September 17 -

Do you have days where excessive absence or higher volumes prompt the need for immediate help? Do you have a phone tree to contact your agents and offer overtime (OT)?  Or do your agents check in to see if there is overtime hours available?  How do you recruit those working in the evenings to come in early? We have a great solution in using social media that can help in these situations.

Set up a site-specific Facebook page, and set it up so that people have to be approved to join so you will only have your employees included. You can post fun pictures and other basic information on the page, but more importantly, use this page to post notices when you need help and want to solicit overtime. Create an “Event” on the page called “Overtime” and specify in the event that “extra hours are available today from 2pm to 8pm. Call to verify.” Or if you have at-home access to your agent self-service application, your agents can connect and sign up from home.

The same information can be sent out via a Twitter account. Have a site-specific Twitter account that your agents can “Follow.” Post OT as you need it to the Twitter account and all your agents will get notification that you have available hours for OT.

Both of these avenues can also be used when you are overstaffed and are looking for agents that would like to go home early without pay.

Social media is a great way to reach your agents, and these are a couple of areas where the use of these tools can be very helpful to workforce management.

Note: This week’s tip provided SWPP Board Member Rick Seeley of Convergys. He may be reached at ri***************@co*******.com.

SWPP is on Facebook! Find us at https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Society-of-Workforce-Planning-Professionals-SWPP/74035656291?ref=ts.

And now we’re on Twitter! Follow us @SWPP_WFM!

Have a tip you’d like to share? Send it to: vi***********@sw**.org. If we publish your idea, we’ll send you an SWPP polo shirt.