5 Tips for Successful Agent Scheduling With Genesys

Are you tired of having the wrong agents working at specific times or being short-staffed when you contact center is experiencing the highest volume of calls? Scheduling problems in a contact center can destroy the customer experience and be detrimental to the entire workforce management process. That’s why it’s important to keep your agents’ schedule accurate and up-to-date. Of course, it’s easier said than done.

I’m sure you’ve experienced it – agents calling out and not having enough staff to cover that big wave of calls or having too many agents working with nothing to do during a quiet season. Don’t let that keep happening to you. When you implement Genesys for your contact center, you gain valuable tools for scheduling, but it all comes down to whether or not your business understands how to make the most of the product. Follow these five tips to keep your agents’ schedules accurate and up-to-date.

1. Agents, Inform Your Supervisor About Emergencies Immediately: Encourage your agents to be upfront about emergencies when they occur so as not to leave you short-handed at the last minute. Make sure that your agents feel comfortable coming to you in these situations rather than fearing negative repercussions when something is out of their control. If you know that an agent isn’t coming in, you can take the initiative to start calling in another team member with the appropriate skills to fill the gap.

2. Update the Master Schedule: If the master schedule isn’t up-to-date, you’ll never have a complete picture of your workforce. You need to know how your agents’ schedules fit together to create the ultimate contact center experience for your customers. Stay on top of your agents’ schedules so you can make sure that your contact center is always running efficiently and providing the best customer service.

3. Slant and Slope Schedules: Does your contact center experience a higher call volume earlier in the week? If so, you might want to slant your schedule by putting in more working hours in the beginning of the week and decreasing them each day to account for the shift in call volume. If your get busier later in the week, slope the schedule so you start with fewer hours and progressively add more throughout the week to account for a hectic end of the week.

4. Keep the Agents Involved: Give your agents some control over their schedules. For instance, poll agents regarding shifts they would like to work or allow agents to trade schedules as needed. Make sure your agents can enter preferences for future periods so they feel that you are listening to them and their needs. It’s also nice to allow them to enter exceptions for the current schedule. You still want to have the last say, but if you give your agents a little more room to help themselves, you’ll actually have fewer instances of workload exceeding demand.

5. Don’t Leave Out Any Activities: I’m sure you have weeks where you don’t account for every single task that needs to be completed. Make sure you keep a running list of everything that needs to be done each week so you can plan accordingly. Do you need someone to train one of your newer agents? Than make sure a more experienced agent is on the schedule at the proper time. Are projects getting left unfinished because you didn’t schedule enough hours when initially planning? Make sure you include that project when making the next week’s schedule too. You should make sure your inventory of activities is as accurate and specific as possible to ensure that your schedule matches up with the current amount of work needed to be addressed.

Of course, Genesys Workforce Management is a complex platform, so it’s important to have the right people helping you through the implementation process.

How Miratech Helps You Successfully Utilize Workforce Mangement 
Miratech leverages Genesys Workforce Management for your business so you can create forecasts, schedules, compliance rules and more. For instance, if you need help with modeling, we can act as an extension of your team, allowing for operations to continue while training and executing simultaneously in the creation of test schedules to see what works. One of our core values is “Know our Client, and Listen.” We ensure that you fully understand the product and how to use it to fulfill your specific business needs. The first step of our process is to gather information from you so we know your requirements. Then, we walk you through how to create schedules, which will enable and empower you beyond the length of the actual engagement. With over 3.5 million hours working to implement Genesys for some of the top companies, Miratech offers the expertise you need to make the most of Genesys Workforce Management so your schedules are always accurate and up-to-date.

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