize coverage and reduce burnout
AI reception advantage
- •Always-on coverage reduces burnout drivers
- •Transcripts and routing rules survive turnover
- •Helps new hires ramp with clean call logs
What to do next
- •Quantify churn frequency and lost calls
- •Compare OT + temp costs vs. AI coverage
- •Keep humans for nuance; let AI handle the rest