Multiskilling - is this why your model doesn't seem to work in real-life?

I don’t often have business-based conversations with my wife, but when I do, they tend to be good ones.

So, my lovely wife Sandra and I were having a conversation the other day about staffing levels, and why businesses seem content with operating with fewer staff than they actually need.? She works in the always-busy world of retail and my area of expertise is in the contact centre arena - hardly renowned for being quiet itself.? We quickly identified that the under-staffing issue is one that exists across all areas and we began to think of reasons why.

One of the reasons is obvious and elective - cost control.? Why operate with Goldilocks-level staffing when, by operating under budget and passing the burdens onto colleagues and customers (who will be busier and receive a lower-grade of service respectively) you can save your business thousands of pounds a year?? It’s an obvious reason, yes - but is it successful?? Well, it does seem to be working for businesses so I suppose I’d reluctantly have to say yes to that, too.

"...they have forgotten what turns an employee into the type of employee that they planned to have in their models."

We’ll leave whether I think it is the right thing to do to another day. (Spoiler Alert - of course I think it’s wrong!)

We carried on and dug a little deeper until we came to another conclusion - some of these businesses genuinely believe they have the right number of people in place but they are mistaken, because they have forgotten what turns an employee into the type of employee that they planned to have in their models.

Training and development.

When plans are made for staffing numbers in any environment - retail shop floor, contact centre, construction, you name it - certain assumptions are built into the plan.? Things like the number of hours a day or week someone will be asked to work, how much time we think we will need to set aside for holidays and absence and the type of work that each employee will be able to handle.? So, in retail, there'll be an assumption that x% of the staff in any shop will be able to perform functions A, B and C - things like stock control, working on the register, handling returns or customer queries.? In construction, there’ll be assumptions that you’ll need to have certain numbers of bricklayers and joiners on any site.? And in Contact Centres, there are assumptions that certain percentages of staff will be able to handle various contact types or channels at various points on their flightpath to competency.

"You mustn’t forget that having 200 FTE isn’t the same as having the right 200 FTE..."

The thing about those assumptions is that, unless they are broadly realised in actual, real life, things are not going to work as planned.? If you don’t train and develop your staff, and give them the opportunity to build on those newly-developed skills, you’ll find yourself in a world of pain.? Suddenly, you’ll need two people to make one sale in the shop to cover for a shortfall in knowledge; or you’ll notice that the building isn’t going up as quickly as planned or the woodwork is below standard because there’s a lack of trained joiners.? And in my world, the contact centre, customers will have to wait until a trained person is available to handle their query, or they’ll end up calling again to get their question answered and may even generate more work through complaining.

And in every one of those situations a quick look at the staffing costs will show that those businesses have been operating at exactly the budgeted level of staff.? And everyone will be scratching their chins wondering why performance is so bad.

"The agility that QStory gives … provides greater ‘training traction’ - ensuring that more of it actually happens and less gets cancelled."

When working with multiple tasks, skills and channels, you mustn’t underestimate the importance of having the right skills in the right balance at the right time.? You mustn’t forget that having 200 FTE isn’t the same as having the right 200 FTE, who have the skills and experience to handle everything the customer can throw at them.? Focussing your attention on making sure that your planned multiskilling model is in play is vital to your success.? Making sure that all of your agents are able to do what you need them to do is crucial and you should do all that you can to make sure that all scheduled training, development and upskilling goes ahead as planned and doesn’t fall victim in the rush to answer customer calls.

How do you do that?? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Intraday Automation from QStory is currently being used by many companies to do just that.? In the face of highly volatile levels of demand and supply, they are still finding the time to meet their commitment to develop their agents. The agility that QStory gives to the Contact Centre allows our customers to focus on delivering development and training time at the best time for the business, and provides greater ‘training traction’ - ensuring that more of it actually happens and less gets cancelled.? As a result, their agents are highly skilled and our customers are getting the maximum value from each and every member of staff.??

So the next time you are in a shop, waiting for someone with the skills to help you to resolve a query, think about how your Contact Centre customers are experiencing exactly the same delays, for exactly the same reason.? And talk to QStory about how to put things right!