Variable Schedules

I'm curious how other centers schedule agents, specifically variable scheduling. In our center we are currently doing what we consider variable scheduling. We schedule variable start times week to week, and different days of the week, within limits. The same is done for breaks and lunches. Please share how you use or don't use variable schedules in your centers.

[dpzim]

We do not use them. We have set schedules. It can become an administrative nightmare. Fortunately our call volume is pretty steady and predictable for the most part.

In previous ventures we did use variable schedules. We did it quarterly though.This was only because our business changed with the seasons.

What I did was when we hired people they where hired with the
understanding that they would be changed quarterly. We would have them fill out an availabilty form, earliest start time, latest time, days off needed,etc and we would try to accomodate them
as much as possible. They would have to agree to this availability form for 1 year, unless something extreme occured and they needed to change it.

[tose]

Working with fixed shedules has some disadvantages:
- some shifts will be more popular then others, everyone wants to have the early shift with the short break at noon to be home early at night
- whenever someone is absent or in training, there would not be enough capacity available.

So we use variable schedules. Required capacity is rather constant, so every friday the secretary makes a schedule where all operators are assigned a shift for each day of the next week. Some part-time people have a fixed schedule, because we have more calls in the morning (inbound).

Right now all scheduling is done manually in a centralized Excel sheet. However, this does take lot of time and energy from the planner, and mistakes/inconsistencies do appear, so I feel this is not a perfecct system. I'm thinking of a simple database-based scheduling tool to automate the scheduling based on absence requests and other sources.

[chrispros]

We use variable scheduling on a bi-weekly basis. With our call volume being driven by a multitude of issues, we can target our occupancy more effectively. For our agents, preferences are taken and conformed to as close as possible and we have a very open shift swap policy. For the most part there is little breakage.

[Rachana]

Hi,
We also follows Variable schedule every week so all the people do coming at different time. We have shift swap available for all who might be interested. also it will help in improving occupancy.
We also have breaks starting at different time because canteen is available for 24 hours so any body can have break at any time.