Call centers that optimize their human capital can significantly increase efficiency and productivity. This was the goal of our example company, a customer service center which had launched eight years previously with one healthcare client. Last year, when they adopted Workforce Management Suite, they provided inbound and outbound support for six health insurers, three nationwide financial clients, and two auto insurance firms.
In optimizing human capital, the business had four specific goals:
- Increase precision of scheduling to maximize employee efficiency
- Minimize overtime and better regulate employee breaks
- Keep labor costs in check while still providing a high level of service
- Accommodate associates’ scheduling preferences to boost employee morale and reduce turnover
Our case study had purchased a software-based, onsite WFM system five years before switching to Workforce Management Suite. It was fairly sophisticated when installed, but the manufacturer had not kept up with the latest technology and its value eroded as the business evolved. Furthermore, the software updates were pricey and the system was down for days when something went wrong.
Solution – Workforce Management Suite
The forward-thinking owners were eager to upgrade to a call center Workforce Management system that made it effortless to implement the latest Workforce Management best practices to get a leg up in a crowded call center market. Though they had spent thousands on their onsite software, they knew their needs would be better met with
an SaaS
solution. Workforce Management Suite, which contains TimeWorksPlus, TimeSimplicity, and TimeWorksTouch, capably met each of their goals, as explained below.
Scheduling Precision
With TimeSimplicity, the scheduling solution in Workforce Management Suite, department managers can create standard schedule templates for busy and slow sales periods, which vary per department. With the standard schedule in place, supervisors can drag and drop to customize for each client, employee group, or other department-specific criteria. The system has virtually eliminated coverage gaps, over-staffing, and departmental imbalances.
Strategic Forecasting
TimeSimplicity gives managers user-friendly tools to evaluate attendance history, discover trends, and forecast future needs. As the weeks go by, supervisors have an ever-increasing amount of key data to help boost the accuracy of scheduling.
Overtime and Break Management
Companies that mishandle overtime can really take a financial hit. Workforce Management Suite customizable overtime alerts have reduced labor expenses while proving to be a huge timesaver for managers.
Reduced Labor Costs
Time card estimation was common at the company prior to Workforce Management Suite. The call center employees would estimate
start
and end times after the fact if they forgot to punch in. TimeWorksPlus has a schedule adherence function which doesn’t clock employee time outside of prescribed hours and enforces authorized break and meal duration. Tardies and absences are monitored and controlled and buddy-punching has become impossible. The agency is now only paying employees for time actually worked.
Accurate Time Cards and Hassle-free Payroll
TimeWorksTouch has PunchLogic, a feature that makes it ’employee-aware.’ For example, it doesn’t allow team members to unwittingly clock into the wrong activity. It gives the employees only the options that apply to their current work status (shift beginning, break, meal, or shift ending). Time card accuracy has increased significantly, saving supervisors countless admin hours previously spent correcting inaccurate time cards.
Accommodate Scheduling Preferences While Retaining Quality of Service
Call centers typically
have
a high attrition rate because customer service is an entry-level job for many young workers and a common short-term stint for students and people who are temporarily unemployed in their chosen field. Call centers that succeed are able to attract competent workers, quickly train them to be excellent service reps, pay a competitive wage, and minimize attrition.
Meeting Scheduling Preferences
The management at our example office had discovered that accommodating employee scheduling preferences enabled them to pay slightly less than the median rate in their metro area. The benefits were two-fold:
a savings in labor costs and improved retention. These savings increase exponentially as they continue to expand their workforce. TimeSimplicity allows managers to set minimum/maximum hour preferences per employee. Automated time-off requests simplify life for employees.
Mobile Employee Self Service (ESS) allows employees to check their schedule, shift opportunities, and accruals from anywhere. The management team also experimented with allowing fully trained team members within the same skill set group (phone, email, or live chat certified) to manage their own shift trades. When presented with this display of confidence, the employees rose to the occasion and the policy has since become permanent. The practice has not been abused, and turnover has decreased.
Improved Employee Work/Life Balance
The management team believes that prior to the change in policy, most employees were afraid of requesting too many shift trades per week. Now that they are trusted to cover their own shifts when they make a trade, they have more schedule flexibility than ever before. The dedicated crew does not want to give up this valuable perk, even to sling a slightly higher wage at a competitor’s business.
Improved morale has increased the quality of service provided by the employees. Agents who are respected and trusted by management can concentrate on doing quality work and meeting production objectives.
Workforce Management Suite: Essential For Continued Growth
Now that the agency has optimized human capital, the owners plan to expand their services to include order processing and lead response. They are confident that Workforce Management Suite will help them successfully accommodate this growth.
UPGRADE TODAY
CBIZ Time Solutions offers WorkforceHUB, the unified Human Resources portal that makes it easy to optimize the performance of your supervisors, employees, and organization.
WorkforceHUB includes TimeWorksPlus, TimeSimplicity, TimeWorks Mobile, and ApplicantStack. We’ve just added recruitment, onboarding, benefits enrollment, performance reviews, and employee engagement! WorkforceHUB is developed for busy employers like you who need to reduce cost-per-hire, streamline scheduling, automate time tracking, maintain regulatory compliance, and reduce labor costs.
How much can you save? Check our CBIZ Time Solutions ROI Calculator.
We can get you up and running with Workforce Management Suite in minutes. Contact us today to book a demo.
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