Setting An Adherence Goal

By Maggie Klenke

Ensuring that agents are in place to meet the workload demand is the primary purpose of an adherence goal. While the definition of adherence varies somewhat in the contact center industry, for purposes of this article, it is defined as the percentage of scheduled time that an agent works the exact details of the schedule. For example, assume the schedule is 9AM to 6PM with a 1–hour lunch starting at 12:30 and two 15–minute breaks scheduled at 11AM and 3PM. Adherence expects the agent to log in and out at exactly the defined times.

Adherence goals are generally defined as a percentage. For example, assume the goal for an 8–hour shift is 93%. Eight hours equals 480 minutes. Ninety–three percent of those 480 minutes equals 446 minutes. That means that the 93% goal allows for 34 minutes during the shift that the agent can be out of adherence and it is “forgiven.” At 95%, that safety net reduces to 24 minutes, but with an 85% goal, the agent has over 1 hour each day that will be overlooked.

The question is “what is reasonable?” There is no right answer and certainly no “industry standard.” Several factors should be considered including:

• How frequently are schedules adjusted? An adherence goal assumes that the forecast workload is accurate, and the schedule options are flexible enough to plan for the right number of agents to be in place to meet the demand in every time period. Where that is not the case, intraday adjustments such as break optimizations, overtime, time off without pay, delayed meetings or training, etc. may be necessary to match the staff to the customer demand more closely. Asking agents to tightly adhere to schedules that are frequently adjusted by management may be perceived as unfair.
• What is the average handle time (AHT) and what is the likelihood of long contacts? If the agent is stuck on a contact that keeps her occupied well past the scheduled break time, will that count against the adherence percentage?
• How far is it to the break facility? If several minutes need to be devoted to walking to and from the break room, will that affect adherence?
• Is transportation to and from the facility reliable and flexible enough to ensure agents can be at work on time and leave as scheduled?

Do supervisors ensure that team meetings, coaching sessions, and other off-phone activities adhere to the schedule?

Is the WFM system linked to payroll so that any exception that affects the agent’s compensation needs to be recorded? This linkage demands accuracy and timely entry.

Another consideration is how long a schedule exception must be before it is eligible to be accepted and entered into the system for “forgiveness.” High adherence goals can encourage agents to seek exceptions for even a few minutes. Given that the percentage in the goal builds in a set amount of time to be forgiven automatically, some centers set the minimum length to only cover issues that are beyond the norm.

The procedures to handle the exception process should also be considered. Each event involves the agent requesting an exception, perhaps a supervisor/lead approval process, and someone (typically a WFM analyst) entering that exception into the WFM system. Is the total time spent by all parties worth the effort for every little variance? A lower goal can avoid some of this exception effort and redeploy the WFM personnel more productively, but at risk of more than necessary lost agent time.

Setting an adherence goal can be challenging. It may be reasonable for the goal to vary among teams in the same center. Involving agents and supervisors in the decision can help to ensure both a clear understanding of the goal and the tradeoffs of higher and lower goals on the agent and customer experience.

Maggie Klenke has written numerous books and articles related to call center and WFM. A semi-retired industry consultant, Maggie serves as an Educational Advisor for SWPP. She may be reached at Ma***********@********ng.com.