Agent Utilization

[clalonde]

I'm trying to find the most accurate and effective way to calculate agent utilization for an inbound call center? Do I use calls offered or calls handled in figuring this out? Is there a standard formula across the industry or does it vary?

Any insight would be appreciated....

[Charlesw1974]

Agent utilization, or occupancy is the amount of time agents handle calls Vs. waiting for calls, so you'd want to use calls handled, not offered.

The standard formula for occupancy is Workload (AHT X # of calls) divided by staffed time.

For example:

If an agent is staffed for 7.5 hours and handles 50 calls with a 5 minute average handle time each, the formula would look like this-
Wrkld/Stffd Min = Utilization

5 X 50/450 = 55%

I hope that helps.

Charles

[BobArmi]

Hi

The formular you are using is good. The only thing I like to do is subtract the productive idles from the staffing time.

AHT X # calls handled / sign on- PIT

Otherwise the agent will be being punished for productive off linr time.

[Charlesw1974]

Hey there,

That's a good point. The formula you use could vary based on what you are looking for. I usually use it to determine how well utilized the agents are for phone time to determine whether agents are being over-utilized at one time of the day, and under-utilized at another. This could be a sign that some staff reallocation needs to be done.

Your formula is good if you want to show how well the agent is utilized for phone and off phone work. Depending on the environment, that could be a better number to look at.

-Charles

[beejay]

Nothing like a lively discussion..............

Utilization and occupancy are different concepts and not interchangeable. Occupancy is a look at a center from a different perspective than utilization and seeks to some degree to measure the return on capital investment.

You also have to be careful in subtracting "off-line" time. If you are looking at productivity measurements, you could place this measure at odds with schedule adherence in the minds of the agents. It really depends whether "off-line" time is encouraged, permitted and if there is a percentage limit on the ACW time allowed.

I favor your first formula without the off-line reduction, but all this shows that no one metric should be used in determining the agent/team/center success. You need to uitlize many metrics in concert with one another.

[BobArmi]

I absolutely agree, no one stat can give an absolute review of what is happening in a CC. Utilisation is also a different animal than productivity. From the viewpoint of a supervisor I want to know how my team is doing in comparison with the set standard.

When I take subtract offline time I am looking at productive times. Coffee breaks, and Co. doesnÂ’t fall in to this category, such things as up training, feedback, and coaching do. Leaving in the unproductive time and making this visible to the agent as to how it affects his performance (bonus !?) can be a go motivational tool.

Each call center varies as to what the primary goals are. One will have service level way up there, where as another will just be happy having a good OHR. It all depends on what kind of company it is, what management what to achieve and what kind of market you are serving.