How closely are you collaborating with your WFM team right now? Are your resource-planning colleagues deeply involved in your CX strategy or routinely sidelined from tactical conversations?
If it’s the latter, read on to find out why it’s high time to shake things up, as we spoke to industry experts to hear why WFM teams should – quite rightly – be viewed as the strategic asset they truly are to any customer service strategy, as well as how to make sure this happens in your contact centre.
Here’s what they said…
Key Reasons to Consider WFM as a Strategic Partner in Any Operational Strategy
Avoid Those Embarrassing “We Could Have Told You That Would Happen” Moments
WFM’s value extends to decisions like adjusting operating hours, launching new products, new hire training, or reconfiguring rosters.
When WFM isn’t involved, businesses often face avoidable issues and the team usually hears: “We could have told you that would happen.”
Contributed by: Graeme Gabriel, WFM Specialist, Engineering, NICE International
Minimize Over- and UnderStaffing to Protect Service Quality
A key focus for contact centre leaders is the alignment of resources with business goals, to optimize efficiency.
WFM professionals excel in forecasting customer demand, and scheduling resources to meet it. They analyse your workforce’s performance and provide valuable insights that directly impact operational success.
To ensure staffing levels meet customer needs, and to minimize over- and understaffing, integrating WFM experts into your strategic planning is vital – for both service quality and morale.
Contributed by: Mark Ligi, Director of Product Management CCaaS/VCaaS, Enghouse Interactive
Confidently Drive Your Operations Strategy on Data – Not on Hunches
WFM is about finding the optimum balance between customer experience, agent satisfaction and cost-effectiveness.
That’s three things that are central to operations strategy. They impact KPIs like service level, customer satisfaction score, staff turnover, and total operating costs.
If the WFM team isn’t intimately familiar with the operations strategy, how is it supposed to find the optimal balance? A good operations strategy is data-driven, not based on hunches or opinions.
Contributed by: Chris Dealy, WFM Evangelist, injixo
Choose Collaboration – Not Conflict!
Whether you’ve considered it or not, Operations and Planning teams are already combined and interconnected, as whatever you do impacts one another’s roles and priorities.
Even a clear lack of a plan is a choice that will ultimately have an impact on the overall customer service experience! So, stop thinking in silos and creating conflict… And choose collaboration instead!
Contributed by: Phil Anderson, CEO of The Forum
Prevent “Surprise” Spikes in Call Volume That Compromise Customer Service
When other departments implement new initiatives but don’t tell the WFM team, it can spell disaster. For example, new customer campaigns that prompt spikes in calls and/or training initiatives that pull agents off the phones for long periods.
However, when the WFM team are routinely included in strategy meetings, it gives them greater visibility and advanced warning of any activities across the business that are likely to impact service levels.
This gives everyone the opportunity to discuss activity ahead of time, make a viable plan, and ultimately reduce any chaos.
Contributed by: Sven Hill, Workforce Management Effectiveness Manager at IVC Evidensia
Bring Balance and Fresh Thinking to Your Strategy Meetings
It’s healthy to have a balance of ideas to ensure any strategy is not too employee, too customer, or too efficiency focused.
Rethink your biases. Not every WFM analyst is the quintessential introverted purely numbers-focused person that is also looking for rule violators.
Many in WFM also have an Operations background and can bring fresh ideas to the table.
Contributed by: Bryce Ackerman, Workforce Management Internal Consultant at Roche
Be More Proactive About Addressing Potential Challenges
The WFM team’s expertise in data-driven decision-making enhances accuracy in budget planning, capacity management, and performance tracking.
They can identify trends and recommend proactive solutions to potential challenges, such as seasonal demand spikes or compliance issues.
Contributed by: Mark Ligi, Director of Product Management CCaaS/VCaaS, Enghouse Interactive
Model and Test the Impact of Strategic Decisions in Advance
A strong WFM team, supported by advanced tools and technologies, can model and test the impact of strategic decisions before implementation.
For example, introducing digital channels for customers can be analysed to understand agent occupancy, shrinkage, and attrition risks, as well as training needs and recruitment requirements.
