White Papers

• Measuring Productivity in the Inbound Contact Center

  Measuring productivity in the call center is relatively simple: cost per call (delivered at an acceptable service level and meeting certain quality criteria – which could include FCO, accuracy of information provided, and so on). Taking this measure from the macro (department) to the micro (agent) level represents a real challenge. The accepted wisdom is that measuring agent productivity in terms of calls processed is not possible. Because agents have no control over the supply of calls they cannot be held responsible for meeting specific calls processed targets. Instead, agent performance goals revolve around measuring relative, rather than absolute, performance: Average Handle Time and Adherence. Neither measure is really satisfactory: an agent may have the lowest AHT in the department, but may take far fewer calls than other agents who have a higher AHT. It is possible for an agent to have very high adherence while spending relatively little time available to take calls because of excused absence, off the phone time (special projects, coaching, performance feedback) and so on. In many call centers these exceptions are adjusted in the adherence calculations, so that gross and net adherence may be quite far apart. Which proves that agents do have some control over minimizing the number of calls they take, and in fact can become quite adept in manipulating the system. So there is clearly a behavioral component that determines true agent productivity! [Click to read more]