Satya
Managing a call center team day to day is no easy job. Between unexpected call surges, high targets to hit, and trying to keep customers happy, it’s tricky making sure your center runs smoothly. That’s where rock-solid workforce management comes in. When you get workforce management right, everything else seems to fall into place.
Workforce management means having the systems and smarts to staff your call center just right every single day. It’s about forecasting how many callers you’ll get and when. It’s about creating schedules that meet your customers’ needs at the lowest cost. It’s about tracking everything your team does and making changes when needed. Handled well, workforce management is what takes a call center from chaotic to calm.
This article will break down the top 5 workforce management techniques for call centers. From improving forecasting models to optimizing staff-to-supervisor ratios, we’ll explore best practices for total workforce management call center success. When you can perfectly align your people to the work that needs doing, it transforms efficiency and morale. By getting these workforce fundamentals locked down tight, you empower supervisors, agents, and managers alike to do their best work. Let’s dive in!
1. Nailing Down the Forecast
Having a handle on call volume is workforce management job #1 for call centers. You can’t staff smartly without knowing how busy you’ll be! Solid forecasting takes the guesswork out of scheduling and helps avoid reacting in a mad scramble.
To forecast well, use all the data at your fingertips. Look at past call volumes to spot trends and cycles. Factor in things like new product launches, ads running, and big campaigns that will drive calls. Track outside forces like weather, holidays, news events, and more that impact customers. Look for correlations and seasonal patterns across years.
Crunch the numbers using moving averages, regression analysis, and call forecasting software. The more scientific your methods, the better your accuracy. Update forecasts frequently as actual call data comes in. Tweak things constantly to improve precision over time.
With robust forecasting, workforce management call centers know what’s coming volume-wise. This allows creating schedules that meet targets cost-efficiently. Adapting forecasts based on real-time call surges or lulls keeps service levels steady. Think of forecasting as your call center crystal ball – when it’s clear, your scheduling and staffing can’t miss.
2. Track and Enforce Schedule Adherence
With call volumes fluctuating, high schedule adherence is crucial for call centers to align staffing levels to demand. Implement automated time and attendance systems to monitor agents clocking in, going on break, taking lunches, and clocking out. Integrate this data with workforce management systems and scheduling. Require supervisor approval for schedule deviations.
Set clear expectations for schedule adherence during the hiring and onboarding process. Enforce adherence consistently across teams. Identify reasons for non-adherence like insufficient staffing, inadequate breaks, or low engagement. Address root causes through improved forecasting, schedule adjustments, or corrective action plans. Recognize agents demonstrating high adherence.
Consistent schedule adherence optimization enables maintaining service level targets despite volatile call volumes. It also promotes trust, fairness, and teamwork by curtailing absenteeism and adherence exceptions. Schedule adherence brings stability amidst fluctuations.
3. Optimize Supervisor-to-Agent Ratios
Determining optimal supervisor-to-agent ratios enables call centers to balance costs, efficiency, oversight, and development. Assess factors like center size, team capabilities, call complexity, management styles, and roles. Generally, assign more agents per supervisor for repetitive transactional calls requiring less support. Maintain lower ratios for complex service interactions.
Frequently review ratios and recalibrate as operations evolve. Add extra supervisors when launching new teams for close guidance, then gradually increase agent allotments. Ensure ratios allow sufficient one-on-one coaching while maximizing supervisor productivity. Empower senior agents to provide peer support for basic issues to preserve supervisors for value-add interactions.
Optimal ratios extract both efficiency gains through appropriate spans of control and development gains through targeted coaching and mentoring. Right-size ratios to strike this balance.
4. Foster Schedule Ownership Among Agents
Engaging call center agents directly in scheduling decisions boosts ownership and adherence. Provide intuitive self-service scheduling tools that agents can access 24/7 to pick shifts that fit their needs and responsibilities outside of work. Maintain supervisor approval over final schedules to uphold forecasting and optimal staffing levels.
Solicit direct agent input when designing schedule options and templates. Enhanced involvement in the process makes agents more invested in aligning to call center workforce requirements. Promote ownership by communicating schedule needs and constraints transparently.
Perceived control over schedules, within reason, enhances engagement, accountability, and performance. Agents become partners in navigating the complexities of contact center scheduling.
5. Cultivate a Flexible, Agile Workforce
For call centers, build a workforce adept at adjusting swiftly to evolving demands. Cross-train agents to handle various call types rather than remaining siloed in specialties. Discourage knowledge hoarding. Document processes fully so agents can step in for each other seamlessly.
Develop at-home agent groups who can supplement on-site staffing during unforeseen peaks or outages. Remote workers provide built-in redundancy. Multiskilled teams with remote capabilities allow easily reassigning agents based on real-time needs.
Nurture workforce agility through change management, training on new systems, and upskilling initiatives. Agents fluidly transitioning across teams and able to modify schedules on the fly enable matching resources precisely to needs. Workforce agility becomes a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Getting workforce management right is the key to call center excellence. When designed thoughtfully, workforce management call center strategies enable optimizing your most valuable resource – your people. When you pull everything together, workforce management is what takes a chaotic call center and makes it shine. Customers get fast resolution from an engaged team. Employees feel empowered and play to their strengths. And you’ve got the data and systems to make smart decisions quickly.
Of course, perfecting something as complex as call center workforce management takes work. You’ll need patience, the latest tools, and an eagle eye on data patterns. But taking workforce management seriously delivers huge payoffs across the board.
So if your call center has been feeling erratic lately, now you’ve got a roadmap to regain control. Get forecasting down cold. Continually tweak schedules and staffing to meet targets. Boost adaptability at every turn. Before long, you’ll be workforce management masters!
Here’s to you, your team, and the workforce magic that keeps call centers humming! With the fundamentals down, you’re ready to hit the phones running.
