Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Offering Contact Center Agents More Flexibility with Breaks Can Improve Agent Efficiency
Traditionally, there are some workers that need to remain highly scheduled in order to ensure no lapses in coverage or productivity. Store clerks, factory workers and contact center agents stand out particularly, but there are hundreds of others. While office workers are generally able to take a break when they need it, millions of Americans find themselves so locked into a schedule that they must wait to take a restroom break when it’s “in the schedule.”
Fast-forward to 2015, and younger workers of the so-called “millennial generation” simply aren’t accustomed to being told when they can take a break. While there’s not much that can be done for factory workers, in the contact center, it IS possible to be more accommodating for workers’ breaks. Contact center work is stressful, and allowing a worker to walk away for 10 minutes when they need it (and not when the contact center needs it) could help retain workers and improve their productivity.
“In the contact center, this has prompted some discussion as to whether agent breaks should be strictly scheduled just like training sessions and other activities, or if more flexibility is feasible,” wrote Monet Software CEO Chuck Ciarlo in a recent blog post. “There is even some documentation out there about agents being more efficient if they can take an unscheduled break as needed.”
Since agents in a contact center ARE highly beholden to a schedule, however, this would require some adjustment on the part of managers as well as the workforce management software a contact center is using to stay on target. It simply might not be feasible to allow workers to “take five” when they need to. Most contact centers still schedule breaks, and most workers are able to adjust to them. A good compromise might be allowing workers to choose in advance when they would like to take their breaks, and build them into the schedule accordingly. In some cases, workforce management and scheduling solutions will allow the agents to request the breaks without intervention by a manager, and – if the time works for the schedule, the solution will permit them to “reserve” that break.
“While it sounds more restrictive, there are still ways in which an agent’s preference can be accommodated. Indeed, once agents grasp the most common call volume patterns for days and shifts, they are able to request breaks and other time-off requests at times when such requests stand a greater chance of being approved,” wrote Ciarlo.
A cloud-based solution can ensure that all workers are working from the same data, and the “smart” nature of the solution ensures that the contact center remains covered and properly skilled at all times, while accommodating agent preferences as best it can.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi