Master Seasonal Service Levels – Just Like This! Related Articles 10 Clever Ways to Improve Your Service Levels Recorded Webinar: Clever Ideas for Managing Seasonal Peaks 3 Ways to Prepare Your Contact Centre for Seasonal Staffing Managing Seasonal Intake – Your Questions Answered © FrentaN - Shutterstock - 2381380249 458 Filed under - Workforce Planning, 8x8, Agam Kohli, Chris Dealy, Dane Smith, Enghouse Interactive, injixo, Lisa Orford, MiaRec, Mitch Todd, NICE, Odigo, Service Level, Tatiana Polyakova, Top Story Seasonal peaks are clearly marked on the calendar for many contact centre leaders – especially those working in the travel and retail industries – but how well they are handled can make or break the customer experience. So, what does it really take to thrive – and not just survive – during these peak periods? To find out, we asked our panel of experts to share their top tips and techniques to help you master seasonal service levels in the contact centre. Here’s what they said… 1. Overflow Extra Work to Teams Outside of the Contact Centre Lisa Orford Why not take advantage of the people and processes you already have in place? With the right solution, companies can pull back-office teams in to help at peak times. These users would not need to be part of the contact centre but can simply form a group that can be enabled at the click of a button. For example, let’s take a retail scenario, The contact centre could be overwhelmed with people trying to purchase a great online offer. Yet the store may be quiet as the offer is restricted to online purchases. By then enabling the store workers with flexible, mobile solutions, they can answer interactions too! Contributed by: Lisa Orford, VP Product for Contact Centre, 8×8 2. Keep Agent Stress Levels Under Control With Adequate ACW Time and Regular Breaks Providing adequate after-call work time (ACW) and regular breaks allows agents to regroup, reducing stress and enhancing performance. Contributed by: Dane Smith, Global Learning and Development Manager, Enghouse Interactive 3. Level Up Your Long-Range Planning – “If You Simply Have the Wrong Number of Employees on the Payroll, You Are in Trouble!” Chris Dealy In the contact centre, forecasting is typically about determining the number of staff required at 15- or 30-minute intervals, a few weeks or months into the future. By contrast, long-range planning deals with the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees you will need in the coming months and years, predicting seasonal peaks. Even if you are at the top of your game with the rest of the WFM process, if you simply have the wrong number of employees on the payroll, you are in trouble. You can’t hire and train new employees overnight. Long-range planning includes long-range forecasting, capacity planning, budgeting, recruitment, and training. The cornerstone of the long-range plan is the long-term forecast. Today’s forecasting tools use AI pattern recognition to identify and predict growth trends and seasonal patterns with uncanny accuracy, multiple years into the future. Contributed by: Chris Dealy, WFM Evangelist, injixo 4. Never Rush a Solution Into Place! Hastily Implemented Changes Can Cause More Harm Than Good Agam Kohli Start planning for seasonal spikes well in advance. Avoid rushing new touchpoints or solutions into place, as hastily implemented changes can cause more harm than good. Careful preparation ensures that all systems and processes are robust and ready to handle increased volumes smoothly. Contributed by: Agam Kohli, Sales Engineering Director, Odigo UK 5. Allow Your Agents to Work Anywhere to Help Out at Peak Times Tatiana Polyakova Implement flexible scheduling and remote work options for your agents to distribute your workload, match your availability to your demand, and reduce overhead costs. Tools like shift-bidding, shift-swapping, or part-time work can give your agents more control and autonomy over their schedules. Cloud-based platforms can enable your agents to work from home or anywhere else, providing the flexibility needed to handle peak periods. Contributed by: Tatiana Polyakova, COO, MiaRec 6. Introduce Annualized Hours to Cover Predictable Seasonal Peaks In many contact centres, there are predictable seasonal peaks. In these industries, you’d ideally schedule (and pay) agents to work fewer hours in quiet months and more hours in busy months. That’s typically at odds with agent employment contracts, which guarantee a given number of hours per week at a given hourly rate. The solution is to introduce annualized hours contracts and scheduling. This gives agents a consistent income, while allowing the business to balance the supply of agents with the seasonal peaks and troughs in customer demand. It’s vital that agents are engaged in the planning process and have clear advance visibility of their working hours. Annualized hours do require additional effort for HR, the operations team, and the planning team, but the benefits in a seasonal business are clear. Contributed