White Paper:

How to Meet Your Service Level Needs

While Controlling Costs

Seven Tips to Providing Good Workforce Management

Do you lay awake at night wondering why the cost for your customer contact center is out of control and
yet your customers are not happy with your Service Level (SL) performance? The place to look for the
answer is within your workforce management processes, data collection, forecasting, implementation
and communication.

COPC Inc. provides performance improvement consulting services for customer contact operations
throughout the world, and we find that workforce management is one of the least understood areas of
the industry. This whitepaper presents seven common problems within customer contact organizations
that can impede your ability to meet Service Level objectives, and provides specific recommendations
about how to address each issue.

1. Seven Tips to Providing Good Workforce Management

Many customer contact organizations believe that the solution to all their workforce management
woes relies on the purchase of workforce management software. While we readily admit that
software is a worthwhile addition to a workforce management process, it is not a guarantee of
success for two main reasons.

First, an organization’s processes often lack significant rigor or effectiveness before the software
is purchased; thus the organization ends up using the tool to automate its existing poor practices.
Second, organizations often do not properly invest in training the staff who will interact with the
technology solution, spreading only a limited amount of “tribal knowledge.”

It is common to have staff who do not understand how to customize the tool’s default settings for
their own work environment. An expensive software tool is purchased and installed, yet the staff is
not fully utilizing the features that would actually improve operational performance.

The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:

Start by developing processes that are well designed and executed in a manner
independent of technology. We have seen high performance organizations that were able
to conduct their workforce management functions using nothing other than Microsoft®
Excel. Once you become efficient at achieving accurate results, you can then apply those
techniques to your automated workforce management technology.
2. Know the Level of Service Your Customers Demand
Customer contact centers often set a target for Service Level based upon a perceived notion of
what comprises “a good Service Level.” This practice involves basing Service Level upon informal
conversations, rather than the actual expectations of the customer. Having a higher target than your
customer demands increases the cost of delivery.

The chart in Figure 1 shows our findings from a COPC Inc. client engagement where the actual queue
time (or speed of answer) did not impact customer satisfaction until it exceeded about four minutes.
Understanding the specific threshold that your customers will tolerate will help you make better
decisions that will ensure you manage both your costs and customer satisfaction.

Figure 1

Setting an SL target involves understanding a complex relationship between the value of the service
that you provide, the other choices the customer has to receive that service, and how loyal your
customer is to your organization. Think about the difference in tolerance levels between calling for a
cab and calling a tech support line for a product under warranty.

Figure 2
 The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:
Don’t start by setting an SL target. Instead first ask yourself, “What Abandonment Rate is
acceptable?” As we all know, the higher the SL, the lower the Abandonment Rate. In Figure
2 the correlation between Abandonment Rates and Service Levels were used to determine
the appropriate Service Level based on Abandonment Rates. From these findings, if four
percent is the desired Abandonment Rate, then Service Level for this organization should
be established at about 75 percent. If a three percent abandonment rate is desired, then
the Service Level target should be 80 percent.

3. Don’t Focus on Monthly Service Level Targets

The goal of most customer-focused contact centers is to achieve consistent SL delivery to its
customers. An SL that is too high is not cost effective, while an SL that is too low leads to customer
dissatisfaction. Many workforce management departments try to achieve a consistent monthly
Service Level target. Often this goal has been established by the company, or in the case of
outsourced contact centers, by their client.

COPC Inc. has found that when organizations focus on a monthly number, they often end up being
dramatically overstaffed. When queried about this, two reasons are repeatedly given. “We need to
over deliver now to hit our SL target because we had some bad days earlier in the month.” Or, “We
always over deliver SL early in the month, in case we run into trouble later.”

Figure 3
 We also come across workforce management departments that are totally fixated on ensuring they
“make the service level,” because this is the only metric for which they are held accountable. But
these departments have little visibility into the actual cost for that over-delivery. Figure 3 shows an
example of a workforce management program that was managing to a daily Service Level instead of
managing to a performance band or interval level. As you can see, SL varied greatly throughout the
day. While this organization may have achieved their service level for the full day, many intervals were
overstaffed and underutilized.

With this approach, the incentive to over deliver in one interval to compensate for poor delivery in
another interval is eliminated. Instead, the focus is to provide consistent Service Level delivery that
is balanced by cost considerations. Sometimes high-performing companies will even set a second
measurement range specifically for prime intervals (where they receive the largest percentage of their
call volume).

4. Avoid Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO)

Workforce management organizations have to constantly fight the GIGO battle to ensure that the
numbers used in their planning are accurate and relevant to their Service Level needs. We see three
major areas that consistently have GIGO issues: inclusion of meaningless variation, inaccurately
calculating Average Handle Time (AHT), and the failure to remove anomalies.

One of the least understood areas in workforce management is statistical variation. We all are
accustomed to dealing with averages in contact centers, for example AHT. Averages are comprised of
the sum of the values over a time period divided by the number of observations in that time period.

When applied to workforce management, forecasts often use too few weeks of data to predict
the future. This can lead to an uneven arrival pattern, caused by fluctuations that are the result of
variation. Then the workforce management department attempts to schedule to this uneven pattern
by moving start and end times, breaks, lunches, and other offline activities. The resulting schedule is
based on statistical variation rather than meaningful fluctuations in either arrival patterns or AHT.

