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Workforce Management 101

Mark MooreConsultant

Who Am I?

• Over 11 years of contact center experience• Workforce planning• Supervisor• Trainer• Assistant contact center manager

What Is WFM?

• Wikipedia defines WFM as– “Assigning the right

employees with the right skills to the right job at the right time”

• Your thoughts?

What Is an Optimized Workforce?

• A workforce scheduled and trained to meet call volume and service level needs– Removing emotion from scheduling• While taking in account of time off, planned

or unplanned

What Does WFM Encompass?

• Forecasting• Scheduling• Real-time adherence• Intra-day management

Forecasting

• What is forecasting?– In contact centers, forecasting is using historical call

data to predict call volumes for future date ranges– How is information tracked for spontaneous

changes?• Spreadsheets?• WFM software?

Forecasting• Factors affecting call volume

– Weather– System outages and technical Issues– Promotions

• How is information tracked case of spontaneous change?

• Spreadsheets?• WFM Software?• Where do you interject these reasons into tracking for planning?

Scheduling

• What is included in scheduling?• Shift activities

– What are shift activities?• Any time an agent off the phone

– Breaks– Lunches– Meetings– Trainings– Coaching– Other

Scheduling - Shift Activities

• Flexible or fixed?– Flexible

• Optimized activities – letting the WFM decide how to best schedule staff on activities and improve the chance to meet service levels

• Non-optimized activities – placing staff on a fixed-schedule and lessening the chance to meet service levels

Scheduling - Leave Time

• Leave time– Leave time can be planned, unplanned or

both• A cross of types may be FMLA, medical, jury

duty– These reasons are usually unanticipated– With a WFM they can be factored into work

schedules

Scheduling - Leave Time

• Types of leave – planned and unplanned– Planned – requested in advance

• Vacation Days - PTO• Floating Holidays

– Unplanned – not by prior request, spontaneous• Call off sick• No call, no show

Real-time Adherence

• What is real-time adherence?– Comparing planned agent activity to actual

activities throughout the day

• Why is real-time adherence important?– Helps minimize shrinkage (time lost in contact

center) and help maintain meeting service levels

Real Time Adherence

• What are types of real-time adherence?– Actual activities• Call times – long and short calls• Adherence to schedule – logging in to queue on

schedule• Adherence to shift – going on break/lunch/other

activity at scheduled time and returning on time

Intraday Management

• What is intraday management?– Reviewing all the above

information:forecasts, schedules, real-time adherence and actual call arrivals to ensure all is on track for success

Questions and Comments?