Getting a Better Grip on Schedule Adherence in the Call Center

Nobody said running a call center was easy. One of the trickiest tasks in a call center is building a schedule. There are so many unknown and uncontrollable factors, that the process is more of an art than a science. While modern scheduling solutions have gone a long way toward helping build better schedules, this is only half the equation.

The other half is actually sticking to the schedule you’ve built. Schedule adherence, or staying with the schedule and not allowing it to get away from you as extra tasks arise, is a headache for many call centers. Many call centers rely on schedule adherence tracking that sounds alerts when things start to go wrong.

Even with schedule adherence tracking in place, one remaining challenge is often the fact that agents can have so many different non-call tasks, exceptions and states that standard workforce management (WFM) solutions are not able to plan for and monitor, according to workforce optimization company Monet Software in a recent blog.

This is where advanced schedule adherence comes in, says Monet. This feature enables supervisors and call center managers to create custom states and rules to match their unique call center needs. Some examples include:

·         Creating custom states for call wrap-up, special after call work, outbound preparation and other activities

·         Establishing thresholds for each state that indicate how much time is considered “in adherence”

·         Defining which states are included or not included in the agent adherence calculation.

The trick is to anticipate the things you can’t anticipate. Exceptions and non-call activities can be considered “scheduled activities,” along with available, break, lunch, and logged out states, writes Monet.

Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli