Best in Class Sup to Rep Ratios

[RonBaughman]

Is there such a thing? Or is it really determined by program?

[deadriaw]

Can you offer more information on your line of business? The type of calls handled?

[RonBaughman]

Outbound Customer Service Surveys
Oubound Sales B2B
Outbound Sales B2C

[Michcall]

I've done much research on best in class data for call centers, and I can say that there is as much variety in the data as there are people who publish it.

That said, 1:12 is the most common ratio for best in class, but it truly depends on the definition of supervisor in your environment. If a supervisor spends 90% of their time on people (walking the floor, coaching, monitoring, etc.) then that ratio can be stretched up to 15 or 16 and still be effective.

If your supervisors are pulled into other non-people areas (financials, client care, training, paperwork, program mgmt, etc.) then that higher ratio will result in burned out sups and agents who feel their sup doesn't pay attention to them.

In sales arenas, I typically see a lower ratio with the view that the supervisors should be helping their agents generate more revenue through closer coaching.

[ccenterpro]

I agree with Michcall about ratios needing to be flexible enough to fit the business. The more complicated the call type, the lower the ratio. The more routine and simple, say short customer service calls, the higher it can be. I've had success in that area with 20:1, but the supervisors had no other responsibility such as budget, etc., and were actually titled and paid as Managers.

A methodology that I used at Apple Computer for technical support included not only 12:1, but also the addition of a formalized Coach position into each team. That person, while not an exempt or supervisory position, serves as SME and best practice mentor developing individual skills at the representative level 70%, and performs the rep job 30% to keep skills sharp.

It's highly effective and I've seen it used in other environments as well with great success. It takes some of the floor support burden off the supervisor, but should never take the place of supervisors knowing their reps well and also monitoring and coaching their skills to improvement. It is supplemental, not substitute.

Another best practice that I've used is putting your Supervisors on remote headsets so that they can be easily contacted no matter where they are in the center without delay and without the "arms in the air" syndrome that annoys customers and reps alike. Your ACD should be able to support functionality that allows alternative supervisor contact when an individual's assigned supervisor is not available (off, at lunch, or in a meeting).

Remember to always balance the cost of your ratio with the cost to your business in terms of customer satisfaction and representative productivity and turnover and you won't go wrong.

[OPsMan]

We have great success with a 1:20 ratio in our contact center that handles approximately 280,000 calls a month. We handle customer care calls. We started with a 1:15 ratio, but soon determined the coset saving of increasing the ratios. Though we increased the ratios, agent performance improved enterprise wide.

I hope this helped.