Schedualed Breaks

[HumanResource]

I am looking for some information from other call centers as to what type of break schedual and structer they use. The one we currently have is not ideal and it seems that people that smoke get more breaks than those that dont.

Our Agents currently work 37.5 hour day and get 30 min luch break and then are allowed 5-10 min breaks for restroom, smoking or just needing a break through out the day. Typicaly the Agent askes for the break and unfortunalty there are times of high call volume where we have to decline the break thus makeing tention and stress among the agents.

Its obvisouse this is not ideal and we would like to help our Agents with stress relief and burn out. Any information and suggestions that anyone has would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks for you time!

[beejay]

Break time has to be scheduled and is part of the capacity planning process. If you do not have scheduled breaks then you are negatively impacting your service level and your agents.

Typically in an 8 hour tour, there are 2 - 15 minutes breaks. One is roughly 2 hours after shift start and the other is approximately 2 hours after the scheduled lunch break. Historical call flows and your forecasted flow will dictate where you actually place them during the shift.

Additionally, no preference or additional time should be made for those who smoke. There's no good support for that decision and you are again negatively impacting some of your agents.

Hope that helps.

[omershah]

At our call center we do not allow smoking with in the office premises, as it is our company policy. We have a wall board installed in one corner of the call center and every takes ownership of the said wall board. The customer services representatives can have a view of the wall board and know if there are calls in qeue then they are allowed a cigratte break. But trying to control other short breaks can only decrease prductivity. An effective evalution system coupled with some sort of incentive would always motivate them to take ownership of the wall board and call load.

We have been very sucessful in actively involving our employees in our targets and goals, by adding incentives to our evaluation system.

[HumanResource]

Thank you both for taking the time to give me some input. Do you allow your agets to take their 2 15 min breaks at their own descrsion or do you initiate the break.

THanks again!

[beejay]

You're welcome!

The two 15 minute breaks are scheduled by team as is the lunch break. So the entire team goes at the same time. The lunch and break times are set by shift and are not optional.

hope that helps.....................

[Rebecca Oettinger]

Hello.

Our firm recently helped a client transition from agents who took breaks ad hoc to two regularly scheduled 15-minute breaks. Although laws vary by state, usually you only have to allow 30 consecutive minutes during a work day that extends up to 10 hours. However, most managers feel people need at least two other 10-15 minute breaks. Smokers should not be treated differently than non-smokers.

There are a few things you should be aware of when making a making a major transition such as this one:

-Schedule breaks for the times that best match your call volumes with a focus on spacing agentsÂ’ breaks and lunches at least 2 hours apart so people can better regulate bathroom, eating and smoking needs.
-Similar to being late to work or when returning from lunch, breaks will add another dimension to schedule adherence.
-When calls do not end exactly at the start of an agentÂ’s break there should be guidelines for when agents should leave. For example, if the call ends within 5 minutes of their scheduled break time they should just leave and return 15 minutes later. If it ends more than 5 minutes into their scheduled break time then the agent should email a supervisor the time they are leaving or contact someone directly depending on your preferred method of communication. Also be aware of people who stay in after call work or project mode unusually long prior to their scheduled break so they can leave on time.
-Agents should assume they are to go to break unless a supervisor specifically asks them to work through break due to high call volumes in which case they should be compensated.

Feel free to contact me if you have any follow-up questions.

Good luck,

Rebecca Oettinger, Consultant
Sibson Consulting, The Segal Company
p: 609.520.2779 f: 609.520.0369

[kathleen75]

In a call center enviroment, it is imperative to schedule lunch and breaks in order to meet required service levels. What if your staffing forecast called for 17 people to be on the phone and out of your 17 reps, 4 went out for smoke breaks? This would be extremely detrimental to your service levels and you may not be able to recover from it the rest of the day- especially if this happened frequenty during the course of the day. If you are forecasting your call volume, which I believe is intrical to #1 staffing a call center #2 acheiving set goals for a call center, then you can take a look at where there are lulls during the course of the day. It is during those times that you need less agents on the phones. In my call center, the heaviest volumes are from 10-11am and 3-4pm. We schedule only a few agent breaks during this time. Lunch time is slower, but we schedule lunches so that there are equal amount of people out during each hour. However, 1pm is busier than 12pm so we adjust for that- more people are scheduled for lunch at 12pm. Other words, is important to schedule based around your call volumes per half hour intervals. OUr call center reps have an 8 hour day, 1 hour lunch, 1 15 min break and 1 half hour break. We ask that break time also be used for "offtime" to take care of any outstanding items. If there lunch is late in the afternoon, they get 1/2 hour in the morning; if there lunch is early, they get 1/2 in the afternoon.

Hope this helps!