Call Center Staffing: Importance, Challenges & Best Practices

Call center staffing is the foundation for a smoothly operating call center.

A customer’s perception of a company is influenced by call center interactions, making the call centers a critical touchpoint when it comes to your brand’s reputation.

Skilled agents navigate a constant stream of inquiries, complaints, and requests and effectively handle these interactions.

In this blog, we will delve into why call center staffing is vital, examine the key factors that affect staffing needs, and explore best practices to help you optimize your workforce.

Table of Contents:

1. What is Call Center Staffing and How to Calculate It?
2. Why is Call Center Staffing Important?
3. Challenges of Call Center Staffing
4. Best Practices for Effective Call Center Staffing

What is Call Center Staffing and How to Calculate It?

Call center staffing is the process of planning, procuring, and managing the human resources required to effectively handle customer interactions via the phone (and sometimes additional channels such as email or chat).

With the right call center staff, you have the right personnel, with the right capabilities, and at the right times to provide a great customer experience service.

Proper staffing ensures smooth operation, shortens hold times, and reduces customer turnover.

How to Calculate Call Center Staffing?

Calculating call center staffing can be complex, but it boils down to finding the right balance between factors like call volume, agent productivity, and your desired level of customer service.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while calculating staffing:

• Call Volume: Using historical data and seasonal trends, determine the average number of calls your center receives per hour, day, or week.
• Average Handling Time (AHT): This is the amount of time an agent spends on a call, including the conversation and post-call tasks.
• Service Level: This is the percentage of calls you want to answer within a specific timeframe (for example, 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds).
• Agent Shrinkage: This category includes factors that take agents away from handling calls, such as breaks, training, and meetings.

You can calculate call center staffing using the Erlang C Formula:

This mathematical formula considers call volume, average handling time (AHT), and desired service level to calculate the number of agents needed.

Spreadsheets or online Erlang calculators can help simplify the process of calculating call center staffing using this formula.

• Pw = probability of a delay when the customer waits to connect with a support agent, P > 0
• A = total traffic (traffic intensity) of the call center in Erlangs
• N = number of available call center resources/agents

Why is Call Center Staffing Important?

Here are some essential factors that emphasize the need for staffing:

1. Ensures customer satisfaction by providing efficient service

When call centers are sufficiently staffed, wait times are reduced, and customers can promptly reach an agent to resolve their issues.

This increases customer satisfaction, improves customer retention, and offers favorable word-of-mouth referrals.

In contrast, understaffed call centers frequently endure long wait times, dissatisfied consumers, and poor service quality, which can harm your brand.

2. Maximizes operational efficiency by scheduling right staff at the right time

Call centers can better handle incoming calls by scheduling the proper number of agents at the correct time.

This efficiency leads to better resource utilization and cost savings. The call center can handle more calls without overburdening its agents or incurring unnecessary overtime charges.

3. Increases employee morale by giving them a favorable work environment

A well-staffed call center leads to a favorable work atmosphere for agents. When staffing levels are optimal, agents are less prone to burnout due to excessive workloads.

Balanced workloads and well-planned timetables improve employee morale, reduce stress, and increase job satisfaction.

Challenges of Call Center Staffing

1. Inaccurate forecasts

Uncertainties in call volume can lead to agents being understaffed or overstaffed, resulting in inefficient service delivery.

This problem is especially prominent during high seasons or unexpected events like power outages or natural catastrophes.

2. Maintaining agent motivation

A demotivated workforce leads to poor customer service. It becomes difficult to retain skilled agents if the work environment is stressful, repetitive, or lacks growth opportunities.

Best Practices for Effective Call Center Staffing

1. Predict the call rush

Detect call patterns by analyzing historical call data, which can provide insight into peak hours and seasonal swings.

Advanced forecasting tools and software improve this process. It can be done by employing predictive analytics to produce more accurate estimates.

Regularly monitoring these estimates provides changes in call numbers caused by factors like marketing campaigns, product launches, or other external causes.

2. Build agent skills

Cover all relevant agent skills and information during the initial training sessions.

Ongoing call center training and development opportunities also inform seasoned agents about new goods, services, and customer service practices, promoting continual improvement.

Cross-training lets agents handle different types of calls, which improves their flexibility. It also aids in the management of unanticipated spikes in call volume.

3. Monitor agent performance and provide regular feedback

Regularly evaluating agents through call reviews, self-assessments, and real-time monitoring provides valuable insights. By offering constructive feedback, coaching, and celebrating successes, you empower agents to excel.

This focuses on development and not fault-finding.

4. Leverage smart tools for smarter customer service

Workforce management (WFM) systems optimize scheduling, forecasting, and real-time modifications to ensure the appropriate number of agents is available when required.

Automated call distribution (ACD) systems direct calls to the most relevant agents based on their abilities and availability, increasing call handling efficiency.

Self-service options such as interactive voice response (IVR) devices and online FAQs can help operators handle fewer regular calls and focus on more complex conversations.

To sum it Up

Call center staffing is essential for a successful customer service business.

By strategically staffing your center with the appropriate number of agents with the relevant abilities, you can assure rapid response to customer inquiries, efficient call handling, and a great overall experience.

Understanding the factors determining staffing requirements, applying effective calculation methods, and following best practices are critical for developing a high-performance call center team.

Investing in your call center workers enables them to provide excellent service, promoting customer pleasure and loyalty, which are essential for any successful organization.