As an example, see Figure 4. Attempting to forecast AHT at the interval level requires extra effort that
often does not pay off. Unless there is some compelling reason to believe that AHT follows a trend by
time of the day, it is easier to calculate a flat AHT for all intervals. In this example, the forecast varied
by interval. The flat-line forecasted AHT was 326 seconds, which is much easier to calculate and just
as accurate.
 Figure 4

The second GIGO concern for workforce management organizations is inaccurately calculating
AHT either too high or too low. In our performance improvement consulting work, we often see
organizations that direct agents to complete their after-call work in the time available between
calls. This happens in organizations when Service Levels are running high. The result is a reported
AHT that is lower than the actual time needed to service the customer. The workforce management
department then uses this incorrect data to predict the future, attempting to balance staffing
requirements to predicted demand to bring Service Level to the targeted performance. However,
when the proper Service Level is achieved, agents no longer have available time between calls and
need to go into after-call work. Reported AHT then climbs to match the true time required to service
the customer, but this is much higher than the AHT that was used in the workforce management
predictions. The net result is that not enough staff was scheduled to meet the “higher” AHT and
Service Levels are missed.

The third GIGO problem in the workforce management organization is the failure to remove
anomalies from data. For example, you may have a call spike, a high AHT caused by a system issue,
or increased volume on the day after a public holiday. These anomalies need to be removed from the
historical data, or they will affect future predictions. In Figure 5, you will notice two anomalies in call
volume related to two U.S. holidays, one on July 5th and one on Memorial Day. These two days should
be removed from the data or they will unnecessarily skew the forecast.
 Figure 5

The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:

To avoid GIGO issues, employ techniques such as statistical smoothing of arrival patterns, or
using a flat number for AHT across an entire day rather than varying by interval. Ensure that
AHT is properly calculated and accurately recorded. Also make sure to remove anomalies
from past data so future predictions are not tainted.

5. Take the Time to Review Agent Scheduling

In contact center operations, one of the most significant issues in workforce management is that no
one reviews the “output” of its scheduling activities. Instead, forecasts are plugged into the workforce
management software tool and agent schedules are instantly produced. Little time is given to review
these schedules to ensure a balance between “overs and unders” before being released to the agents.
Figure 6 over/under chart is from a COPC Inc. client engagement and is an example of what should
routinely be reviewed.

Figure 6
 An “over” is when too many staff is scheduled for a specific interval, creating unnecessary cost to
the business. Conversely, an “under” is when too few agents are in place, causing poor service level
delivery and an increased number of abandoned calls.

The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:

Establish scheduling rules that define the acceptable range of over/under for each
program or queue. Then, the workforce management department must develop schedules
to fit within these rules. Finally, management should review the expected performance of
each of the queues and make any necessary changes before the schedules are released to
the agents.

6. Balance Employee Satisfaction and Attrition

Many excellent workforce management organizations know exactly how to develop and implement
a staffing schedule to meet predicted consumer demand, but they don’t do it. In an effort to meet
employee satisfaction and reduce attrition, some organizations resist changing agent scheduling. This
work environment can slowly develop in many ways, such as promising agents guaranteed shifts at
recruitment, or allowing a long-standing practice of shift “preferences” to become “restrictions,” which
limits the workforce management organization’s ability to efficiently schedule agents to meet their
customer needs.

Companies also will run into issues when “shift bids” or “rotations” are done
infrequently. Over time, it is possible for agent schedules to become misaligned with
the needs of the customers—especially if consumer patterns are in flux.

The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:

Balance the needs of your customers and the needs of your employees. Make sure your
agents understand that the organization needs to be flexible in order to serve the customer,
so agents will not always have the same shift. However when shift changes are required, do
them in a manner that will not create radical change in the personal lives of your staff.

7. Foster Inter-Department Communications

In any multi-faceted organization, the parts need to work together in order to run smoothly and
efficiently. The interaction between workforce management and the other parts of a customer contact
operation is no different.
 In particular, a fundamental relationship exists between Workforce Management and Operations,
an interaction which often has communication issues. For example, schedules may be produced,
but agent adherence to these schedules is poor because Operations does not manage this activity.
Or, Operations may feel that they “know when the customers will call,” and will schedule training,
coaching or meetings without consulting the Workforce Management team.

Another important relationship is between the Marketing department and the Workforce
Management group. Sometimes, Marketing fails to notify center operations about a new sales
promotion or web site change that could drive increases in customer contacts or AHT. Often the
contact center doesn’t find out about these activities until after the calls start arriving, which is too
late to plan appropriately.

The COPC Inc. Workforce Management Tip:

Take a proactive approach to ensure that interdepartmental meetings are held
with Marketing and Operations, which will help to “break down the walls” between
departments. With regular meetings, your Workforce Management group has a greater
opportunity of being kept up-todate about upcoming events, as well as the day-to-day
requirements of operations.

The goal of workforce management to consistently achieving Service Level while balancing costs is
not something that happens by accident. This work requires the analysis of accurate information, an
understanding of how to make use of that information, careful coordination among departments, and
a thoughtful approach that gives appropriate consideration to all of your variables.

Start by knowing what level of service your customers want. Follow by getting the accurate
information necessary for you to understand what is required to balance your supply of labor to
the demand. And finally, review your performance regularly and eliminate any practices that create
unreasonable barriers in matching supply to demand.

About COPC Inc.

COPC Inc. provides consulting, training, certification, benchmarking and research for operations Learn more at copc.com
that support the customer experience. The company created the COPC Standards, a collection of
performance management systems for customer experience operations, customer experience
management, vendor management and procurement. Founded in 1996, COPC Inc. began by
helping call centers improve their performance. Today, the company is an innovative global leader
that empowers organizations to optimize operations for the delivery of a superior service journey.
COPC Inc. is headquartered in Winter Park, FL, U.S. and with operations in Europe, Middle East,
Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India and Japan. www.copc.com.

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