Step #5 Schedule agents 33
Scheduling is becoming increasingly challenging, as contact centers support a wider range of products and
services, and agents require more frequent and specialized training. Advances in technology have automated
many agent tasks and have resulted in more varied and challenging calls and responsibilities.
Accurately forecasting and building schedules that reflect the workload as it changes across intervals for days
of the week, weeks of the month, and seasons of the year is essential in meeting your service objectives. You
need a schedule that accurately matches agents to the anticipated workload and agents who aspire to adhere
to the activities scheduled.
You can track the availability and activities of agents throughout the day and verify agents are performing the
duties for which they are scheduled. Not adhering to the schedule, such as forgetting to log out for a break, or
performing non-ACD work when scheduled to perform ACD work adversely affects your Service Level and the
moral of other agents who must compensate for the unavailable agent.
Understanding the Shrinkage Factor
Accurately forecasting the workload and scheduling agents to satisfy your Service Level objective is a good
start, but does not account for the activities that prevent agents from sitting at their desks and handling
telephones.
Agents scheduled for ACD work can be involved in some of the following activities:
• On a bathroom break
• Making or receiving personal calls
• Conferring with the supervisor or another agent
• On the phone with other departments
• Sending emails or faxes
• Involved in a lengthy, difficult call
• Prolonged in after-call work
• Absent due to illness or compassionate leave
To account for short-term or daily unscheduled absences, you can calculate the rostered staff factor
(Shrinkage Factor). The Shrinkage Factor is a numerical value that defines the percentage of time agents are
scheduled to work but are unavailable to handle calls. It tells you the number of agents you must schedule in
addition to the base number of agents required to meet your Service Level.
Calculating the Shrinkage Factor
You calculate the Shrinkage Factor for one or more agent groups as follows:
1. Determine the base staff forecasted by hour or half hour for the day.
2. Make a list of activities that prevent ACD agents from handling calls.
3. Add the base staff to the number of agents who are unavailable to handle calls because they are
absent, on break, at a unanticipated meeting, etcetera.
4. Calculate the Shrinkage Factor for each time interval by dividing the scheduled staff by the base staff
required to handle telephones.
The result is a set of Shrinkage Factors that represent the expected shrinkage by half hour.
(See Figure 3-4.)