Improved Staff Satisfaction and Increased Productivity: Agent Scheduling with "Infothek Interactive Schedule"

Problem description

The workforce of 3,600 agents, working across 16 German service centres is, depending on the project, available 24/7 for customer requests. Traffic peaks between 6 am and 9:15 pm. The shift duration ranges between four and nine hours. To ensure the highest possible agent availability for customer requests, Vivento places great value on a flexible distribution of individual working hours. At the same time, the opportunity to choose one’s working hours flexibly is one of the main factors that contribute to a high level of employee satisfaction. Hence, the staff’s involvement in the process of staff scheduling is of great importance to Vivento.

Faced with the decision which workforce management (WFM) system to choose, Vivento picked the InVision Enterprise WFM solution because, apart from its many features for a requirement-driven multiple-site staff scheduling process, its Infothek Interactive Schedule module enables employees to become involved in what shifts they are placed on.

Project description

Infothek Interactive Schedule enables planners to take agents’ shift requests into account right from the start while scheduling in keeping with the current staff requirement. This is done as follows: After Vivento’s planners have completed a schedule of required shifts, agents enter their shift requests directly into the system by picking shifts out of a selection tailored to them and, optionally, specifying alternative shift requests. Those requests then play a significant role in how employees are placed on the shifts previously generated automatically by the system. During this process, InVision Enterprise WFM continuously checks the rules defined by Vivento and stored in the system, including legal regulations, contractual/tariff-related provisions and individual agreements made with individual sites or employees. This is to rule out the possibility of requests being entered that are inconsistent with contractual stipulations.
If for once an agent has been placed on a shift which does not agree with his or her current preferences, that agent can swap the shift with a colleague. Upon request by Vivento, the system was configured in such a way that exchange requests do not require the planner’s approval and are instead approved automatically, provided they meet all requirements. Given that InVision Enterprise WFM supports the planning of sites dispersed far and between, mapping virtual structures, various agents that work on a single project but in distant call centres can even exchange shifts between them.

Infothek Interactive Schedule is utilised at all 16 Vivento sites. Agents are invited to get involved at a very early stage of the scheduling process. In a first step, planners take into consideration the 20% of agents for which special agreements exist, such as single parents or employees who care for sick family members. The rest of the agents are scheduled around this group’s working hour preferences.
Individual shifts at Vivento start at intervals of five minutes. This is to provide employees with the greatest possible flexibility for their shift start; for example, to allow them to match their schedule to the timetable of public transport. Furthermore, the scheduling takes into consideration an eye-resting break of eight consecutive minutes per hour to minimise the strain that comes with working at the computer.
The weekly shift requirement schedules are made available four weeks in advance; during a period of one week, agents have the opportunity to indicate which shifts they would like to take. During the remaining three weeks, employees can view their resulting weekly schedule, all via the Infothek Interactive Schedule module. One day in advance, agents can see what actual activities or projects they are scheduled to work on during their shifts. It is possible that an agent is scheduled to work on two different projects during a single shift. A changeover from one project to another is, however, possible only once a day and takes place, for 95% of cases, directly after the lunch break.

Results

InVision’s system, which takes into account employees’ working hour preferences and guarantees them a maximum of flexibility, has been received very well at Vivento. The Infothek Interactive Schedule module is used regularly by the agents for the automated paperless submission of shift requests and exchange requests, as well as for information regarding the schedules and upcoming activity or project changeovers. The works council also meets the solution’s introduction with a high degree of acceptance because the increase in flexibility of working hours has not only improved productivity from the perspective of management but also provides employees with more freedom in balancing their work and spare time arrangements.

The rate of fulfilled shift requests ranges without exception from 87% to 90% – for employees with the special agreements mentioned above it is even 100% -- without the coverage of requirement or the service level being in any way compromised. The involvement of agents in the scheduling process has been proven to have increased their motivation. The staff’s level of satisfaction with their working hours and their workload ensures a good working climate, which in turn increased individual productivity. It also has a positive impact on the quality and the friendliness of the customer service.

Last not least these results have helped to minimise staff fluctuation. It dropped to less than 3% this year, down from 10% in the year 2004, when the company was founded.