Go for the Sure Win with Workforce Management

The quick and easy win isn’t always a possibility in business. While we would certainly get to our goals much faster, it doesn’t mean that it’s always the available route. The ideal goal is not only to win, but to win with sustainability so you can keep winning. This approach is ideal in workforce management.

A recent Growth Business post expanded on this idea, highlighting three ways that workforce management can help to ensure quick and easy wins for the return on investment (ROI).  The first is found in an examination of your payroll. If you examine everyone in the 100-agent call center working a 40-hour week, how many of these individuals are actually needed all 40 hours of each week? In the typical call center environment, the answer is likely not many.

How much could you save on your bottom line payroll if you instead relied on workforce management to give a range of hours for each employee that settles between 38 and 40 hours? It doesn’t seem like much, but eliminating just two hours a week across half of the agent base can quickly turn into significant savings. That savings more than covers the cost associated with the workforce management solution.

Next, let’s examine your forecasted demand against your vacation allotment. In typical practice, call centers will allow for a blanket number of hours for paid time off during any given week. There really isn’t a lot of thought going into whether or not the number truly corresponds with the forecast. If the allowable time off is distributed evenly, but your forecasted volume varies considerably throughout the month, you’ll find your call center is overstaffed some weeks and severely understaffed others. Wouldn’t it be better to take advantage of a lull and schedule more of your agent’s vacation time accordingly?

Finally, don’t forget to pay attention to those who are only working part time for you. When these agents are scheduled appropriately, they can deliver considerable value and flexibility to the call center environment. A robust workforce management solution will allow you to set-up your agent preferences module to support part-time agents who enter their requirements. The scheduler then does the rest of the work for you.

While workforce management isn’t designed to provide only the quick and easy win, it brings true value when you leverage all capabilities according to the dynamic realities of your environment. In the process, you reap all of the benefits of a more efficient – and sustainable – environment. 

Edited by Alicia Young