by: Chris Dealy, WFM Evangelist, injixo 7. Introduce Callbacks to Reduce Frustration for Callers and Agents Implementing empathetic callbacks respects callers’ time and reduces frustration for both callers and agents, improving Average Handle Time (AHT) as agents won’t need to apologize for long wait times. Contributed by: Dane Smith, Global Learning and Development Manager, Enghouse Interactive 8. Take the Manual Guesswork out of Your Forecasting and Scheduling Mitch Todd AI’s ability to monitor 100% of interactions, digital and voice, historically and in real time, coupled with an advanced workforce engagement management system, allows organizations to improve their forecasting and scheduling. AI removes the manual guesswork when it comes to forecasting and scheduling – identifying complex historical patterns and accurately predicting future staffing requirements. Additionally, when service levels spike unexpectedly, it can quickly adjust staffing to ensure that the organization can handle the increase in interactions. Workforce managers have full control over forecasting and scheduling decision-making and can be confident that they can handle any future spikes in service levels. This not only benefits consumers with consistently great customer service but also helps employees, giving them a more consistent, predictable schedule – even during the busy seasonal periods. Contributed by: Mitch Todd, Product Marketing Manager, NICE 9. Try Automated FAQs and Booking Systems to Offset Volumes Implementing simple things like automated FAQs or booking systems for rescheduling of appointments is a simple way to offset volumes – with these 3 steps: Look at the demographic of your customers to work out the best channels of communication for them. Look for the high-volume, low-touch interactions that happen within the contact centre and create very simple use case flows to solve these problems. Starting simple is key! Monitor, monitor! Once implemented, make sure your results are positive and the automation is truly deflecting your volumes. Contributed by: Lisa Orford, VP Product for Contact Centre, 8×8 10. Monitor Real-Time Performance for Continuous Improvement Dane Smith Monitor real-time performance, track adherence, and gather insights for continuous improvement. By optimizing scheduling and resource allocation, WFM solutions help maintain high service levels, reduce agent burnout, and enhance overall customer experience during peak periods. This strategic approach ensures a well-prepared and efficient contact centre. Contributed by: Dane Smith, Global Learning and Development Manager, Enghouse Interactive 11. Create a Peak-Season Staffing Strategy – Including ‘Gig’ Workers Once you’ve identified a seasonal peak, you need a plan to staff up to it. Your strategy could include: Annualized hours – as mentioned above. Hiring temporary staff or ‘gig’ workers during peak seasons, who will (of course) require training to maintain service quality, but once the peak is over, they can be released. Cross-training your agents to handle multiple types of query. Assigning part of the workload to outsourcers (BPOs) during peak seasons. Contributed by: Chris Dealy, WFM Evangelist, injixo 12. Acknowledge the Significant Pressure Agents Experience During Peak Seasons Last, but not least, contact centre leaders must prioritize employee wellbeing to help agents remain calm and focused, ensuring effective KPI delivery. Acknowledging the significant pressure agents experience during peak seasons and cultivating an environment where they can express their concerns without fear encourages mental health awareness and support. Promoting agent wellbeing can greatly enhance their performance during high-call volume periods and help prevent burnout. Contributed by: Dane Smith, Global Learning and Development Manager, Enghouse Interactive For more great insights and advice from our panel of experts, read these articles next: Ease Agent Stress – With These 15 Top Tips! Is AI Really a Game-Changer in Knowledge Management? Is Your Scheduling in Need of an Overhaul? Try These 8 Top Tips Author: Robyn Coppell Reviewed by: Xander Freeman Published On: 26th Aug 2024 Read more about - Workforce Planning, 8x8, Agam Kohli, Chris Dealy, Dane Smith, Enghouse Interactive, injixo, Lisa Orford, MiaRec, Mitch Todd, NICE, Odigo, Service Level, Tatiana Polyakova, Top Story Recommended Articles 10 Clever Ways to Improve Your Service Levels Recorded Webinar: Clever Ideas for Managing Seasonal Peaks 3 Ways to Prepare Your Contact Centre for Seasonal Staffing Managing Seasonal Intake – Your Questions Answered Related Reports Report: The Inner Circle Guide to AI-Enabled Agent Assistance Webinar Replay: 5 Clever Ways to Improve Your Service Levels Guide: 120 Day Roadmap to Auto QA ROI eBook: How to Maximize Efficiency & Minimize Costs with AI Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest call centre and BPO reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. 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