Call Center Management Featured Article
Call Center Shrinkage: Cut the Small Talk
If you manage a call center – or any staff for that matter – then you know how important it is to deliver on service levels and still meet company goals. Traditional methods of tracking and ensuring staff were working optimally may have consisted of walking around the floor and observing work stations, but today that just doesn’t cut it.
Things like bathroom breaks, water cooler conversations and smoke breaks are still plaguing productivity numbers. Add to that the fact that someone can be sitting at their desk and typing away at the computer but not actually doing the set work – and things get complicated.
Call center management today is almost impossible without the right tools and technologies in place to monitor and report productivity. And this goes a long way when you consider the labor costs associated per agent for call centers today.
Call center shrinkage, the measure of all this time lost and how it harms efficiency, is still a very real problem for many workforces. To combat it, finding ways to cut down the small talk and motivate employees to stay focused and work toward goals is key.
Tools like forecasting and scheduling for better accuracy make it easy to monitor and schedule set times for breaks, training, meetings and even other unproductive, non-phone time – so it doesn’t get in the way of goals.
You’ll want to work with agents on their timing as well. If you’re monitoring in real-time, there’s a chance to step in as it’s happening and offer guidance on how to be more efficient.
Moving away from traditional spreadsheet management of teams has helped call center management evolve from a cumbersome task to one that can empower workforces and foster a better overall team environment.
When will you cut the small talk?
Edited by Alicia Young