Industries with high staff turnover, such as call centres, are paying a high price for ignoring the benefits of flexible working, explains Julian Harper, vice-president, international, at workforce-optimisation specialist Blue Pumpkin
Software Source, 22 Jul 2002
Staff churn, absenteeism and workplace stress cost British businesses £370 million each year, according to research for the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Work-Life Balance Campaign.
In some of the worst areas, such as contact centres, managers are forced to grapple with 10 per cent or more "unplanned" absences every daily. Missing staff are a fact of life.
Yet much of the problem can be easily resolved. In common with most other workers, call-centre staff need a work-life balance if they are to be happy, motivated and effective employees – the kind of employees who turn up to work, day in, day out. The secret to achieving this lies in a mix of the latest technology and sensible management.
HR software
Workforce optimisation software can make it easier for managers to treat staff as individuals, create individual goals and plan shift patterns accordingly. It allows managers to schedule and allocate staff by skill against the level of calls, taking into consideration seasonal variations as well as personal shift preferences.
Thomas Cook for example, reduced staff turnover by introducing Blue Pumpkin’s Web-Enabled Self-Service (Wess) module, which allows agents to manage their own schedules through a self-service Web-browser interface. Empowering agents in this way improved morale and satisfaction at work.
Despite its effectiveness, such software cannot be used in isolation. At Blue Pumpkin we have developed a simple, four-step process to help manage absenteeism in contact centres.
1. Produce a progressive absenteeism policy
To create an effective absenteeism policy, supervisors must accept each employee’s contribution as an important link in the customer value chain. The policy must reflect the importance of employee contributions and must give fair consideration to both business needs and employee desires.
Employees must understand the impact of absenteeism and how their absence contributes to or detracts from the achievement of business goals. They must be held accountable for their contribution to goals and visibly rewarded for the depth of their contribution.
Through an understanding of value, ownership and accountability, managers and employees can then work towards common goals and success.
2. Provide conducive working conditions
Conducive working conditions go significantly beyond the "proper lighting, desk position and lumbar support" paradigm.
Research shows that shift workers desire more quality time off to accomplish mid-week tasks such as doctor’s appointments, car repairs. Employers need to create an appropriate balance between work hours and "quality" time off. Offering employees variable schedules with such time off reduces the employees’ need for absenteeism.
3. Create a clear understanding of performance against goals
"If it’s not measured, it won’t happen," is an adage that can be applied to controlling absenteeism. Understanding the results of action and ensuring progress toward goals requires consistent measurement and communication of performance.
Managers must clearly communicate absenteeism standards to every individual in the organisation. Then set reasonable and achievable goals and expectations that are tightly linked to business goals and objectives.
Single Most Desired Work Improvement 4. Ensure employee ownership of results
With a progressive absenteeism policy in place, a conducive work environment, and the ability to measure and communicate performance against goals, the remaining hurdle relies on individual action to achieve goals and objectives.
Managers and employees must be given the means to take action that will help them meet goals. Any proactive use of the tools must result in positive reinforcement for the individual involved.
Processes should encourage quick and decisive action. Technology must facilitate action, then measure and communicate results. People must be rewarded for consistent progress toward the goal
Meeting the challenge
To meet this challenge and achieve success requires a structured approach, incorporating people, process and available technology. Creating a system to minimise absenteeism will ensure that there will be enough people on the front line to satisfy customer requests and achieve growth objectives.
Measured response By dramatically reducing the time and money spent on managing human capital, the latest HR software systems are freeing up more time for strategic thinking
