Best Practices for Workforce Management in Call Centers

Effective agent management is vital to ensure your call center is operating at maximum efficiency. Of course, accomplishing such a feat is not as easy as it sounds. Luckily, TCN has tools that can help create a more self-reliant workforce with access to needed support and key insights to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Keep reading for the three concepts you can focus on to achieve the best workforce management possible.

Master agent scheduling

One of the biggest time-wasters in a call center is the overscheduling of agents, just as one of the biggest pitfalls can be the underscheduling of staff, which leads to decreased customer satisfaction and more stressed agents. 

TCN’s Workforce Management suite provides an avenue for you to access data showing the history of your call center’s contact volume and patterns to predict how many customer interactions may occur at any given time.

This hindsight, combined with insights to balance call volume with agent availability, boosts your productivity like never before because you can ensure you always have the correct number of agents available.

Additionally, TCN can help you use technology to automate scheduling and pass the baton of handling schedule-change accommodations to the agents, creating more self-reliance in your call center and freeing up manager time.

Set your workforce up for success

Setting yourself up for excellent workforce management starts on day one. When you train your agents correctly and give them the appropriate tools, they can help efficiently manage themselves. 

One of the most important parts of training your agents is ensuring they are fully debriefed on all things compliance. Tools like Natural Language Compliance can simplify complicated regulations, allow managers to assign rule sets to campaigns, and enable agents to manage those campaigns without worrying about the fine print.

Tools like Call Recording Storage can also give your agents concrete examples of needed improvement. Agent Assist solutions empower you to step in on calls when needed to handle escalations or direct agents appropriately. Room 303 provides a place for agents to receive help quickly whenever needed.

Manage agent performance with data

With an increasing number of agents working remotely, solutions to help manage agent performance are more critical than ever. Offering the appropriate training and support is just the first step toward optimizing your call center’s performance.

After you set clear expectations for your agents’ performance, you can empower them to access their key data and statistics so they can be aware of whether or not they are on track to reaching quotas.

When you measure agent performance and clue your agents into collected data, you can reinforce behaviors that are valued in your contact center and give clear feedback. Additionally, gamification is a highly effective way to encourage agents to improve or maintain positive changes.

Ultimately, utilizing a data-driven approach to managing your call center agent’s performance is a tried-and-true way to ride an upward slope.

The key ingredients to effective workforce management

Managing agents is a lot easier when you provide adequate training and support, take advantage of solutions that simplify their daily tasks, and use data to motivate them.

When this is coupled with a positive work environment, opportunities for professional development and agents being recognized and rewarded for their work can create the ideal environment for effective management and optimized productivity.

Request a demo to learn more about how TCN can transform the way you manage your agents for the better.