What is Call Center Shrinkage?

Call center shrinkage is the gap between the number of agents scheduled to work and those who are actually available to handle customer interactions. It comes from internal factors like breaks, training, and administrative tasks, or external factors such as sick leave or holidays. When shrinkage is high, it can lead to longer hold times, increased agent stress, and a decline in service quality. Over time, if not managed effectively, high shrinkage can tarnish a company’s reputation and erode customer trust.

Internal Causes for Shrinkage

Some shrinkage is caused by scheduling conflicts that your management and supervisory team can mitigate. These are known as “Internal Factors,” and they include:

• Breaks and Lunches: Regular breaks are vital for agents’ well-being, but they temporarily reduce the number of staff available to take calls. If too many agents take breaks at once, this can lead to increased customer wait times.
• Training Sessions: Ongoing training is essential for keeping agents up-to-date with processes and technology. However, pulling agents away from their primary duties for training can impact the number of available agents.
• Meetings: While meetings are important for performance improvement, they also take agents away from their desks. This can create bottlenecks, particularly during peak hours.
• Administrative Tasks: Tasks like updating records and responding to emails take time away from customers, leading to fewer calls being handled.
• System Downtime: Even the best call centers experience technical issues or system downtime, preventing agents from accessing the tools they need to assist customers.

External Causes for Shrinkage

Other types of breakage are harder to control. Irregular or unexpected agent absences must be factored into your call center coverage schedule, but are unavoidable. These external factors include:

• Vacation and Holidays: During peak vacation seasons, many agents may be off-duty, leaving the call center understaffed. This can lead to longer wait times for customers.
• Sick Leave: Unplanned absences due to illness can significantly impact staffing levels at critical moments, putting additional strain on remaining agents.
• Personal Time Off: While necessary, personal leave for family emergencies or other important matters can disrupt service levels, especially during busy periods.

Calculating Call Center Shrinkage

Calculating shrinkage is essential for effective workforce management. The formula is simple:

By applying this formula, you can gauge how much of your scheduled workforce is actively engaging with customers. A lower shrinkage percentage indicates better utilization of your agents.

Let’s say 50 agents who work 9 hours a day. On average, their breaks, meetings, discussions, etc. account for 2.5 hours of shrinkage daily. The call center shrinkage calculation formula can be applied as follows:

• Total hours shrinkage = 2.5 × 50 = 125 hours
• Total scheduled hours = 9 × 50 = 450 hours
• Call center shrinkages = 125 / 450 x 100 = 27.78% shrinkage

Strategies to Reduce Shrinkage

Managing shrinkage requires a proactive approach. Here are some effective strategies:

• Leverage Workforce Management Software: These tools can optimize scheduling, ensuring that you have the right number of agents available at peak times. Real-time adherence monitoring allows managers to track agents’ activities against their schedules.
• Streamline Training and Admin Tasks: Schedule training during low-demand times and automate routine administrative work to free up agents for customer interactions.
• Reduce Call Volume: Intelligent call routing and self-service options can decrease agent workload, allowing them to focus on more complex issues.
• Invest in Employee Satisfaction: Implement health and wellness programs and offer flexible work schedules to keep agents engaged and reduce absenteeism.
• Utilize AI: AI tools can automate routine tasks and help manage customer inquiries, reducing the pressure on human agents and allowing for better workforce allocation.

Shrinkage vs. Agent Utilization?

It’s important to differentiate between shrinkage and agent utilization. While shrinkage measures the portion of scheduled time agents are unavailable to take calls, agent utilization assesses how effectively agents use their available time. For instance, if an agent is available for six hours but only spends four hours actively on calls, there’s a gap in productive time that needs to be addressed.

Understanding and managing call center shrinkage is essential for ensuring operational efficiency and maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. Identifying the causes of shrinkage can help you minimize its impact, leading to a better experience for agents and customers. Staying proactive and engaged in workforce management can make all the difference in navigating the challenges of shrinkage in the call center environment.

Still Have Questions?

Follow the practices above to improve client engagement and watch satisfaction rates soar! And check out our other articles for more advice on specific industries and use cases.