After forecasting customer demand, workforce planners must staff the contact center with respect to those estimates.
Yet, planners must not treat agent scheduling as if a game of Tetris, shoehorning staff into particular shifts to fit demand.
After all, these are real people with real lives. As such, businesses must ensure that shifts align with their preferences to drive engagement and - ultimately - business results.
Indeed, as Gartner research suggests, agent attrition rates are increasing beyond 25 percent - as a median average across the contact center industry. Such statistics indicate that it is time to pay greater attention to delivering work-life balance and encouraging agents to stay put.
If contact centers can achieve this, they may pave the path for higher agent satisfaction rates and enhanced cost efficiencies - through lower absence and attrition.
In addition, they may enable improved customer outcomes, as when agents have more choice in when they work - instead of being dragged onto the phones - they bring greater enthusiasm to every customer conversation.
However, increasing agent engagement through scheduling is easier said than done. Thankfully, these ten tips may provide some top-notch guidance.
1. Uncover Agent Shift Preferences
Survey agents to find out what their ideal schedule looks like. Is it a four-day workweek with full hours? Would they like to start early and finish early? By asking questions like this, the contact center can create new shift patterns that complement both the arrival of customer demand and employee preferences.
2. Consider How Next-Gen Shift Types May Aid Schedule Efficiency
With remote work now the norm, planners can trial new shifts to support staff and bolster efficiency.
For instance, a split shift, which gives agents a much longer break, may allow them to pick their children up for school, so the agent can better plan their day.
Also, consider a micro shift of one or two hours, which allows agents to earn more money at a time that works for them while affording the contact center more coverage.
3. Avoid Scheduling Activities at the Top of the Hour
In the contact center, contacts tend to arrive just before and after the hour mark as customers plan the ideal time in their day to reach out.
As such, try scheduling 30-minute activities - such as coaching, call listening, and quality calibration - at a quarter past the hour. Doing so may help the contact center to manage its service levels and - more critically, from an agent perspective - occupancy.
4. Build Flexibility Into Staffing Plans
At the beginning of a recruitment drive, a planner may say: "I need X full-time staff." Yet, balancing full-time and part-time employees at the start of the process - based on the contact center's demand profile - adds flexibility.
