What is call centre workforce management?

If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you know that working on a Friday night is not the same as working on a Tuesday afternoon.

Guests and takeaway orders come in their droves at the weekend, turning the dinner rush into a whirlwind of sensory overload. But, when well-managed, the staff survives the busy period time after time – and you can say the same for support teams.

Call centres can be just as hectic (and efficient) as a restaurant at the weekend. But if an organisation doesn’t have enough agents during peak hours, customers can easily become frustrated.

Call centre workforce management (WFM) is the solution that can help organisations forecast staffing needs, manage payroll, deliver an outstanding customer experience (CX) and more. Read on to learn how to thrive through your organisational dinner rushes with WFM.

• Why is call centre workforce management important?
• Key features of call centre workforce management
• 5 benefits of workforce management for call centres
• Streamline your call centre with Zendesk WFM

Why is call centre workforce management important?

Call centre workforce management is important because it streamlines employee scheduling, time tracking and future planning – all while optimising productivity and reducing risk across the board.

Timely, accurate service has never been more important for an organisation. In fact, according to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2023, 72% of customers want immediate service – meaning businesses must prioritise getting their audience the support they need as quickly as possible. This is where workforce management can help.

With a successful call centre WFM strategy, businesses can optimise staffing needs for consistently positive customer support. Not only that, but WFM can assist with managing payroll and workflows, developing short- and long-term goals, and creating a better work environment for employees.

Key features of call centre workforce management

Every business can have its own spin on call centre workforce management. That said, there are a few key components that every WFM strategy should have.

Staff forecasting and scheduling

Businesses need to ensure they have the right number of employees at the right time to optimise staffing budgets and boost productivity. Customer trends, seasonality, business demands and more can all throw a wrench in scheduling, leading to periods of understaffing or overstaffing.

With call centre workforce management, companies can maintain efficient scheduling and accurate staff forecasting by leveraging historical data to create future schedules – plus, this benefit compounds if using other helpful call centre platforms like interactive voice response (IVR) software.

Time and attendance tracking

Time and attendance tracking represents the hours worked, productivity and scheduled absences. Proper tracking – like ensuring employees are accurately logging their time and daily activities – can aid in optimising payroll budgets, reducing operational costs and decreasing an organisation’s bottom line. This, combined with other processes that improve efficiency, like call centre scripts, can aid employees in being as productive as possible.

Real-time team management

Modern workforce management software can give an organisation real-time insight into the status of its employees. With this setup, managers can check in on workers throughout the day, seeing where they spend their time – a process that can lead to opportunities for training and development. Furthermore, real-time team management can also make a difference when customer demand unexpectedly rises during the day, allowing managers to allocate staff where and when needed.

Reporting and analytics

Data reporting and analytics transform business operations. With call centre WFM reports, managers can gain insight into company metrics and employee performance and merge this data with statistics from other platforms like call centre software.

Businesses can use this data for many organisational decisions like scheduling, training needs, intraday management and future operations planning.

5 benefits of workforce management for call centres

Call centre workforce management can offer several benefits to an organisation – even more so when you use advanced platforms like Zendesk WFM. Such tools can offer insights into agent activities, agent scheduling, service levels, staffing levels and more to make WFM that much easier.

Here are a few ways WFM can benefit a call centre.

1. Reduce the amount of time spent scheduling

With workforce management software, call centres can automate the scheduling process and reduce admin time. Software like Zendesk WFM can generate optimised schedules instantly by factoring in staffing and call volume forecasts, agent availability and business needs, saving a tremendous amount of time compared to working from a spreadsheet.

Furthermore, managers can access customised dashboards to keep an eye on the little details like scheduled breaks, lunches and tasks to plan for any gaps in coverage. With automated scheduling, businesses can create efficient schedules that don’t overwork employees, allowing for high employee satisfaction rates.

2. Ensure schedule adherence

Schedules are paramount in a hectic environment like call centres. WFM processes can empower managers to monitor and enforce employee schedules to ensure agents stay on track. It also allows managers to adjust quickly when schedules don’t go as planned.

Ensuring employee schedule adherence means that contact centre operations maintain efficiency, call queues don’t become overwhelming and employees develop call centre skills, all while maximising staffing costs.

3. Understand where agents need extra support

With WFM processes, businesses can identify opportunities to implement call centre training tips and pinpoint areas where employees struggle or fall behind. Doing so can lead to training opportunities that improve agent skill sets.

Managers can monitor organisational customer experience key performance indicators (KPIs) – things like first response time and first call resolution – for a glimpse into operation and agent performance. By identifying any gaps in agent efficiency and then implementing the necessary support or training modules, managers can increase the productivity and confidence of their team.

4. Create a better agent experience

Workforce management isn’t solely for customer needs – it should also create a better employee experience. Zendesk WFM allows support managers to effortlessly sync their Zendesk data and manage agents’ schedules through customised dashboards and automatic time tracking. WFM tracking can also highlight agent successes, encouraging them to take accountability for their work and, hopefully, feel more fulfilled in their roles.

5. Promote regulatory compliance

Being vigilant about local and regional employment law is important to avoid potential legal issues. Workforce management systems can help organisations minimise compliance risks by automatically keeping track of time cards, overtime, PTO and other important staffing figures.

Streamline your call centre with Zendesk WFM

Every day is different for support teams and businesses need to survive their organisational dinner rush whether guests have reservations or walk-ins. Ensure you have a call centre workforce management solution to support you through uncertainty and optimise your operations for today and tomorrow.

Zendesk WFM allows organisations to manage and optimise the performance of their service teams. By delivering AI-powered demand forecasting, as well as automatic scheduling, to ensure teams are always equipped with the right number of agents for any given season.

Contact sales today.