This allows businesses to validate strategies, minimizing risks and ensuring smooth execution.
Contributed by: Graeme Gabriel, WFM Specialist, Engineering, NICE International
Tackle Sickness Levels and Staff Turnover With a More Strategic Approach
Resource planning is a careful balancing act and getting it wrong can have serious consequences for sickness and staff turnover – but it’s not always easy to unpick what’s happening and why.
That’s why bringing your WFM team into strategic conversations earlier on can help you make the right judgement call about your staffing levels. For example, understanding why you might need to (perhaps counterintuitively) raise staffing levels to achieve the lower levels of sickness and staff turnover you’re really looking for.
Contributed by: Sven Hill, Workforce Management Effectiveness Manager at IVC Evidensia
Ensure Strategic Plans Translate Into Successful Outcomes
WFM teams are the backbone of operational efficiency, bridging the gap between strategic vision and day-to-day execution.
They bring a practical understanding of workforce deployment, identifying constraints and opportunities that can make or break strategic plans.
With a proactive approach to spotting inefficiencies – such as recurring staffing gaps or excess overtime –WFM teams and solutions enable businesses to address issues before they escalate, ensuring strategic plans translate into successful outcomes.
Contributed by: Agam Kohli, Experience Director, Odigo
How to Kick-Start WFM / Ops Collaboration in Your Contact Centre
Agree KPI Goals Between Operations and WFM
WFM has a major impact on contact centre outcomes, so it’s vital that KPI goals are agreed upon between Operations and WFM – not presented to the WFM team as a ‘fait accompli’ (a thing that has already been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it).
If KPI goals aren’t achievable, that’s not only demotivating for the WFM team, it’s also baking in failure.
The WFM team should be part of the capacity-planning discussion. Even if the long-range plan includes new product launches or other strategic changes that render history obsolete, WFM has the tools and skills to ensure that hiring and training are planned with mathematical rigour.
Contributed by: Chris Dealy, WFM Evangelist, injixo
Put a Workforce Strategy Director on the Board
We don’t see enough of this, but there should be a Workforce Strategy Director on the board to ensure that any conversations about finance and new cloud platforms (for example) are connected to what that means for the WFM team – so any potential issues can be mitigated from the very beginning.
This approach can also help to drive greater awareness and appreciation of what WFM teams actually do, as too often they’re viewed as a low-level administrators, tasked with sending out reports, managing shift-swaps, and watching calls in queues – when in reality it’s far more strategic than that.
Contributed by: Phil Anderson, CEO of The Forum
Include WFM From the Beginning to Build Better Human-to-Human Relationships
WFM teams are not robots. They’re human. And they like to be included. You don’t have to adopt every idea from WFM, but feeling included is going to lead to better relationships and communication.
WFM will be a better partner and more supportive if they are included from the beginning. They may not completely agree with every strategy, but at least they will feel included and listened to.
Contributed by: Bryce Ackerman, Workforce Management Internal Consultant at Roche
Are You Missing a Critical Opportunity to Enhance Customer Satisfaction?
WFM collaboration fosters a culture of transparency and shared goals, empowering employees with schedules that support both personal and operational needs. Not only that, but it can help drive cost savings and boost productivity, whilst ensuring your organization remains agile and prepared.
In short, if you’re not engaging your WFM team early on in your contact centre strategy, you’re missing a critical opportunity to optimize operations and enhance customer satisfaction.
For more great insights and advice from our panel of experts, read these articles next:
- Top Tips for Capacity Planning to Meet Customer Demand
- Contact Centre Predictions for 2025
- Enhance FCR With Smart Routing
- The Superhuman Touch – How to Blend Agents and AI for Maximum Impact
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 21st Jan 2025
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Agam Kohli, Bryce Ackerman, Chris Dealy, Enghouse Interactive, Graeme Gabriel, injixo, Mark Ligi, NICE, Odigo, Phil Anderson, Sven Hill, Top Story, Workforce Management (WFM)
