We are facing a challange of handling high call flow for 7 to 8 intervals both in morning and evening between 10:30 to 2:00 pm and in evening 6:30 or 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm.

We have a staff of 167 agents for handling inbound calls, with maximum of 130 agents rostered for a day, we are facing issues of high absenteesim with many agents falling ill, atrrition of 1 agent per day, going absconding.

We have factored shrinkage at 15% for the process, with a capability of agent handling close to 6 calls per half hourly interval.we work on 6 day schedule

We have tried scheduling few agents for doing split shifts,however not everyone is able to do these shifts, as many agents come from distant places to office, making it not feasible for them to stay back in the office.

We also have a challange of high AHT of new hire agents on learning curve

Kindly suggest what can be done in such scenario, as we have an AHT target of 330 seconds.

Attrition of 1 agent per day? Wow. That's the bulk of your current problem, but there has to be a root cause driving that type of loss. Maybe an increase in salary, or a change in management is in order?

As for you busy intervals, 10:30 to 2:00 is what we commonly refer to as "core hours." If you're getting hammered during core hours, you're simply understaffed. Sure, AHT is a factor with newhires, but should not account for an overall negative impact. To help the newhire along, have a seasoned agent floorwalk to assist with questions/concerns the newhires might have. Also, work on ACW/Wrap up times to help reduce AHT.

As for the evening 6:30 or 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm intervals, it sounds as if your staffing is once again to blame. Those are odd intervals to be busy during, in the U.S. anyways.

I'd suggest making sure you have a strong amount of staff loggin on at 10:30 AM, and again at 2:30 PM.

Hi Joshi,

I think for someone to help you, you need to give more details... however my assumption is that mostly Indian centers tend to have only full time agents and limited no of shifts hence creating overlapped periods where it is not actually required. I understand its hard to play with schedules units which has 8/9 continous hrs and limited no of shifts to fit them in.

As you have mentioned that there are high call flow for 7/8 interval in the morning and in the evening as well (roughtly about 16 intervals in a day and 6 days of work days in a week)the chances are that agents gets burned out and the direct impact is on AHT and Absentism.

you need to relook on your staffing and scheduling strategy and more importantly see whether you have enough staff to handle the volume delivered or you are fighting mountains with a handfull of ants.

Thanks
Meghanath

what are the current shift patterns that you follow in uer call center