What is Workforce Management (WFM) for Call and Contact Centers? Is it a set of practices or is it a tool? And what are the actual benefits of WFM?
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What is Workforce Management for Call and Contact Centers?
Benefits of WFM in call and contact centers
Agent satisfaction and simplified scheduling
Improved demand forecasting
Budget savings and increased efficiency
Improved customer experience
Key takeaways
What is Workforce Management for Call and Contact Centers?
Workforce Management (WFM) in call and contact centers refers to processes that streamline operation workflow by providing more precise demand forecasting and managing workforce scheduling.
This entails optimizing employee productivity and cost-effectiveness, scheduling paid labor hours while preventing employee burnout, and maintaining customer satisfaction.
In a nutshell, WFM ensures that the correct number of reps with the right skills are scheduled at the right time. Workforce management comprises two parts: efficient WFM software and competent specialists to ensure that the software operates optimally.
There is a great selection of WFM software on the market. The correct choice depends entirely on your company’s specific needs. Keep in mind the size, scope, and requirements of your call or contact center when choosing the optimal software.
If you need assistance choosing the software – FrontLogix can help you make the right decision. Our highly qualified specialists will advise you on everything you need to know and give you access to tactical WFM knowledge whenever necessary.
FrontLogix provides a full range of WFM Services, from strategic WFM support and consultancy to cost management improvement and performance monitoring ‒ to help you achieve business excellence.
Benefits of WFM in call and contact centers
Well-implemented WFM delivers significant benefits, including reduced labor costs, increased efficiency through better planning, lower agent attrition, and improved customer experience (CX). Let’s dive deeper into the benefits of a good workforce management program for call and contact centers.
Agent satisfaction and simplified scheduling
Staff turnover is one of the most severe issues that call and contact centers experience. Finding and retaining qualified employees significantly impacts the bottom line and the quality of service.
According to Gartner, agent attrition is caused by feeling overburdened by their work and is highest during the first 90 days of employment. Losing an agent can cost anywhere between $1,500 and $20,000, depending on their experience level and duties.
Workforce Management can dramatically increase agent job satisfaction by streamlining the scheduling process. Scheduling flexibility can help agents achieve the work/life balance they require. The right WFM tool can offer more options in the scheduling process, such as:
- Preference-Based Scheduling allows agents to be involved in the scheduling process, enabling them to request working hours that best fit their lifestyle.
- More options for Intra-Day Changes which significantly reduce last-minute sick calls.
- Shift Bidding is where agents can express interest in working open shifts.
- Dynamic Scheduling Solutions that divide staffing requirements into configurable chunks enable work-from-home agents to easily work split shifts and sign in fast for unexpected call spikes.
- Automated Trades allow agents to swap shifts with others with the same skills.
- Automated Vacation, Voluntary Time Off, and Overtime Requests allow agents to use self-service tools and are an excellent opportunity for satisfying work requirements and satisfying agents at the same time.
- Access to Schedules on Mobile Phones allows for effective communication and enables agents to interact with their work schedules at any time.
Improved demand forecasting
Demand forecasting is the foundation of WFM. It is the technique of predicting future call volumes based on historical and current data.
By abandoning spreadsheets in favor of WFM software, forecasting and managing agents’ time becomes easy, without having to bother with Erlang calculators.
Workforce Management tools simplify demand forecasting by identifying trends and patterns, leveraging historical data, and considering demand fluctuation from recent days and weeks, as well as weather conditions and seasonality. This makes it easier for a contact center to respond to increased contact volumes or staffing fluctuations.
Budget savings and increased efficiency
Payroll is the highest cost of any call and contact center. Planning, scheduling, and management of human resources have a significant impact on the budget. WFM eliminates over-staffing by creating the most efficient schedules possible with the personnel at hand while keeping appropriate levels to deliver quality interactions.
Monitoring call center statistics and performance measures are critical for increasing efficiency, profitability, and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. WFM software facilitates this by automatically tracking key metrics such as service levels and time spent on tickets, chats, calls, average call wait time, conversion rates, and upsell rates.
Front Logix’s expert team can assist you in making the most of your data. We will help extract and analyze information and deliver detailed reports. We can assist your management team in analyzing data and historical trends across various critical indicators.
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Improved customer experience
An effective WFM system will help your company provide fast, quality, and consistent customer service. Your team can track real-time data to determine better if incoming customer requests exceed agent capacity. WFM improves call and contact center operations by estimating staffing and scheduling requirements based on historical customer demand.
The secret to pleasing consumers is having engaged and well-organized employees. With superior WFM, your organization will exceed customer expectations and provide excellent customer service.
Key takeaways
Workforce management (WFM) in call and contact centers refers to processes that streamline workflow through improved demand forecasts and agent scheduling. WFM comprises two components: efficient WFM software and competent specialists to ensure that the WFM software operates optimally.
With solid WFM practices in place, call and contact centers can significantly increase operational efficiency and customer satisfaction ‒ while greatly reducing agent attrition and labor costs.
FrontLogix is here to help you navigate through every step of the WFM process — from choosing the right WFM software, developing labor forecasting and scheduling rules, and identifying and implementing best practices to strategic WFM support and consultation, cost management improvements, and performance monitoring.
Utilize our 20+ years of workforce management experience to build your business excellence.
Get a quote or contact us today to discuss how we can help you.