Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Meeting the Workforce Management Challenges of the 21 st Century: Presented by: Northwest Call Center Group

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Your Seminar Leaders Penny Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School where she heads up curriculum development. She develops and teaches courses on a wide variety of call center topics, including workforce management, performance measurement, and call center technologies. Penny is a popular speaker at industry conferences and association meetings and a frequent contributor to industry trade publications. Her articles have appeared in print publications such as Customer Interface, Customer Interaction Solutions, and Customer Support Management, and on-line sources such as ICCM Weekly, New Frontiers, SourceCRM, and Workforce Weekly. She has recently published a book entitled Call Center Staffing: The Complete, Practical Guide to Workforce Management and has also co- authored the five textbooks for University of Phoenix’s call center certification program. An honors graduate of Vanderbilt University, Penny was one of the first recipients of Call Center Magazine’s prestigious Call Center Pioneer award

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Session Overview  Identify the eight main workforce management challenges associated with today’s call center.  Describe the primary issues that complicate the workforce management process.  Outline potential solutions and alternatives for addressing some of these challenges and problems. In this session, you will :

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Audience Poll What are your biggest workforce management challenges? Let’s Take a Vote!

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Increasing Accessibility Designing Effective Schedules Attracting and Retaining Staff Cutting Costs Managing Attendance & Adherence Managing Daily Service Hiring Freeze Staff Turnover

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Staff Turnover

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Turnover Challenges  First day no-shows  Loss during training  Competition in local area  Internal transfers  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Calculating Turnover Rate Turnover Rate = = 40% Calculation: Example: Turnover Rate = Number of people that leave Total number of positions

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Calculating Turnover Costs

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Reasons They Leave and Stay Why They Leave Motivation/Job fit Compensation Lack of career path Work environment Lack of recognition Why They Stay Motivation/Job fit Empowerment Training Career Path Recognition/Rewards

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Turnover Solutions  Screen for better motivational fit.  Paint a clear picture of job before hiring.  Implement a buddy system.  “If you can’t fix it, feature it!”  Train supervisors and hold them accountable.  Rethink rewards and recognition.  Other: ___________________ ______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Hiring Freeze

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Hiring Freeze Challenges Frequently heard statements: “The whole company is holding the line and the call center is no exception.” “Business is not growing so contacts won’t either.” Beware the dangers of inadequate staffing! Does it really save money?

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School This Year Calls per hour 350 Number of staff 33 Resulting delay 30 sec Telephone sec/call 310 sec Telephone cost/hour $109 Next Year (Needed) sec 310 sec $119 Staffing for a 10% Increase in Calling Staffing Freeze?

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School This Year Calls per hour 350 Number of staff 33 Resulting delay 30 sec Telephone sec/call 310 sec Telephone cost/hour $109 Next Year (Needed) sec 310 sec $119 Next Year (No Hiring) sec 548 sec $211 A “Hiring Freeze” Example The Cost of Understanding

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Staffing Tradeoffs The Costs of Understaffing Increased Telecom Costs ________________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Hiring Freeze Solutions  Track all costs, not just personnel.  Educate senior management.  Implement more self-service options.  Perform root cause analysis to reduce calls.  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Cutting Costs

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Cost Reduction Challenges  The need for belt-tightening  Places to look  Dangers of reducing staffing numbers  Where else to look

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Cost Cutting Measures How many of you been asked to cut costs in your center in the past 12 months? Audience Poll

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Traditional Cost-Cutting Strategy: Reduce staff. Cost Cutting Measures

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Staffing Example 175 calls per half-hour, 5 minute AHT (280 talk/20 acw) (29.2 erlangs) Number of StaffAverage Speed of Answer Service Level (in 30 sec) sec24% sec46% 3254 sec62% 3330 sec74% 3418 sec82% 3511 sec88%

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Call Center Staffing Example 175 calls per half-hour, 5 minute AHT (280 talk/20 acw) (29.2 erlangs) Number of Staff Average Speed of Answer Service Level (in 30 sec) sec24% sec46% 3254 sec62% 3330 sec74% 3418 sec82% 3511 sec88% Staff Occupancy

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Traditional Cost-Cutting Strategy:  Reduce staff. Better Cost-Cutting Strategies:  Alter workload.  Utilize technology.  Re-engineer processes. Cost Cutting Measures

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Workload Alterations What are some ways to affect or alter the amount of workload so not as many staff are needed? Workload = # Contacts x Average Handle Time

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Making the Most of Contact Center Technologies  ACD  IVR  CTI  Contact Management Technology Cost Cutting Measures

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Re-think some of your support center processes and look for savings opportunities.  Shrinkage  Scheduling options  Hours of operation  Workload blending Process Reengineering

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Cost Cutting Solutions  Re-engineer processes.  Educate senior management on trade-offs.  Make better use of existing technology.  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Managing Attendance and Adherence

