Call Center Management Feature Article

June 23, 2011

Call Center Management Can Reduce Shrinkage to Lower Costs

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Controlling costs is one of those call center management tasks that must always be a priority, but one that is difficult to achieve. Call center management will continue to implement tools that promise to improve processes and eliminate waste, yet without priority focus being placed on shrinkage; true cost savings will continue to be elusive.

This was the concept explored in a recent Monet Software blog. The essential point is the importance of scheduling in call center management. Without proper scheduling practices in place, it can be very easy for the call center to fall into methods of wasteful shrinkage. Not sure how this might affect your environment? Keep reading.

Call center management can very easily underestimate the volume of shrinkage that can naturally exist in the call center – especially if it is not measured and tracked. This shrinkage, or paid time not taking calls, can cost the call center and the organization much more than what is often captured on paper.

In a quick estimate of a 30 agent contact center with 20 minutes of out of adherence status per agent, the call center is easily absorbing 10 hours per day of shrinkage. If the agents in this call center were receiving $12 per hour plus benefits to equal $15 an hour, these agents are costing the call center management budget $150 a day, $750 a week or $39,000 per year.

Unfortunately, call center management cannot eliminate or recover all lost time, but they can leverage tools to reduce shrinkage from 20 to 10 minutes, which can result in a $20,000 savings. At the same time, call center management is also improving service levels. And, if you consider sales lost as a result of shrinkage, this also can easily add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year that call center management can recover by cracking down on one area.

In reality, however, it can be much easier to identify shrinkage than it can be to reduce it. The three key elements involved include creating a better match of actual call volume with the availability of the agents; optimizing the schedule by including all relevant parameters such as training, breaks, etc.; and improving schedule adherence by educating agents, monitoring performance and providing incentives.

Shrinkage does not have to break the call center, but it is up to call center management to ensure they have a firm handle on it to prevent unnecessary waste.

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