Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Consider Using Slant Schedules for Irregular Call Pattern Volumes in the Contact Center
In the business world, unless you’re part of a virtual emergency problem-solving team (like many IT workers), it’s still generally accepted that the work day goes from 8:00 or 9:00 to about 5:00 or 6:00, Monday through Friday. This may work fine for most departments – there are few “emergency accounting problems” that crop up at 8:00 pm or on Sunday – but for the contact center, it gets a bit tricky.
Contact centers, of course, exist not for the convenience of the company, but the convenience of the customer. Call volume is seldom flat: it may be slow during the beginning of the week, but spike on Thursdays and Fridays as customers realize the weekend is coming and customer support may not be available. In a recent blog post, Joshua Heffner of cloud workforce management solutions provider injixo inc. imagines a call volume chart that shows high demand on Mondays, tapering down to low demand by Wednesday, only to see Thursday spike and Friday to taper off.
“Without flexible schedules, overtime, or additional part time staff, these planners are left trying to balance painful wait times on Mondays and Tuesdays against overstaffing on Thursdays and Fridays,” wrote Heffner.
The implementation of something called “slant schedules,” is possible with modern workforce management and scheduling solutions and can give workforce planners an additional tool that can improve weekly efficiency without additional costs.
“In its simplest form, a slant schedule is one with 10 working hours on Monday, nine on Tuesday, eight on Wednesday, seven on Thursday, and six on Friday,” wrote Heffner. “This shifts capacity from slower days to the busiest days, and it can be effective even on a voluntary basis: in a modestly sized 40-seat contact center, a 10 percent participation rate can add eight working hours on Monday; the equivalent of an additional employee but without the costs. As a bonus, many staff members find the reduced working hours later in the week attractive, as this gives them time to schedule appointments without taking time off.”
Essentially, the model allows service levels remain high on the days of the week they are required, and at the same time avoid overstaffing during the trough periods. The “slant schedule” approach requires a workforce willing to work rather irregular schedules, but for many contact center employees, this may be ideal. Heffner notes that even if your demand curve is predictable but varies from week to week (due to variable campaign schedules, billing dates, and similar known events), you can still take advantage of the slant model if your staff has some flexibility in their weekly schedule.
Schedule flexibility is often something contact center workers wish for, particularly if they have young children, family responsibilities or even second jobs. It can also be the best way to ensure that service levels stay high without raising costs.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi