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Tips to reduce call center shrinkage: II

1. Forecast down to appropriate intervals:

A particular number of agents is needed at different times of day to handle typical call volumes. This number is termed as “Base staff” and varies by time of day or day of the week. It is said to be a good practice to forecast down to about 15- or 30-minute intervals and to take into account variations in both volume and average handling time. This would help reduce call center shrinkage to a large extent.

Base staff
Base staff

2. Employ WFM application:

A WFM application with schedule adherence allows you to measure call center shrinkage at a granular employee level. It has the ability to track the exact time spent in planned and unplanned shrinkage. It can help manage shrinkage in a suitable manner in the season based environment. Moreover, it enables you to calculate the impact of absenteeism, late individuals etc on the service that you deliver to your customers.

WFM
WFM

 

3. Avoid flat lining or rounding off the shrinkage:

You should avoid flat lining the call center shrinkage across the year. Instead, consider analyzing the trends related to shrinkage. The reason being, categories such as sickness, training etc cannot always be the same every week or month of the year. Also, you need to make sure that you use decimal points and do not round off the figures in the respective calculations. This is because even 0.1% has the potential of adding up to a cost over the course of a year.

Shrinkage calculation
Shrinkage calculation

 

4. Consider individual calculations for different departments:

In a multi-department call center, shrinkage should be calculated individually rather than for the centre as a whole. This leads a better and more efficacious calculation.

Individual calculations of different departments
Individual calculations of different departments

5. Determine strategies that would reduce shrinkage for your business:

Based on the trends related to call center shrinkage and further calculations, base staff can be determined so as to facilitate a productive work schedule. Consider analyzing the data gleaned from monitoring the factors affecting shrinkage and discussing it with the entire team. Thereafter, you can determine and employ strategies that would work best to reduce shrinkage in your business

Strategies
Strategies

 

 

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Your guide to call center schedule adherence

Call center schedule adherence is an important terminology related to call centers. It refers to the common metric used in the call center to determine whether or not call center agents are working the amount of time they are scheduled to work. Schedule adherence can take into account time spent on breaks or do non-call related work.

Call center schedule adherence
Call center schedule adherence

Measurement:

Schedule adherence is measured as follows:

Total time a call center agent is available for call work /  The time they are scheduled to work

The result is expressed as a percentage. Most call centers define a target schedule adherence percentage that allows for some free time beyond the known scheduled lunch and break times. However, there are instances where agents to go out of adherence as call center schedules tend to be complex.

Measurement
Measurement

Importance:

Call center schedule adherence is a crucial call center metric that ensures smooth transitions between shifts assigned to the agents. These days, web-based call center scheduling solutions have become essential to track schedule adherence in real-time with automatic alerts. You can leverage these tools for an appropriate calculation of schedule adherence. Moreover, these tools can be used to track adherence in real-time. Thereafter, these adherence reports can be shared with agents and they can be told how they are doing as it is important to give regular feedback regarding adherence statistics.

Web based tools for workforce management
Web-based tools for workforce management

You need to consider informing and educating your agents before implementing a new program. This is vital in order to reduce negative backlash from your agents in such cases. Agents need to understand the relevance of schedule adherence and how it affects the call center’s performance. Also, providing incentives by rewarding agents that adhere to their schedule through recognition within the team, will further motivate them to perform better and deliver exceptional services.

Rewards
Rewards