When assessing an organization’s workforce management (WFM) program, there is one area where the benefits and ease of use seem to far outweigh current practice. That area is employee scheduling.

By 2020, customer experience (CX) is expected to surpass price and product as a key brand differentiator. With an increased focus on CX, companies must now work to optimize their workforce to provide the best service. While many enterprises still manually schedule their employees, automated processes and better WFM help to ensure that scheduling is fair and accommodating, which can ultimately boost employee satisfaction and customer service.

Read on to learn more about the current scheduling landscape and how you can streamline operations to deliver better customer experiences.

Current Scheduling Practices 

Managing several employees at once can be a daunting task. Today, Contact Center managers often schedule their agents in ways that can lead to confusion, miscommunication and lower employee satisfaction. These methods include:

• Large sign-up sheets on bulletin boards
• One person who is responsible for the sign-up sheet
• Pieces of paper or emails sent back and forth
• One person who is responsible for updating an elaborate excel sheet

These are usually followed by a response along the lines of “Mary does a great job with scheduling. She manages all of the vacations, which is such a huge help”. However, while these methods may seem to be productive, they are time-consuming and often other factors that impact scheduling, such as lunch breaks, scheduled training, varying day-to-day hours, service level, work volume, and scheduling preferences.   

Transition to More Effective Scheduling

Effective WFM requires you to plan in advance, build accurate scheduling forecasts, and plan capacity needs. If you do not currently have an organized and effective process in place, consider the following tips to start improving your scheduling management:

1. Anticipate absenteeism, which is more common around weekends and the holidays.
2. Offer more flexible shift options to accommodate your staff’s needs.
3. Stagger start times to ensure a full staff during peak times.
4. Verify that employees clearly understand your organization’s scheduling processes.

Scheduling can also be simplified with advanced management tools and applications. As new technologies emerge, enterprises should consider leveraging scheduling software to: 

• Display open shifts from which employees can choose
• Facilitate shift swaps
• Identify peak hours and top-performing employees
• Notify employees of schedule changes

The Road to Greater Workforce Engagement

The road to greater workforce engagement begins with a solid management package. The benefits of improving scheduling management far outweigh the costs and are based on sound principles, such as your business needs and the needs of your employees. 

In all, better scheduling can contribute to overall cost savings, happier employees, higher quality customer service, and in turn, better customer experiences.