Workforce Management

Call of Duty: Why Engaged Agents Stay in Contact Centres  One repeat challenge our consultants see when we partner with new organisations is Agent retention. With increasing customer expectations, hybrid working models, and AI-driven efficiencies reshaping the contact centre industry, there is always an ongoing pressure for organisations to keep agents engaged and motivated in their roles.    High attrition rates continue to plague contact centres, leading to increased recruitment costs, operational disruptions, and a decline in customer service quality.  Retaining...

In the early 2000s when automation first started gaining momentum, call centres businesses saw it as an opportunity to reduce costs and improve agent efficiency and less about improving customer experience. However, this business logic has changed over the years as businesses now deem customer experience as the most important reason for investing in call centre automation. The change of mindset has been a result of two megatrends that have reshaped the business world for good. Firstly the widespread adoption...

Workforce Management (WFM) solutions help contact centres with workforce planning in order to improve operating costs. The technology automates the process of forecasting and scheduling within contact centres to optimise the productivity of employees. Workforce Management (WFM) is a well-known call centre software solution, and is used by many. Why is Workforce Management important in a Contact Centre? Workforce Management plays a vital role in improving the level of service provided by a contact centre.  In order to hit service...

Across the industry there is an increased focus on employee engagement and the critical role staff play in the overall customer experience.  This is not a situation unique to contact centres but reflects a worldwide shift in all industries.   Within the contact centre world, the increased focus on employee engagement and productivity has led to the term Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) being more widely used.  WEM goes beyond traditional workforce management or workforce optimisation. It focuses on the human aspect of the contact centre to improve engagement, performance, and results.  In fact, Gartner, the research analyst took a decision to change its Magic Quadrant evaluation category...

These past few weeks have been promising. The pandemic lockdown restrictions have slowly started to lift. Shops (and soon even pubs) are gradually starting to re-open. Businesses are now also complying with a host of new workplace guidelines, designed to create safe workspaces for employees. According to GOV.UK, the main objective to these guidelines is to: ‘maintain social distancing wherever possible, on arrival and departure’. As more of us might start to make a gradual return to the office, contact centre...

With Contact Centres all over the globe still facing the reality of home working, real-time adherence functionality remains to be vital in order to protect service levels.   Managing today’s multi-channel contact centres from home could be easier than you think with a little forward planning and the right WFM technology. We all need to be flexible and agile with ‘on the go’ workforce planning. Real-time adherence will play an integral part of effective intraday management.  Challenges Many organisations are now set up for home working. Staff are set...

Challenges Contact Centres face during COVID-19 As the nation reacts to contain the virus, organisations need to be ready to adapt and do what is right for their staff, colleagues and customers, which includes ensuring remote contact centre agents are working efficiently. However, as organisations swiftly move to enable their staff to operate remotely, they are inevitably faced with a number of challenges: Providing customers with the right support: Ensuring customers can continue to reach the right agent on their...

In order to meet customer demands, workforce planners need to make sure they have the right number of agents with the right skill sets available at the right time. And this starts with having the right resource planning and workforce planning techniques in place. With customer contact channels increasing (email, web chat, SMS etc.), workforce scheduling and workforce planning has become a complex and labour-intensive job. Let’s not forget to throw into the mix variables such as absenteeism, holidays and...

It’s Christmas Season! Hurray! This means mulled wine, mince pies and festive holiday films. All happy stuff. But let’s not forget that the Christmas season for some, especially for contact centres depending on the industry they are in, can be a stressful time. Contact centres must often be ready to handle an influx of inbound customer requests, enquiries and purchases, ultimately affecting scheduling, workforce planning, service level expectations, staff morale and the customer experience. Let’s spare a thought for those...

Humanise the workplace series - Workforce Management (WFM) Gamification - Part 4 Ask any contact centre manager and they will agree that keeping their agents continually motivated, (in particular those with a longer tenure) throughout the year can be a challenge. This is why Gamification is now a key feature in a modern contact centre. These days, agents are dealing with surges in call volumes, changing technologies, increasingly complex customer cases across multiple channel touchpoints and last but not least,...

Humanise the workplace series - Workforce Management (WFM) shift Trader - Part 3 Agents will always be the most vital resource for your contact centre. As a contact centre manager it’s your job to boost employee satisfaction and retention, lower sickness and absenteeism rates and enhance customer service. The end result being improved profitability, a happier workforce and happier customers. To achieve this, contact centre managers invest in call centre software such as Workforce Management. Finding the right Workforce Management...

Disclaimer – the solution (solving contact centre employee retention) is not an easy fix and might even go against your instincts! We see it time and time again, Contact Centre Managers are constantly fighting the battle between meeting their service level agreements by having the right number of staff at the right time with the right skills, whilst also striving to retain their staff. Employee retention has been one of the biggest Contact Centre challenges for a long time, and...