Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
How to Drive Adherence with Call Center Scheduling Tools
One of the most important aspects of call center scheduling is creating an environment where agents know what to do and when to do it. Adherence to the schedule is not just about showing up on time and leaving when the shift is complete. Agents also need to adhere to service levels and maintain productive time.
A failure to adhere to the schedule can cost the call center hundreds of thousands of dollars if it’s widespread and never addressed. As such, call center management needs to set the expectations and then provide agents with the tools to meet them. Monet WFM Live from Monet Software provides the real-time schedule adherence tools needed from a central dashboard.
For the manager who needs to ensure agents are performing according to expectations, Monet WFM Live allows for the continuous monitoring and recording of the status of their agents. Agent status is displayed in real-time and can change based on what they are doing at any given time. The time column will also show how long the agent has remained in a specific status.
Managers can also set filters to narrow down the view, searching for work group, employee team or skill team. The dashboard can also be set so that only agents who are out-of-adherence are on display. The page refreshes every 30, 45 or 60 seconds according to preconfigured settings. The agent’s name appears in black if he or she is in adherence with the scheduled task. The out-of-adherence agent’s name will appear in red, allowing for the quick identification for a problem that may need attention.
Not every call center environment is exactly the same, however, and custom settings may need to be applied to ensure adherence is measured according to the proper call center scheduling. Custom states are set using the Advanced Schedule Adherence, allowing managers to decide which behaviors are considered in or out of adherence. Managers can set rules for each of these states to fit the associated activities and boundaries that should be put in place. There’s no limit to the number of states created and color coding is available for better organization.
As any call center manager knows, monitoring adherence is really just half the battle. Reporting capabilities must be in place to analyze adherence for the entire day, week, month, team or other criteria. If an agent is consistently out-of-adherence, it’s important to know why. It’s also important to track this information to know whether or not the agent needs additional training, doesn’t understand how to adhere to the schedule properly or is simply unable to meet the demands of the job.
With reporting capabilities, feedback is better provided to the agent base so that those agents motivated for improvement will make the necessary changes and those on their way out may be shown the door. Regardless, adherence tools allow for greater attention placed on call center scheduling and the important value it adds to the environment.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi