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Control Your Workforce, Control Your Profits

By TMCnet Staff

With companies everywhere looking for that extra “edge” to stay ahead of the competition, everyone is watching the bottom line. Expenses and costs have a way of silently creeping out of control until you find yourself over budget and sinking fast. It’s not a great situation to find yourself in.

One way to keep everything in check is to practice a conscientious management of your workforce. JaNae Forshee, Senior WFO (Workforce Optimization) Practice Manager at call center leader inContact, is a master of the art who knows how effective it can be.

“With 60 to 70 percent of contact center costs associated with labor, companies consistently struggle with having or supporting an effective Workforce Management (WFM) strategy,” Forshee recently wrote in a blog post. “Workforce Management is the foundation block for ensuring your contact center is efficient. WFM is more than just forecasting and scheduling; it’s about ensuring that the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time, [are] across all communication channels.”

Forshee likens effective workforce managers to those in airport traffic control towers, seamlessly managing the ballet of people and responsibilities. She notes that “No matter how large or small your organization may be, the goal, principals, and process remain constant:

• Do more with less;
• Handle forecast accuracy and long-term planning;
• Manage Staff flexibility;
• Schedule adherence monitoring;
• Do off phone/work management.”

Taking her knowledge and insights to the next logical step, Forshee will be presenting at a show next month, the “2015 Society of Workforce Planning Professional’s (SWPP) Annual Conference” in Nashville. There, she’ll talk about those five basic steps at length, the ones necessary for any successful WFM process.

According to the organization, the SWPP Conference provides multiple educational sessions, facilitated discussions on relevant topics, a vendor showroom, and more. “Learn from industry experts and your peers in over 60 different sessions during this exciting event,” SWPP says. “Everyone is invited to attend this conference, and anyone in the workforce planning community can benefit from the informative workshops and opportunities to network with peers.”

As Forshee sums it up best, “These repeatable steps are necessary to meet your basic staffing requirements and set your organization up for success.”