Should call center agent occupancy be measured against actual login time or targeted login time? For example, if an agent sits for five hours instead of the targeted eight hours, then what should be the base time?
Requires Free Membership to View
When you register, you'll begin receiving targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers on the latest customer relationship management (CRM)and call center technology issues today. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest issues facing this fast-changing industry.
Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
Agent occupancy should be based on the time call center agents are logged in. If they are logging in for five hours instead of a scheduled eight hours, call center managers would want to capture that in adherence. These two call center metrics reflect different things. Call center agents can control, and should be accountable for, adherence. Utilization, or occupancy, is a function of call volume, random call arrivals and staffing, so it is more a responsibility of call center management or the workforce planners.
This was first published in March 2007