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Workforce Optimization Software for the New Economy

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Workforce Optimization Software for the New Economy

September 30, 2016

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By Tracey E. Schelmetic,
TMCnet Contributor
 


If you manage a contact center, chances are good your workforce looks different than it did 10 years ago. It’s likely made up of far more Millennial generation workers than it was then. Also, these workers probably spend their days doing very different tasks. While the telephone is still a big part of it, they’re also likely handling digital and perhaps even social media communications. Because of this, your workload, your processes, your goals and your quality checks are all probably very different. If you’re still using a years-old solution to manage this workforce, it’s probably not cutting it anymore for your organization.


In a recent article for HRDive, Melissa Albanes notes that for starters, the idea of a 9:00 to 5:00 workday is now obsolete, which means even the shifts look different than they once did. They may not even be “shifts” in the traditional sense at all, and there may be outside forces regulating how your employees work.

“Employees are responding to emails before bed, taking calls on their commutes and getting tasks done at home—all of which constitute ‘time worked,’” she wrote. “Organizations must now track this evolving concept of time worked, rather than simply tracking hours spent at the office, while taking into account legislative and regulatory requirements. The U.S. government is changing FLSA laws for the first time in over a decade to reclassify employees eligible for overtime protection.”

By necessity, workforce management and optimization need to become more automated to save time and also to help employees do some of their own management themselves. We expect self-service when we’re customers today, why shouldn’t we expect it as employees? With good work optimization software, companies can make this desire employees have to exercise more control over their schedules work for the company by cutting out extraneous paperwork, manager tasks and manual processes.

“Best-in-class organizations are empowering their employees by giving them access to manage their schedules when and where they want,” wrote Albanes. “Employees can manage everything from bidding for open shifts, disclosing availability and requesting time off directly through a company-specific web portal, data collection device or mobile application.”

At the same time modern workforce optimization software improves visibility and options for employees, it also improves visibility and accountability for managers. Today’s solutions can help managers quickly pinpoint where schedules are lagging, adherence is poor and metrics are not being met. Thanks to dashboard presentation of real-time data, managers can take steps to correct problems – whether it’s agent groups or individual agents – quickly.

This visibility into operations and individual agent performance also becomes a boon for managers when it’s time to schedule training (either regular or remedial) by identifying weak spots in agents performance as well as where their strengths lie. Contact center managers can build their reward programs based on the data…for example, allowing agents to get first pick of vacation time by merit.

“Forward-thinking organizations build even more efficiency by requiring employees to meet certain prerequisites (such as training or certification) to be eligible for particular shifts or tasks,” wrote Albanes. “This allows supervisors and HR departments to plan training to better staff required positions or provide replacement coverage at peak vacation times.”

If your customers and your employees are evolving to better operate in 2016, it’s critical that your workforce management do the same. Trying to manage 2016’s workforce with 2006’s workforce optimization software may be holding your customer support programs back from success. 




Edited by Maurice Nagle
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