Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Is It Time to Shake Up Your Call Center Scheduling?
How many days do you consider your call center work the same as usual? It can easily feel that way when you’re managing customer interactions. Even with the occasional frustrated customer, processes and attitudes can still get stagnant. The introduction of the multichannel environment promised a shake-up and those responsible for call center scheduling can attest to this reality, but even with the mix of multiple channels schedules can get stale.
To say the least, the agent who has to manage the email and social channel in addition to the typical phone traffic is definitely seeing a change in the dynamics compared with the agent of yesterday who had little more to do than answer the phone. But the mix of activity can get old if it’s the same day after day. A recent blog by call center scheduling solutions provider, Monet Software examined the topic and why it’s important to keep things fresh.
The typical agent who works the 8-5 shift every day is likely to see communications that are a little bit different from the agent who works the night shift. The demographics of the audience at that time is different, as well as the tools they prefer to use to conduct interactions. The stagnant feeling will be the same for those that work that later shift, however, as they won’t see a lot of variation in their activity, either.
To break up the monotony, it may be healthy to take a look at call center scheduling. The agent who comes in and starts a shift in the middle of the day may find more excitement in breaking up a shift rather than starting at the same time as everyone else. This small change could add some interest to his or her day, but it’s really only a start. Let’s consider a few other tips for making call centers scheduling a bit more interesting:
Make schedules accessible online – while you may have already offered employees the opportunity to see their schedule through an online portal, are you also allowing them to request time off, ask to switch with a co-worker or other exceptions through the same channel? Keeping these activities integrated can ensure better adherence and allow for flexibility.
Offer rewards for schedule adherence – you can see significant cost savings when your staff stick to their schedules. Offer incentives for sticking to the schedule as posted, making the rewards cumulative over time.
Offer high performing agents first priority in scheduling – when you have high-performing agents, it’s easy to schedule them during your prime times. But even high performing agents can get burnt out when they work the same schedule each week. It’s never a bad idea to incentivize them for taking those tougher shifts, but let them make the decision.
Keep in mind that trends and campaigns launched by your marketing team can also impact the activity levels in the call center, so have fun with these elements as well. If your agents are more engaged and can get out of the rut, you’ll see a better outcome on interactions.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi