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The Power of One
by Penny Reynolds
March 2004
Whether
manually created or developed through workforce management systems, once a set
of workforce schedules has been carefully devised, it's critical that your
staff sticks to the plan. Unfortunately,
one of the hardest things to manage in many call centers is getting agents to
adhere to their daily work schedules.
Most
people think, "Hey, there are dozens
of other people on the phones now. What
possible difference could it make if I just log off a few minutes early for my
break? Just one person can't
possibly make that much difference." Does
this sound familiar?
Schedule
adherence can be improved in many cases with a little education.
Helping your staff understand what impact one individual agent has on
service can go a long way in getting them to stick to their planned schedule.
So
just what is the impact of a person or two on service?
Well, it depends. The impact
on service depends largely on two factors: the size of the call center, and the
current level of service delivery. Obviously,
the smaller the call center, the greater the percentage share of workload
handled by each person and therefore the bigger the impact of his/her
participation. For example, if we
look at call centers with 10, 25, and 50 agents, with all a 30-second average
speed of answer (ASA), and then take one agent away, there is obviously a bigger
impact on the smaller operations.
57
calls/half hour
163 calls/half hour
346 calls/half hour
10 agents
25 agents
50 agents
30 sec ASA
30 sec ASA
30 sec ASA
Minus
one agent:
9 agents
24 agents
49 agents
83 sec ASA
58 sec ASA 50 sec ASA
As
you can see, because of the economies of scale of the larger centers, there is
greater efficiency in the call handling process and therefore the impact of one
person is not as large. However, it
is significant.
The
other factor that determines the impact on service of any one single person is
the level of service currently being provided.
The better the existing level of service, the less the impact of one
person, as illustrated below (using the example above of 346 calls per half
hour, 240 second average handle time or 46 erlangs).
Number
of Staff
Average Speed of Answer
54
6 sec
53
8 sec
52
12 sec
51
19 sec
50
30 sec
49
50 sec
48
91 sec
47
236 sec
Obviously,
as staff numbers increase, service improves.
As staff numbers decrease, service declines.
Depending on where the call center currently falls in the
staffing/service curve, the impact of one person could be minimal (for example,
going from 54 to 53 staff worsens ASA by only 2 seconds).
On the other end of the spectrum, decreasing staff from 48 to 47 staff
handling the same calls would deteriorate service from a 91-second average wait
to nearly 4 minutes!
The
good news about the impact of one person on service is that if your center is in
a service slump, adding just one more person on the phones can make a tremendous
improvement. On the other hand,
losing one person in what is already a mediocre or poor service situation can
really ruin service for that period of the day.
Knowledge is Power:
Hopefully, the charts illustrating the above staffing/service
relationship in your next staff meeting will help enlighten those agents that
think their impact on service is insignificant.
We've found this to be the case in many call centers.
Simply educating agents about the effect on service that one or two
employees can have will help them understand the importance of schedule
adherence. These steps will increase
cooperation with the schedule process.
Penny
Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The
Call Center School, a Nashville, Tennessee based consulting and education
company. The company provides
educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional
classroom courses, Web-based seminars, and self-paced e-learning programs.
For more information, see www.thecallcenterschool.com
or call 615-812-8400.
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