A fantastic presentation that highlights the importance of schedule adherence

1. The Power of One!

2. What is Adherence?
• Adherence is a measure of how closely agents stick or “adhere” to their shift patterns
• It measures both how long agents spend in on-phone / off-phone activities and when they
spend that time
• It does this by comparing the information from the agents shift schedules with the information
from the ACD
• When we accurately predict the volume of calls coming in and prepare shift patterns to meet
that volume then adherence can have a huge effect on our service levels
• In resource planning we forecast the number of calls that we expect each section to receive in
every 15 minute period of the day
• We add in the average transaction time and forecast the number of Agents required to
answer the calls and hit the service levels
• How does this translate to what actually happens on the day……….?
• I have used a simulation programme to accurately show what happens when adherence goes
wrong

3. Scenario
We are going to look at one hour of a contact centre operation 10am - 11am
CSA's Required
40 CSA's Provided
35
30
For each 15-min period we
25
20
predicted that we needed 37
15
Agents in order to hit the service
10
level of 90% in 20 secs
5
0
10:00 - 10:15
10:15 - 10:30
10:30 - 10:45
10:45 - 11:00
The shifts have been issued out to all, they include breaks, lunches, Team meetings etc
to leave 37 Agents on the phones across the hour
We will look at each 15-min interval in turn to look at the effect of adherence on Service
levels

4. Resulting
With 37 agents in a 90.3%
Service
During the period there is, on average, no more than
level
one call in the queue at any time and customers, on
average, wait less than 7 seconds to be answered
On average, during
We received the period 30 Agents
We are On average 7 will be
90 calls at (blue) will be dealing
trying to hit in available (yellow)
300 secs per with a call
90% in 20
call
All Agents will spend 18.9% of
the 15min period in available
The above example will show the first fifteen minute period.
Each period is identical in that we will receive 90 calls. The average transaction time
is 300 seconds (5 mins) and we are trying to answer 90% of all calls in 20 seconds
So how did we do………?

5. This is an example of what should happen.
Resulting
With 37 agents in a 90.3%
The customer is happy as their call is being answered in a Service
During the period there is, on average, no more than
level
reasonable time
one call in the queue at any time and customers, on
average, wait less than 7 seconds to be answered
The Agents are happy as they are not under severe pressure
The business is happy as this scenario puts us in the best
place to achieve our service levels and greater Customer
Satisfaction
Overall we answered 30 during of calls in 20 seconds
We received
On average,
the period 90.3%
Agents
We are On average 7 will be
90 calls at (blue) will be dealing
trying to hit in available (yellow)
Let’s see what happened in the next 15-min interval
300 secs per 90% in 20
with a call
call
All Agents will spend 18.9% of
the 15min period in available
The above example will show the first fifteen minute period.
Each period is identical in that we will receive 90 calls. The average transaction time
is 300 seconds (5 mins) and we are trying to answer 90% of all calls in 20 seconds
So how did we do………?

6. The Service
Now with only 36 agents level has
dropped 4.5%
The average queue size is now over 1 and the average
to 85.8%
wait time has increased by 3 seconds to 10 seconds
per customer
On average during
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average 6 will be
with a call in available (yellow)
Availability has dropped 2%
to 16.7%
One of the Agents takes an extra 15mins on their break so that they can chat with a
friend. They don’t imagine that it will matter much as things don’t look that busy
So what is the impact if any………?

7. The Service
So even thewith only 36 agents just one Agent can have a huge effect
Now removal of level has
on our service levels
The average queue size is now over 1 and the average
dropped 4.5%
to 85.8%
wait time has increased by 3 seconds to 10 seconds
per customer
Customers have to wait longer to be answered
The remaining staff are under more pressure as they work
harder to make up for the absence of their colleague
85.8% of calls were answered in 20 seconds in this period.
On average during
Overall so far in the hour the service level is now 87.8%
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average 6 will be
with a call in available (yellow)
Now on to the third period
Availability has dropped 2%
to 16.7%
One of the Agents takes an extra 15mins on their break so that they can chat with a
friend. They don’t imagine that it will matter much as things don’t look that busy
So what is the impact if any………?

