Survey Results

Each quarter SWPP surveys the workforce planning community on critical workforce planning topics. Nearly 160 call center professionals representing a wide variety of industries participated and provided insight into this quarter’s survey on the processes used to schedule agents and accommodate change requests.

Survey Participants

Approximately one-quarter of the respondents in this survey work in centers with over 1000 agents, 201 to 500 agents, or 51 to 200 agents. The rest are representative of a wide variety of sizes from under 50 up to 1000 agents. The financial, healthcare, and insurance industries drew the largest number of participants, but all other industries are also well represented.

Survey of Agents

Respondents were asked if they survey their agents to identify which shifts they prefer. The responses are nearly evenly split between those who do and those who do not. As with any survey, it is important to be prepared to act upon the input and control expectations that may be unrealistic. Ensuring that agent requests will be accommodated as much as the workload and other rules can manage is critical to survey success and agent acceptance of the results.

Shift Assignment Process

The respondents were asked what process they use to assign schedules to their staff. Almost half (46%) use a shift bid while 18% indicated that they assign manually. Another 16% use the automated assignment process of their software program while 16% assign shifts at hiring and do not change them. The shift assignment process generally provides the center with an opportunity to balance the changing demands of the customers with the changing desires of the staff. Where the hours of operation are other than 8.5 to 9 hours per day, 5 days per week, changes to the shift options can provide a better fit to changing demand and desires.

Frequency of Schedule Changes

Respondents were asked how often they make schedule changes and assignments. The largest share of the answers was “as needed.” Approximately one-third change semi-annually with the rest dispersed across the other choices. Where seasonal variations and other fluctuations are minimal, adjusting staff can be limited. However, there appear to be some respondents who deal with significant changes on a regular basis, driving more frequent adjustments.

Agent Self-Scheduling Options

Respondents were asked which of the options listed that agents can use to change schedules. Nearly all offer time-off requests, while over half can request a schedule swap. Almost half can do all the other options as well. Only a few do not offer any self-scheduling options and this may be a limitation of the systems used. Giving agents some control over their schedules can be a good motivator and may reduce the staffing needs in the WFM department to handle manual requests.

Fully Automated Self-Scheduling Options

Respondents were asked which of the listed items for self-scheduling are fully-automated. Time-off requests were chosen by approximately half of the respondents. Absence notification, schedule swap requests, and none were each selected by approximately one-quarter of the respondents. Utilizing the features of WFM software to handle these routine requests can be beneficial for both the agents and the WFM team.

Most Valuable Option

Respondents asked which of the listed self-scheduling options was the most valuable. Over half chose the request for time-off. Absence notification was selected by over one quarter with only a few selecting the other options. It would be interesting to know what agents would answer for this survey question.

Policy Restrictions

Respondents were asked what policy restrictions are in place for agent schedule change requests. Approximately three-quarters require advance notification while about one-third require leadership approval before submission. No restrictions or none of those listed were chosen by a few respondents each. Where the requests are handled by an automated process, it may be possible for such rules to be built in.

 

Closing Comments

Based on the responses to this survey, dealing with changing workload demands and agent desires are significant challenges for the WFM team. Adjusting schedules frequently enough to match customer expectations and balancing it with agent satisfaction is a constant effort. Automating some self-service schedule changes is being adopted by more centers as software tools support it and the operation can accept it. Schedule choice and flexibility are often cited as the biggest factor in agent satisfaction (after paycheck) so building in ways to find that balance is critical to minimize agent turnover and ensuring customer satisfaction.