Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Having Trouble Managing PTO Requests? WFM Can Help
Paid (News - Alert) Time Off (PTO). It’s a phrase that makes employees cheer and call center managers cringe. PTO can be used for a number of reasons: family gatherings, sick time, road trips, vacation and so on. Usually, people try to save PTO for vacation time, which typically happens during the summer months. For large corporations, having multiple employees take time off during the summer doesn’t make much of a difference because they have the numbers to make sure that everything gets done regardless. However, in smaller companies, like contact centers, it can become complicated when several agents request time off during the summer.
Now that it’s June, call center managers across the U.S. are likely drowning in PTO request forms. Agents, like everyone else in the world, deserve some time off. In fact, they may be the most entitled to time off given that they listen to customer complaints all day. However, all those PTO requests can turn into a massive headache for managers if they don’t have the right technology in place to deal with time off.
Part of a call center manager’s job is to coordinate schedules and agents depending on shifts and skills. That’s already a difficult process because it’s impossible to make everyone happy. So throwing PTO requests into the mix makes creating satisfying schedules that much harder.
Workforce Management (WFM) solutions, such as the Monet WFM Live, can be used to streamline PTO processes, thus taking some pressure off of managers and agents alike. For instance, Monet WFM Live can be used to plan and track PTO accruals by automatically entering all necessary information into the contact center’s schedule and staffing roster. The solution can also be integrated into a call center’s human resources system to track related data.
This not only helps managers keep requests organized, but it also allows agents to schedule their own PTO time based on what they see in the database. Needless to say, WFM solutions like this result in happier agents, as they’re able to control their PTO fully. It also results in happier managers because it effectively cuts out the middle man—for the most part—and eases the stress associated with trying to manage everyone’s PTO requests.
Summer is supposed to be a fun time, but stress from scheduling havoc in the contact center often stops that from being true. WFM solutions can change that.