Creating next-level EX: How technology is fueling a change in mindset about workforce management

Many contact center managers have traditionally relied on key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep a close eye – and a tight rein – on agent performance. Technological advancements and changing employee expectations, however, are driving businesses to leave micromanagement behind and to embrace agent empowerment.

Micromanagement is gone!

The reality is that contact center agents in 2023 want more. The embrace of digital and the proliferation of new channels has led to a shift in the way customer interactions are managed. Many contact center agents manage a combination of digital and phone interactions simultaneously, every day.

According to a recent survey by NICE, on average, agents handle 3.2 channels concurrently, which, in turn, creates a chaotic KPI-driven work atmosphere that further exacerbates the already high burnout rates among employees. One industry analyst estimates staff turnover amongst contact centers at a staggering 30-35 percent, predominantly due to this information overload.

Contact center agents clearly want more flexibility at work. Three years post-pandemic, almost half of contact center agents (45 percent) now work hybrid. Consequently, companies are learning to support contact center agents and give them the freedom to manage their workload and combat burnout.

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The age of self-management

Digital is also causing the role of the contact center agent to become more specialized and valuable than ever before. This means that the traditional contact center KPIs, such as agent status, service level and skill performance, have become obsolete. New metrics must be adopted.

As a response, modern workforce management tools can empower agents by not only setting modern KPIs, but also by allowing agents to keep track of their own KPIs and performance. By being more willing to entrust agents to manage their own performance and schedule, businesses can enhance agent job satisfaction, which in turns leads to superior customer interactions.

So where can businesses that empower their contact center agents expect to see improvements in the employee experience and customer service? Let’s take a look at two contact center KPIs closely related to agent efficiency – average handle time (AHT) and after call work (ACW).

AHT refers to the time it takes an agent to complete an interaction. Many contact centers closely monitor agents’ AHT because they want to reduce wait times and improve customer satisfaction. Shorter AHT might also mean that agents are working more efficiently.

ACW refers to the time agents need to complete tasks following an interaction with a customer. Whether it involves dispositioning a contact, adding data into a CRM or following up with a customer via email, ACW provides the necessary context to ensure that your customer has a good experience the next time they interact with agents. It should be noted that ACW is also quite time-consuming and mundane as it consumes precious minutes agents could be using to talk to customers.

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Championing contact center agents

Embedding self-management into everyday workflows by letting agents monitor and improve their performance saves managers time and raises the standard of customer service. From here, managers can focus on fine-tuning and improving agent experience even further.

Here are several crucial steps businesses can take to empower their contact center teams to ensure that agents’ time is both productive and efficient:

• Set targets for AHT and ACW: There is no one-size-fits-all target; appropriate AHT and ACW targets depend on many factors, such as service level goals, the business sector, internal processes and contact complexity.
  
  
• Training: Train contact center agents to understand AHT and ACW, how they relate to each other, and how they impact service levels and customer satisfaction. ACW is a major component of AHT—if you shorten ACW, you also shorten AHT. Luckily, employees have a great deal of direct control over their ACW.
• Communication: Ensure that contact center teams receive and clearly understand the AHT and ACW targets to ensure everyone is on the same page.
  
  
• Insight: Give contact center agents the tools (e.g. a browser-based dashboard or a simple smartphone app) they need to oversee their AHT and ACW.
• Empower: Give agents the freedom to manage their AHT and ACW. In addition to enabling the agents, this also frees up contact center supervisors to turn their attention to higher-value tasks.

These principles of empowering contact center agents can be implemented into many business practices, including reaching customer satisfaction goals, scheduling agility, etc. Regardless of the metric, workforce management solutions with effective employee engagement tools can drive employees to take their performance to the next level.

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of experience management

The bottom line

The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly left a significant mark on all industries, particularly altering the way people work, and contact centers are no different! Combined with the changing nature of CX and digital becoming the norm, contact center agents require fresh management strategies that not only empower their own work experience but also help them meet – or even exceed – today’s customer expectations.