Workforce management (WFM) is the process that contact centers use to ensure employees have the necessary resources and support to meet customer needs in a timely fashion and have job satisfaction themselves. It includes predicting call volumes to determine staffing and optimizing schedules.
WFM also requires managing adherence to these schedules and making changes in real-time. When reviewing contact centers, leaders must assess performance data like customer satisfaction scores (CSAT). Looking at all this information is necessary to best determine staffing levels and ways to bring down costs.
In fact, WFM's main purpose is to align worker staffing and skillsets with the needs of customers. Poor WFM can be disastrous because it creates negative customer experiences, which cause churn and inefficiencies. Worst of all, a brand's reputation can be damaged.
Long wait times
Problem: Customers are waiting too long to get a response from an agent.
If call centers are adequately staffed, then the benchmark for response time is the 80/20 rule. This means that 80 percent of calls receive a response within 20 seconds. However, research from SQM, call center specialists, shows that only 16 percent of call centers are able to achieve the 80/20 standard. That might be why VCC Live recommends a standard of wait times that are between 30 seconds and two minutes.
Customers who have to wait a long time for support or abandon the call all together are less likely to be loyal or satisfied and this can have a ripple effect even if their problems eventually get solved. Looking at data to assess wait times versus staffing levels is the first step. Call abandon and CSAT data are also important factors.
Solutions: Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a great solution to long wait times. "Generative AI can significantly improve the customer experience by providing quick summarization responses to questions," says Saki Takeda, director of product management and customer service technology at Netflix, in the CX Network report on contact centers. "By leveraging help center articles and other resources, generative AI can deliver accurate and relevant information swiftly, reducing wait times and increasing customer satisfaction."
Another solution is an omnichannel platform because it can help agents move seamlessly from one channel to another.
"Skills-based routing by language, customer history and complexity helps connect customers with the best available agent more quickly," says Mazen Khalaf, the former group customer care manager for UAE-based integrated lifestyle group Majid Al Futtaim (MAF). "This reduces wait times and improves first-call resolution, leading to higher customer satisfaction. We also find real-time monitoring and analytics tools enable supervisors to track agent performance, monitor their KPIs and identify areas for improvement.”
Agent burnout and absenteeism
Problem: Agents are not showing up to work or are showing signs of burnout as a result of stress and being overworked.
Nearly 36 percent of respondents to the Freshdesk Customer Service Benchmark Report 2023 said that "work overload" is the most common reason for agent attrition, according to a white paper on CX Network. The number is even higher, according to TechTarget: More than 50 percent of CX leaders say that burnout is an issue causing agents to leave their companies.
To begin, leaders must recognize the underlying cause of burnout and absenteeism. Often, it's a matter of over-scheduling, lack of breaks and rigid shift structures, all of which contribute to a lack of work-life balance. Those who are frazzled or exhausted are more likely to snap at customers or simply provide lackluster service.
Nearly 46 percent of agents told Calabrio in its Voice of the Agent study that they have little or no control over their schedules, which can lead to stress and dissatisfaction. This leads managers to have challenges in creating schedules that work for all stakeholders, including employees and customers.
Solutions: Wisely deployed AI can address this problem as well. AI agents can take on some of the work to free up time for the human agent. However, many leaders talk about proper scheduling as the real answer. Providing more flexible schedules or hybrid work when possible can be helpful.
Join us at All Access: Workforce Management for Contact Centers to examine the best practices for ensuring a happy employee base that can produce outstanding customer experience.
Recently, CX Network spoke with Emmanuel Richard, co-author of Out Care the Competition: Fine Tuning Culture for Sustainable Success (Networlding Publishing, 2024), about the CARE framework that has leaders balancing employee and customer needs. Ultimately, leaders must consider employee wellness as they commit to schedules. This should play into their decisions on investments in automation or AI.
Inconsistent customer experience across channels
Problem: When customers have varied experiences across email, chat and phone, they might feel insecure about the brand and the CX. In both 2023 and 2024, the second greatest barrier to providing the best CX was inconsistent CX across channels, according to CX Network and Alterian research.
In a CX Network report on omnichannel approaches, Wasim Mushtaq, founder of 1CG and the former transformation lead in financial markets for Standard Chartered, said organization's are slow to adopt omnichannel platforms. Legacy infrastructures and data silos where customer information is fragmented across departments create challenges, he added.
The cause of this problem is likely people working in silos. When one employee does not know how the other operates or if their training is entirely different, they cannot possibly provide similar experiences. Obviously, inconsistent experiences lead to an erosion of trust, a build up of frustration and eventually a loss of business.
Solutions: An omnichannel platform that puts profile information that includes data on every interaction a customer has had with the brand can help solve this issue. However, only 15 percent of respondents to the Global State of CX 2024 survey said they have a fully implemented omnichannel model and strategy. The majority at more than 35 percent said they have a multi-channel model but the connections between them remain fragmented. Training and standardized best practices, as well as getting employees out of their silos, also help.
Misinformation and delays in reaching a resolution
Problem: Too many customers are reporting that they received misinformation or had been transferred to different agents multiple times.
This is a particularly frustrating problem for customers. They lose time and get frustrated, and they continue to have their problem with the product or service for longer. It also makes the company look like it hires incompetent people.
In reality, the problem is probably about having the wrong agents staffed for the wrong inquiries.
Solutions: Scheduling with agent's skillsets in mind and recognizing how they might work as a team to cover a number of topics customers may need addressed is one solution. Recently, in an article about CX Network's All Access: Future Contact Centers webinar series, readers gained advice from the speakers who shared their thought leadership.
Your CSAT is declining
Problem: Customer satisfaction score, also known as CSAT, plays a major role in helping brands track their effectiveness with customers. If CSAT is decreasing - even if everything else on paper looks great - the red flag should be waving. This could mean that agents are meeting key performance indicators, but they still are not satisfying customers or helping them solve their unique problems.
"Measuring customer satisfaction to gather your customer feedback, illuminate risk of customer churn and discern loyal customers is useful, particularly over time," according to Qualtrics.
To learn more about CSAT and other CX metrics, check out the CX Network guide on the subject.
Solutions: Track all the data, including qualitative and quantatative, to ensure customers feel heard. Respond accordingly to try and improve the CSAT results.
In the end, employee experience and customer experience are inextricably linked. As a result, workforce management and CX leaders must work together to ensure positive outcomes, continued customer loyalty and great brand reputation.