Why You Need to Constantly Monitor and Improve Schedule Efficiency

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Schedule efficiency plays a crucial role in the smooth running of a contact centre.

When staffing levels don’t align with demand, it can lead to longer wait times, higher costs, and increased agent stress.

To find out more, we asked Richard Saqladi, Regional Sales Director at InVision Group (peopleware – formerly injixo), to explain why it’s essential to continuously monitor and refine your approach.

Video: Constantly Monitor and Improve Your Schedule Efficiency

Watch the video below to hear Richard explain why you need to constantly monitor and improve your schedule efficiency:

With thanks to Richard Saqladi, Regional Sales Director at InVision Group (peopleware (formerly injixo)), for contributing to this video.

This video was originally published in our article ‘Is Your Scheduling in Need of an Overhaul? Try These 8 Top Tips’

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What Schedule Efficiency Means

Schedule efficiency measures how closely your staffing levels match the actual number of agents needed to handle contact volume, as Richard explains:

“Schedule efficiency measures how accurately, and consistently, the number of scheduled employees matches the required staffing.”

Even small mismatches – whether over- or under-scheduling – can have a significant impact on operations and morale.

Why It Should Be a Priority

Poor schedule efficiency can result in three common challenges:

A subpar customer experience due to long response times
Burnt-out agents dealing with unpredictable workloads
Wasted resources from overstaffing during quiet periods

Striving for better alignment helps avoid these issues and improves overall performance.

“Bad schedule efficiency indicates poor customer experience, agent burnout, excessive cost, or all three.”

How to Track and Use the Metric

To manage this effectively, monitor the variance between scheduled and required staffing levels throughout the day, ideally in 15- or 30-minute intervals.

Collect and summarize this data weekly or monthly to spot patterns and identify where your forecasts or scheduling may need adjustment.

“You should measure the discrepancies between the scheduled and required figures, at maybe 15 -or 30-minute intervals, and summarize them on a weekly or monthly basis. This approach, and this metric, is possibly one of the most important in the planning process.”

Realistic Expectations and Continuous Improvement

You’re unlikely to ever reach perfect schedule efficiency, as 100% is not a practical goal. However, the key is to use the data to make gradual improvements, as Richard continues:

“In reality, you’ll never reach 100%, but it’s vital to measure this KPI and constantly strive to improve it.”

Small, regular adjustments to shift planning and forecasting can add up to better alignment and more consistent service levels over time.

If you are looking for more great insights from the experts, check out these next:

Author
Robyn Coppell

Robyn Coppell has worked as Digital Content Manager for Call Center Helper since 2021. After University her first job was in a contact centre and has stayed in this space ever since.

She has experience of contact centre operational management, software systems, css and php coding. She edits a lot of the guest content that is published on Call Centre Helper.

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