{"id":14354,"date":"2022-05-09T13:34:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T12:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/?p=14354"},"modified":"2022-05-09T13:42:07","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T12:42:07","slug":"self-scheduling-the-answer-to-agent-stress-in-modern-omnichannel-contact-centres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/2022\/05\/self-scheduling-the-answer-to-agent-stress-in-modern-omnichannel-contact-centres\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Scheduling: The answer to agent stress in modern, omnichannel contact centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post from <\/i><\/b><\/span>Magnus Geverts is VP, Product Marketing at<\/i><\/b><\/span> <\/i><\/b>Calabrio<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n


\nI have been in the Workforce Management (WFM) business for over 20 years and during this time, contact centre leaders have again and again told me that one of their biggest challenges is balancing the needs of employees with great customer service. Recently however, the situation has reached crisis point with the pandemic ushering in a new era of \u2018The Great Resignation\u2019, where employees are reassessing the impact of their jobs on work\/life balance, mental health and overall life goal fulfilment. This has hit the contact centre industry hardest, where higher-than-ever levels of stress are driving serious agent retention issues. According to Salesforce<\/a>, 71% of service agents in the US have considered quitting in the past six months, while 86% report they need more from their company in order to stay, citing monetary compensation, career growth opportunities and better management at the top of their wish list.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other than \u2018higher pay\u2019, customers often tell me<\/a> their agents crave \u2018more flexibility\u2019 in their job. While many attempts have been made to address this, such as introducing shift bidding, shift trading and shift preferences, nothing has really worked 100% in favour of frontline employees. Granted, these new ideas catered for the needs of the business but they were not flexible or easy enough for what agents really wanted \u2013 that is until now.<\/span><\/p>\n

7 ways to crack the code using agent self-scheduling<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/h4>\n

By blending radical new thinking with breakthroughs in technology, I believe that contact centre leaders finally have the opportunity to crack the code, offering businesses the dual ability to give agents more freedom to self-manage their own schedules and keep service levels under control. When agents are able to plan their work around their life rather than the other way round, stress levels naturally fall and customer satisfaction rises. Here are a few ideas to getting started:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Change the mindset<\/strong> \u2013 in a world where there are too many customer interactions and not enough agents, the culture has to change. Traditionally, the notion that the customer comes first has prevailed, but at Calabrio we see more and more companies coming to us and saying, \u201cMy customers are really important, but my employees are also really important. I can’t afford to lose my people.\u201d Now that is a radical change in thinking.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u2018Easy and smart\u2019 does it<\/strong> \u2013 and that\u2019s certainly the case when it comes to agent self-scheduling solutions<\/span><\/a> that allow agents to build and edit their own schedules in real-time and on the move, using their mobile devices. Frontline employees can move lunches, catch-up with colleagues and make time for new learning as customer demands or domestic events occur throughout the day. I often hear customers say self-scheduling is a \u201cbrilliant idea\u201d because the simple act of having lunch and taking breaks together helps \u2013 in their words – \u201cbuild teammate chemistry.\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Give agents the freedom to create the ideal work-life balance<\/strong> \u2013 one of the things agents love most about self-scheduling is it is \u201ceasy to fit around their lifestyle\u201d. Adopting modern self-scheduling capabilities empowers agents to achieve an even greater influence over their working day, while allowing contact centre managers to keep control of overall staffing levels. For example, agents can now add work hours on either unscheduled or scheduled days. Someone looking for extra shifts can go to the self-scheduling app, see where there is a need for agents and sign up for more hours. At the same time, they could even consider making partial-day shift trades with their colleagues.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Remember the secret sauce to self-service automation<\/strong> \u2013 comprehensive rule sets and real-time intraday service level controls across all skills ensure that agents can completely self-service, build and modify their schedule, without any intervention from the WFM team. Without this secret sauce of rule sets, the WFM-team would have to manually check and approve changes – far too slow and time-consuming for most busy contact centres today.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Build in self-regulating guard rails<\/strong> \u2013 look out for agent self-scheduling tools that are configured to automatically take into consideration global work regulations as well as the legal parameters of individual agent contracts. Being able to track and manage an organisation\u2019s compliance against important employment laws means you can always rely on automated approvals to protect you and your staff while building in the highest levels of efficiency to best serve your customers.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Raise the status of self-scheduling<\/strong> \u2013 make what we call at Calabrio \u2018lifestyle scheduling\u2019 an intrinsic part of your strategic Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) framework. Agent self-scheduling is just one way to engage and motivate employees. When combined with modern call recording, quality management and performance coaching, today\u2019s analytics-driven solutions offer a complete, end-to-end personal development toolkit. Personal development plans and insight into individual\/self-managed performance boosts employee experience and as a consequence improved customer experience follows.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Take inspiration from real-life successes<\/strong> \u2013 such as National Debt Relief, an early adopter of agent self-scheduling which claims \u201cit lets agents manage and change their own schedules as unexpected things happen throughout each day, without negatively impacting the contact centre\u2019s service level.\u201d<\/a> National Debt Relief is just one of 80% of Calabrio\u2019s customers who say WFM increases their ability to balance both business and agent needs.<\/a> Why not follow their lead?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Don\u2019t just take my word for it<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

    Self-scheduling is easy and smart for the agent and for the WFM-team \u2013 and contact centre staff just love it. As one of our satisfied customers enthused, \u201cSelf-scheduling is the best!\u201d while another confesses to be \u201cin love\u201d with self-scheduling because it helps them get over the routine aspects of their job. Self-scheduling also delivers tangible business value, enabling organisations to gain a critical edge over the competition when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best contact centre talent, essential for business success. <\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    This is a guest post from Magnus Geverts is VP, Product Marketing at <\/i><\/b>Calabrio<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    About Magnus<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    \"MagnusMagnus Geverts is VP, Product Marketing and Management at Calabrio<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> formerly Chief Business Development Officer at Teleopti ahead of the Calabrio acquisition. He has more than two decades of experience in the Workforce Management and customer service space, working in a mix of roles, in RnD, consultancy and business development.<\/p>\n

    Calabrio is the customer experience intelligence company that empowers organisations to enrich human interactions. The scalability of our cloud platform allows for quick deployment of remote work models\u2014and it gives our customers precise control over both operating costs and customer satisfaction levels. Our AI-driven analytics tools make it easy for contact centres to uncover customer sentiment and share compelling insights with other parts of the organisation. Customers choose Calabrio because we understand their needs and provide a best-in-class experience, from implementation to ongoing support. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Find more at calabrio.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> check out their Self-Scheduling hub<\/span><\/a> for more information and<\/span> follow @Calabrio<\/span><\/a> on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Thanks to idgmart on Pixabay<\/a> for the image.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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