Workforce Management Makes Call Center Vacations a Breeze

Americans, as a rule, are not great about taking vacations. The exact causes of this can be traced back to a number of possible reasons why, from workers not thinking about vacations properly to workers who blame their bosses for forcing them to not think about vacations properly. Regardless of the cause, we still have a lot of trouble when it comes to taking vacations and making room for these for the workers left behind. A little workforce management, though, can be a big help on this front.

Call centers need vacation time. It's perhaps the one thing that keeps turnover from being even higher than it already is. Call centers are high-stress occupations that require employees to be calm in the face of outrage, polite in the face of rudeness, and all the while, still actively looking for opportunities to sell rude and enraged people more products and services. It's a small wonder that people are looking for a break. Yet call centers are often not so robustly staffed that there's plenty of extra people to cover shortfall, and this is where workforce management tools can help.

With workforce management tools, it becomes easier to see what kind of employee counts are on hand and where there may be gaps that need filling.  Using workforce management tools to forecast available vacation time starting with that year's annual plan construction can go a long way toward making distribution equitable while also offering additional benefits to veterans and top performers.

By tracking previous years using analytics tools and the like, it becomes a little easier to spot where the lightest-trafficked times of year are and allow for greater vacation time accordingly. Many retail stores, for example, won't allow any kind of vacation for November and December, and even have harsh rules on sick leave, which can backfire.

In the end, the key point remains the same: trying a one-size-fits-all approach is a pretty good recipe for failure. Focusing on the overall need of the operation is a better way to go here. Leave room in the schedule to reward the best parts of the office, while at the same time, accommodating as much as possible. Few consider the value of a vacation taken in the off-season months; wouldn't it be great to be in Florida in February? Much of the staff probably hasn't considered that.

It's a balancing act, but with workforce management and other tools, it becomes possible to better get everyone some time off. That can be a big help in keeping stress down and workers working.