Ramp-up time – otherwise known as agent proficiency - measures how long it takes for new contact centre agents to reach an “acceptable level” of performance.
Contact centres can safeguard customer satisfaction by reducing ramp-up time, keeping handling times low, and increasing agent confidence.
To achieve these results, let’s take a closer look at this metric and consider tactics for optimizing it.
Calculating Ramp-Up Time
Ramp-up time is the average time a contact centre agent takes to perform at a level where they are at par with or exceeding standard contact centre KPI benchmarks.
First, take stock of current contact centre performance to calculate ramp-up time and consider which KPIs to monitor. Quality scores, customer satisfaction, and first contact resolution rates are popular options.
Next, calculate the average performance – across each metric – for agents with a tenure of longer than six months.
Sometimes agents take a week to reach this benchmark, other times it takes a year. Whatever the case, that is their ramp-up time.
Across the contact centre, leaders may calculate ramp-up time as a mean average of all agents hired across a particular measurement period.
For instance, consider a small contact centre that hires four agents in a quarter. Individually, they take 20, 40, 60, and 80 days to reach full proficiency.
To calculate the mean and, thus, ramp-up time, the contact centre can use the following formula:
In the example above, the ramp-up time is 50 days. The following calculations highlight that this is indeed the case:
What is a Good Ramp-Up Time, and How Do You Reduce It?
Ramp-up time depends entirely on the complexity of the company proposition and the nature of contacts entering the call centre. Also, the quality of recruitment plays its part.