Increased productivity and cost-efficiency with customer-oriented workforce management

Problem description

PCC initially reacted to the increased demand for insurance products and the related increase in call volume (a 30 percent increase in calls within the previous year) by creating new jobs in the call centres. As a result, more than 90 agents are now employed in Hilden to process the increasing number of calls at the best possible level of service – between 8 am and 8 pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 9 am till 2 pm. Up to the end of 2002, staff planning was organised using Microsoft Excel. “However, with this kind of planning, the actual number and allocation of calls were not considered at all. This soon had a negative effect on our centre‘s efficiency. On the one hand, agents were quickly overloaded with work, for example when a new insurance product came onto the market. On the other hand, idle times were increasing. Our agents were simply not productive when no orders came in“, explains Ingo Czerwonka, Managing Director of PCC. “We needed a solution that could counter exactly these problems while integrating our agents as far as possible in the planning process.” With the declared goals of increasing planning reliability, improving productivity of the service centres and thus reducing the costs caused by bad planning and inefficiency to a minimum, PCC initiated a project for demand-oriented workforce management.

Project description

After a four-month selection phase, in which the solutions of six companies were evaluated, PCC decided to entrust its workforce management to the Staff Planning System (SPS) supplied by the German software company, InVision, based in Ratingen near Düsseldorf. “We were looking for a system that would help us to achieve our corporate goals. Their extensive experience in the call centre branch as well as the system’s innovative technology were the main reasons for choosing InVision”, says PCC’s management. “InVision’s SPS meets all our requirements for demand-oriented staff planning and the Infothek gives our agents the freedom to determine their own shifts - within certain parameters”. After a five-month test phase that incorporated training for the administrators, the workforce management system was implemented in the Hilden service centre in October 2003.

Integration of employee preferences

With the help of InVision’s Staff Planning System, two capacity planners (1.5 FTE (full time equivalents)) co-ordinate the shifts of around 90 agents in the service centre in Hilden. 60 percent of the employees work full-time with maximum 8-hour shifts, 40 percent work part-time in variable shifts of four, five or six hours. Martino Mangione, shift planner in the service centre, explains the demands put upon the system by the employees: “Most of our agents agree with the principle of choosing their shifts. However, they would much prefer to work the morning shifts. But because particularly in the evenings, after many people arrive home from work, we have an increased call volume, we set the parameters in the system so that every agent must work at least one shift per week ending at 8 pm and one beginning at 9.30 am. Additionally, every agent must work one Saturday per month. That way, the workload is shared fairly amongst the staff, meaning that no-one is disadvantaged.”

Before agents can choose their shifts, the planners use the SPS software to determine the expected call volume for the planning period. They do so by importing historical data from the Avaya ACD into the Staff Planning System. The system converts this information into employees or shifts required. The required shifts are planned and made available to the agents, who can then choose their preferred working times using the SPS module “Infothek”, which is a kind of interactive self-service schedule. Employee preferences can thus be fulfilled in approximately 80 percent of all cases, leading to a high level of employee satisfaction as far as shift allocation is concerned.

Currently, two working weeks are planned at PCC with two weeks’ notice. In future, this notice period is to be extended to three weeks, in order to improve the planning reliability for the whole company. In addition, agents will be in a better position to plan. However, the possibilities of the workforce management system are not nearly being exhausted at PCC. “Soon, we also want to include the qualifications of our employees in the planning process”, explains PCC shift planner Jörg Lutermann. “That way, we can better spread the knowledge we have and therefore improve the service we offer.”

Results

Quality of service and cost-efficiency increased

On average, between 2,500 and 3,000 calls per day are placed to ProACTIV’s service centre in Hilden. Through the implementation of the Staff Planning System, it has become possible to conclude the majority of these calls successfully. “Even in the evenings, there are always three or four agents present. We hardly have any customers waiting on hold. More than 80 percent of all calls are answered within the agreed service levels”, Managing Director Ingo Czerwonka describes the first success since the implementation of the software. By orienting the allocation of agents on the forecasted demand, the shift planners in the service centre can react quickly and exactly to the fluctuations in the actual workload.“In the past, we often had problems due to staff shortages on some shifts. Now we mostly have an optimum staff allocation. Apart from that, idle times and overworked agents are now a thing of the past”, says Ingo Czerwonka. Working processes have become more efficient, considerably reducing friction. Idle times and the related costs have also been dramatically reduced. “With the help of InVision’s Staff Planning System, we have been able to increase the efficiency of our workforce by three to seven percent”, explains Ingo Czerwonka. “This demand-oriented staff allocation has considerably increased the productivity of our service centre and we are very well-equipped for the future. We will be able to match more calls with more service.”