Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Optimal Call Center Scheduling for a Productive Workforce
Being a contact center manager is not an easy task, especially when it comes to scheduling and keeping the workforce intact. A lot goes into properly scheduling agents, including forecasting peak call times, factoring breaks, planning for the unexpected, all while ensuring queues have proper coverage. Here are a few tips implement that will enhance how the workforce is utilized.
Training is an extremely vital part of the call center, especially in light of ever-evolving technology. Even on training days, a sturdy and structured schedule needs to be put into place to ensure agents are where they need to be at all times. Lunches, quick mental breaks and coaching blocks need to be carefully divided for perfect planning and execution.
When back in the call center, there is a constant rotation of promotions, events, holidays, and product launches. That leads to unpredictability, which means the schedule cannot be as basic as a usual workday. It is suggested that, instead of scheduling agents to come in on the top of the hour, create flexibility. This means scheduling some workers at a half past the hour, or a quarter to, for a more seamless agent rotation.
Part-time employees are great in call centers because there it’s easy to create varied work schedules, which also work to cover peak times or special event days where more agents are needed. It is also not out of the realm of possibility to hire on-call employees or recruit current agents looking for more hours. In return, on-call agents are offered incentives, such as gift cards or the ability to choose the days they work. This will also cut down on overtime, which is notoriously costly for businesses. Think cost effective accommodation.
Some employees prefer to have three-day weekends. This is why offering short work weeks with longer shifts can be enticing. Once a manager knows what an agent’s strengths are, an adapted schedule can easily be offered and implemented.
Holidays are crazy in call centers – probably the busiest times of the year. Using the most resources during this time, such as extra hours, allows agents to work as much as they wish while making a generous income. The trade off? Leave-without-pay and Voluntary Time Off (LWOP/VTO) for slower periods. What agents make during the busy season, if they take every opportunity, will hold them over until the next call center spike and give them some recovery time.
There are not just phones to be answered; there is back-office workload that must be addressed so, if there are too many agents and not enough work, pull some agents to multitask. It will help ease the monotony of sitting in a cube.
Finally, scheduling agents properly is of the utmost importance but customer service can make or break a business. Creating an omnichannel environment will help eliminate hold times and dropped calls. Allowing customers to email, chat, or text to get answers and resolution can offer peace of mind that waiting on hold does not. The callback functionality, where the caller gets called back by an agent based on the queue position is also a great option to eliminate hold times.
Which of these tips will you implement when you schedule your call center agents?
Edited by Erik Linask