How can you measure the success of your call center scheduling?

1 Service level and occupancy

Service level is the percentage of calls that are answered within a certain time threshold, such as 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds. It is one of the most common and important indicators of how well your call center meets customer expectations and delivers quality service. Occupancy is the percentage of time that agents are busy handling calls or after-call work, compared to their total logged-in time. It is a measure of how efficiently your call center utilizes its resources and avoids overstaffing or understaffing. Ideally, you want to achieve a high service level and a moderate occupancy, which means that your call center is responsive to customer demand and productive without burning out your agents. To measure the success of your call center scheduling, you should track and analyze your service level and occupancy over time, across different intervals, channels, and groups, and identify any gaps or trends that need improvement or adjustment.

2 Schedule adherence and compliance

Schedule adherence is the percentage of time that agents follow their assigned schedules, including start and end times, breaks, lunches, and other activities. Schedule compliance is the percentage of time that agents comply with the rules and policies of your call center, such as attendance, availability, punctuality, and notification. Both metrics are crucial for ensuring that your call center has enough staff to handle the expected workload and maintain service quality and consistency. They also reflect how well your agents understand and respect their roles and responsibilities, and how engaged and motivated they are. To measure the success of your call center scheduling, you should monitor and report your schedule adherence and compliance regularly, and provide feedback, coaching, recognition, or corrective actions to your agents as needed.

3 Forecast accuracy and schedule efficiency

Forecast accuracy is the percentage of difference between your predicted call volume and your actual call volume, expressed as a positive or negative value. For example, if you forecasted 100 calls and received 90 calls, your forecast accuracy is -10%. Schedule efficiency is the percentage of difference between your required staff and your scheduled staff, also expressed as a positive or negative value. For example, if you needed 10 agents and scheduled 12 agents, your schedule efficiency is -20%. Both metrics are essential for evaluating how well your call center anticipates customer demand and optimizes its staffing levels. They also impact your call center's costs, revenues, and profitability. To measure the success of your call center scheduling, you should compare your forecast accuracy and schedule efficiency against your targets and benchmarks, and identify any sources of error or variance that need correction or refinement.

4 Agent satisfaction and turnover

Agent satisfaction is the degree to which agents are happy and fulfilled with their work environment, conditions, and outcomes. Agent turnover is the rate at which agents leave your call center, voluntarily or involuntarily, within a given period. Both metrics are important for assessing how well your call center supports and retains its human capital, which is your most valuable and costly asset. They also influence your call center's culture, reputation, and performance. To measure the success of your call center scheduling, you should solicit and analyze feedback from your agents, using surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other methods, and measure your agent turnover rate and its causes and consequences. You should also implement strategies and practices that enhance your agent satisfaction and reduce your agent turnover, such as offering flexible schedules, incentives, career development, and wellness programs.

5 Customer satisfaction and loyalty

Customer satisfaction is the degree to which customers are satisfied and delighted with their interactions with your call center, based on their expectations and perceptions. Customer loyalty is the degree to which customers are willing to continue doing business with your call center, recommend it to others, and resist switching to competitors. Both metrics are vital for measuring how well your call center creates and maintains positive and lasting relationships with your customers, which is your ultimate goal and mission. They also affect your call center's growth, reputation, and profitability. To measure the success of your call center scheduling, you should collect and analyze feedback from your customers, using surveys, ratings, reviews, testimonials, or other methods, and measure your customer retention rate, referral rate, and churn rate. You should also implement strategies and practices that improve your customer satisfaction and loyalty, such as offering personalized service, proactive communication, loyalty programs, and service recovery.