Workforce Management Proves Effective in Protecting Top Talent

How do you keep good talent on your team? This is a question for any manager with quality employees. If an individual is good at his or her job, it is not just known within his or her company – the competition likely knows it, too. When things get uncomfortable for that employee or the grass starts to look greener, you might run the risk of losing that great employee. With workforce management in place, however, you will be better equipped to create an environment in which these individuals can thrive.

Workforce management as a retention tool was the focus of a recent Monet Software blog. The company sought to share some call center scheduling insight and how the right focus can keep talent satisfied and motivated to do a good job. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to develop schedules that respect their skills, their availability and their needs.

In the process of developing call center schedules, you need to accommodate the needs of your talented agents. You also need to provide schedule visibility to all call center team members so they know what to expect and areas where they may be able to make adjustments easily. Top agents will stay loyal and productive if there is an understanding that you have made their needs a priority. You demonstrate this understanding by making sure your schedule aligns with their needs.

How best can you leverage workforce management to keep top talent satisfied? One suggestion by Monet Software included involving your agents. Conduct a survey that captures their preferences and personal needs and work with your agents to match their needs with the needs of the business. Workforce management software will enable you to do this effectively, so use the platform to its full capabilities.

You can also rank your agents. This involves creating a schedule by agent rank as it can be very effective in achieving certain goals for your business. You can also leverage workforce management software to rank your agents according to call completion time, calls per hour or other performance measures, such as sales and order size.

It is also important that you match personality and team. Studies into this area and workforce management have found that a good relationship with colleagues can drive motivation and performance in the call center. Ultimately, the schedule you create should leverage this capability by teaming up the right people for the job.

 

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco

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