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Attendance and Adherence Challenges  Mondays!  Time off (FMLA, Workers Comp)  Earned vacation days  Family friendly policies  Management enforcement  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School What Is the Impact of One Agent? 175 calls per half-hour, 5 minute AHT (280 talk/20 acw) (29.2 erlangs) Number of Staff Average Speed of Answer Service Level (in 30 sec) sec24% sec46% 3254 sec62% 3330 sec74% 3418 sec82% 3511 sec88% Staff Occupancy

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Attendance and Adherence Solutions  Attendance recognition and rewards  Magnificent Mondays  Staggering earned days off  Formal adherence standards and programs  HR and staff education  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Attracting and Retaining Staff

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Attracting and Retaining Staff Challenges  Labor saturation rates  Wage competition  Aptitudes and attitudes  Skilled support staff  Generalists versus specialists  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Attracting and Retaining Solutions  Systematic site selection  Compensation benchmarking  Systematic recruiting and screening  Creative labor sources  Mandatory retention programs by team  Supervisor education  Other:  _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Increasing Accessibility

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Accessibility Challenges  Multiple channels  Hours of operation  Self-service expansion/staff impact  Growing expectations  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School What Happens? When self-service handles more calls, what happens to the calls agents handle?  ______________________ When multi-media requirements increase, what happens to agent skill requirements?  _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Accessibility Solutions  Outsourcing  Multi-channel forecasting and staffing plan  Remote workers  Revised performance expectations and rewards  Other: ______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Designing Effective Schedules

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Scheduling Challenges  Balancing business/human needs  Efficiency versus acceptability  Long versus short horizon  Skill-based scheduling complexities  Multi-channel complexities  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Scheduling Strategies  Full vs part-time mix  Different shift lengths  Days on/off mix  Staggered start times As you build schedules, try and expand your mix: Flexibility is the key.

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School 6 am 10 pm People Think of your shifts as LEGO building blocks. The more sizes and types of blocks, the better you can build your model. Schedule Inflexibility

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School 6 am 10 pm People The Result: A better fit with less understaffing and overstaffing Optimized Schedule

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Staggered Start Times Catalog Case Study Example Staggering (!) Results: 8% Headcount Savings over Traditional 30-Minute Start Times 60-Minute Start Times 30-Minute Start Times 15-Minute Start Times 132 FTE124 FTE114 FTE

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Scheduling Solutions  Implement schedule mix to:  Utilize sufficient part-time staff.  Expand shift definitions.  Stagger start times.  Consider performance-based versus seniority- based schedules.  Use simulation for complex scenarios.  Other: ______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Challenge: Managing Daily Service and Performance

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Daily Management Challenges  Managing schedule exceptions  Schedule adherence  Real-time statistics  Service level variations  Other: _______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Tracking Daily Performance Three Components:  AHT  Call Volume  Staff

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School What if calls take 30 seconds longer to handle? Forecast versus Actual Time of Day Forecast Calls Forecast AHT Forecast Staff Actual Calls Actual AHT New Staff Net Staff 6: : : : : :

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School What if volume is 10% below forecast? Forecast versus Actual Time of Day Forecast Calls Forecast AHT Forecast Staff Actual Calls Actual AHT New Staff Net Staff 6: : : : : :

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Analyzing and Reporting Service Level Time of DayCall VolumeDaily %SL (in 20 sec) 6:00 – 7: %100% 7:00 – 8: %95% 8:00 – 9: %95% 9:00 – 10: %90% 10:00 – 11: %75% 11:00 – 12: %70% 12:00 – 1: %80% 1:00 – 2: %80% 2:00 – 3: %65% 3:00 – 4: %70% 4:00 – 5: %80% 5:00 – 6: %85%

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Reporting Service Level Activity An executive calls and wants to know how service level looked yesterday. Your service level goal is 80% in 20 sec. Questions: Did you meet your goal? Why or why not? What are the possibilities for reporting the numbers? Which method do you think is best?

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Payback Example Real-Time Adherence Monitoring Number of $15/hour wage wage rate 100$ 32,500$ 43, $ 81,250$108, $162,500$ 216, $325,000$ 432,250 Assumption: 5 minutes savings per agent per day

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Daily Management Solutions  Reliable schedule exception process  Tracking/reporting of activity categories  New service definitions  Real-time adherence monitoring  Reaction strategies “handbook”  Other: ______________________

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School WFM Challenges Increasing Accessibility Designing Effective Schedules Attracting and Retaining Staff Cutting Costs Managing Attendance & Adherence Managing Daily Service Hiring Freeze Staff Turnover

Copyright 2001 The Call Center School Thank You! Leave a business card for copy of today’s slides. Good luck with your workforce management challenges!