Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Adherence and Call Center Scheduling: Keeping Agents and Customers Happy
The management of your call center staff is probably the most critical aspect to a successfully run customer service operation. Managers need to make sure to have enough agents to cover the volume of incoming communications, but when they hire too many they can end up paying agents for idle time. Optimizing schedules to meet the delicate balancing of what’s needed for a specific volume requires careful planning on the management end, and it also requires schedule adherence on the agent end.
Adherence is the rate at which your agents follow the schedule that they’ve been given. In the case of a smaller call center, even one agent’s failure to meet their schedules obligations can result in an increase in call volume and ultimately in higher abandonments rate and unhappy customers. Recently, Monet Software suggested a few things that you can do to keep your call center agents on the right track.
First of all managers need to identify adherence goals and objectives based on the unique characteristics of their call center environment and also take a look at benchmarks of other call centers. No two operations are exactly the same and defining expectations should involve not only defining your goals but also consulting your staff. You’ll also need to average handle times of calls and identify potential barriers that might prevent adherence. By keeping your agents in the loop your goals will be more realistic and hopefully easier to obtain.
It’s also essential that you communicate the effects of tardiness and absence to your staff. If they feel as though what they’re doing is affecting the entire operation as a whole, they’re more likely to make decisions that support the team.
Monet also suggests having incentives that boost an agent’s willingness to comply with their schedule. This could be the option to swap shifts when needed or to bid on additional time off. Taking the alternative option and punishing for lack of adherence can decrease call center morale and make individuals feel singled out.
Adherence will go a long way to make your customer service operation as effective possible. Take these tips into consideration next time you schedule and you’ll see happier employees and customers alike.
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Chris DiMarco is a Managing Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. Follow him on Twitter (News - Alert) @cpdimarco.
Edited by Carrie Schmelkin