Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Strategies to Maximize Your Workforce Management Investment
Do you struggle in your role as a call center leader to ensure you have the right number of staff with the right skills available at the right times of the day ? Do your agents show up for work on time and adhere to the schedule for breaks, training and other activities? If you’re struggling to keep your staff on track, it may be time to take a closer look at workforce management solutions.
Monet Software recently posted a blog highlighting an informative webinar offered in partnership with TMCnet. Focused on workforce management, this webinar stressed six simple strategies for improved call center adherence, providing the necessary tools to keep agents and other call center staff in line with the scheduling you have put in place.
When scheduling adherence is lacking in the call center, understaffing can easily affect the speed of customer answer, the staff workload and occupancy, as well as your cost per call. It’s important you have the right workforce management platform in place so you can set a clear adherence goal and ensure your entire staff sticks to it. To set that goal – here are a few considerations:
· Consider the average handle time of calls
· Analyze the likelihood of a very long call
· Identify all the barriers that may prevent adherence
· Involve frontline staff in defining what is reasonable
· Define minimum expectation (pass/fail)
· Define grades of adherence
One of the most important things you can do as a call center leader is to ensure your agents are aware of their performance as it relates to schedule adherence. A robust workforce management platform can track this for you, alerting agents to their productive time versus scheduled time. It also provides you with ample opportunity to provide consistent and timely feedback that reinforces good behavior, while helping to motivate those who may be falling behind.
When you post performance and adherence numbers for all to see, the competition can heat up as every team member recognizes their stake in the overall performance of the call center. When you make it matter to each agent, you’ll be surprised how quickly they will step up and take ownership of their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to hit their goals.
A few strategies you can apply within your call center environment today to maximize your investment in workforce management and get the most out of your team:
1. Quantify the service, occupancy and cost implications for missing staff members
2. Describe options for setting adherence performance goals and selling to your staff
3. Pinpoint the reasons for problems related to attendance and adherence
4. Identify ways to communicate and educate staff on the “power of one” in call center staffing
5. Identify reward and consequences programs that support your adherence goals
6. Describe software advances in adherence tracking and reporting capabilities and how to justify them.
Workforce management solutions can lend considerable value within your call center environment, but you have to be equipped to take your staff to the next level in terms of scheduling adherence. By implementing these strategies, you’ll be well on your way.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Chris DiMarco