8. Now with only 31 agents The Service
level has
The average queue size is now 24 calls (which will dropped 62.5%
increase the Abandonment rate) and the average wait to 25.3%!
time has increased by 232 secs (nearly 4 mins)!
On average, during
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average only 1 will
with a call be in available
(yellow)
Availability has dropped 15%
to 3.2%!
At this point one of the Team leaders decides to bring forward their team’s planned
30-min meeting to 10:30 (it was originally planned for 10:45 to coincide with the
arrival of 6 further Agents starting their shifts)
What does this scenario show us………?

9. The effect on the office is devastating
Now with only 31 agents The Service
level has
The average queue size is now 24 calls (which will dropped 62.5%
Customers are now waiting almost 4 minutes to be answered
increase the Abandonment rate) and the average wait to 25.3%!
time has increased by 232 secs (nearly 4 mins)!
This will actually increase the number of incoming calls as
customers try to get through, abandon and then try again
later
Agents are taking one call after another almost
On average, during
constantly, increasing the pressure they’re under
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average only 1 will
with a call be in available
This is not an environment to achieve greater Customer
(yellow)
Satisfaction
Availability has dropped 15%
25.3% of calls were answered in 20 secs. Overall so far in the to 3.2%!
hour the service level is now 67%
At this point one of the Team leaders decides to bring forward their team’s planned
And now the final 15-min period
30-min meeting to 10:30 (it was originally planned for 10:45 to coincide with the
arrival of 6 further Agents starting their shifts)
What does this scenario show us………?

10. Now with 43 agents The Service
level has risen
The average queue size is now zero, meaning that each 76% to 99.3%!
customer is answered almost immediately as the
average wait time is less than a second
On average, during
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average 13 Agents
with a call will be in available
(yellow)
Availability has risen to over
30%!
The T/L realises that the office is under pressure and quickly concludes the Team
meeting. They assume that as they are now back on the phones and have the
addition of 6 Agents just starting their shift that the situation will be recovered soon
Were they right………?

11. Being 6 Agents agents
Now with 43 overstaffed adds only 9.3% to the service The Service
level has risen
level where takingeach
The average queue size is now zero, meaning that 6 away loses 65%! 76% to 99.3%!
customer is answered almost immediately as the
Customers are being answered quicker but this is virtually
average wait time is less than a second
undetectable by the customer
30% availability looks attractive but this often produces the
“drag” factor as Agents don’t feel busy enough, call times
increaseaverage,we can actually be providing an inferior service
On and during
the period 30 Agents
(blue) will be dealing On average 13 Agents
This is wasted resource as we could hit our service levels
with a call will be in available
(yellow)
with 37 Agents
Although the Service level in this period isAvailability has risen to over
99.3% the overall
30%!
service level for the hour is 75%.
The T/L realises that the office is under pressure and quickly concludes the Team
meeting. They assume that as they are now back on the phones and have the
addition of 6 Agents just starting their shift that the situation will be recovered soon
Were they right………?

12. Summary
Overall in this hour we achieved 75% Service Level when we predicted that 90% was
attainable
In overall adherence terms we had only 15-mins extra off-phone activity than was
planned (the Agent who went over on their break)
Though the last 15-minute period helped improve the service level we would need to
repeat this performance for the next 2 hours to get back to 90% in 20 overall!
This shows the importance, not only of overall adherence (taking the correct amount of
time) but accuracy as well (sticking to the time of the day)

13. Things to consider!
We try to match the number of Agents required to the number of Agents shifted in for
every 15-min interval
Even the removal of 1 Agent has an effect on service levels
The removal of more than 1 Agent can have a potentially devastating effect
It is not possible to “fix” it by putting the Agents back or by overstaffing, the damage may
have been already done
Lack of adherence damages the service to our customers and the work of our colleagues