Adherence is one of the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of the customer-service industry, making it essential for contact centre managers to understand that decisions about adherence have an impact on forecasted need and attrition, team-leader administration and agent stress levels.
Not making strategic decisions about adherence – or not making the right ones – often leads to sub-optimisation and agent discomfort. The areas addressed/recommended here are the following:
- What to think about when deciding on objectives for adherence
- What to think about when deciding on objectives for adherence
- Avoiding unnecessary administration and sub–optimisation related to adherence
- When coaching employees, use adherence to increase the service level
- Making adherence a joint concern among resource planners, team leaders and agents
When calculating the desired service level, two key metrics must be considered: shrinkage and occupancy. Shrinkage refers to the scheduled time when agents are not available to interact with customers. Occupancy, on the other hand, refers to the amount of time agents spend actively handling customer interactions relative to their total available time.
For example, if you lower adherence from 95% to 85%, it may require adding more full-time equivalents (FTEs) to maintain service levels for that time period. If adherence targets are not met, it can lead to understaffing, resulting in higher occupancy rates. This can cause agents to feel overburdened, potentially leading to burnout, absenteeism, and higher turnover rates.
Beyond efficiency and cost considerations, it’s important to set realistic targets for occupancy and adherence. These should be strategic decisions because they directly influence agent stress levels, which can, in turn, affect overall business performance.
Occupancy and adherence
To calculate occupancy and adherence, you’ll need to consider the different components of scheduled work time.
There is no one-size-fits-all rule for the ideal occupancy level – it depends on the specific context of your operation. For example, in a sales-driven environment where agents are incentivised by commissions, they may be highly motivated to respond to as many interactions as possible. In this case, high occupancy (i.e. minimal wait time) would be desired. Conversely, agents could feel stressed with too low an occupancy rate, where they are left waiting for calls.
In a contact centre where nurses handle medical emergencies, a high level of adherence may be ideal, but too high an occupancy rate could lead to strain. For these roles, you’d need to plan for a level of occupancy that allows for adequate breaks and ensures staff are not overburdened.
If you’re using an automated workforce-management system, you might notice that adherence for some agents is lower than the scheduled target. Rather than immediately blaming the agents or adjusting the schedule to make adherence look better, it’s important to recognise that low adherence can signal underlying issues. Instead of making reactive changes, use this insight to identify areas for improvement and develop more constructive solutions.
Tackling where it matters
Perhaps a closer look should be taken at your policies and processes. Targets may not be realistic. Are resource planners who schedule vacations, activities, etc., leaving enough idle time? Do team leaders, in coaching agents, keep them motivated and aligned with adherence targets? Do they actually help and enable them to adhere? These two entities – planning and operations – must cooperate as a team, working together toward achieving the same goals
Furthermore, do not use adherence for its own sake. Instead, use accurate forecasting and intraday management tools. They are not to be underestimated. Intraday management takes into account the short-term perspective: a schedule is, after all, flexible but changes need to be made before the fact, not after.
Final word of advice – involve your agents!
Often, agents are not actively involved in problem-solving, despite being those closest to the day-to-day operations and often having the best insights. By fostering transparency and sharing adherence data as part of self-assessments and coaching, you create an environment of collaboration. This approach encourages agents to take ownership of their role in improving efficiency.
For example, sharing an actual service-level chart can help agents understand the impact of adherence on overall performance. When agents are included in the problem-solving process, they feel more empowered and motivated. I’ve seen firsthand how this can lead to positive outcomes, as agents take proactive steps and suggest solutions, such as “We can fix that,” or “Let’s better manage lunch breaks,” ultimately leading to a win-win scenario for everyone involved.