AGENDA

• WHY PLAN FOR ATTRITION

• TYPES OF ATTRITION

• HOW TO CALCULATE IT

• HOW TO PLAN FOR IT

• WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?

WHY PLAN FOR ATTRITION?

5 employees leave or get

promoted

Mar

Class approved

and ads go out

Apr

Hiring, testing,

background checks

MayEmployees in trainingJun/Jul

Agents hit the floorAug

• SEATING AN AGENT CAN TAKE 3-6 MONTHS

• ATTRITION IS PREDICTABLE IN LARGER GROUPS (MORE THAN 100) OR HIGH ATTRITION ENVIRONMENTS

• PLANNING TRAINING IS COMPLICATED

• NEW HIRES ADD ALL SORTS OF ISSUES

• HIGHER ATTRITION

• HIGHER AHT

• ERRORS AND POOR QM SCORES

• TRAINING MAY CAUSE YOU TO BE “AT BUDGET” BUT “UNDER SERVICE LEVEL”

2 TYPES OF ATTRITION

GOOD ATTRITION

• HR APPROVED SO THEY TYPICALLY DON’T WANT TO

COUNT IT

• MOVEMENT WITHIN THE CENTER

• PROMOTIONS OR MOVING UP IN THE COMPANY

• TRAINING ATTRITION

• OFTEN LAYOFFS ARE CONSIDERED GOOD ATTRITION

BAD ATTRITION

• “I QUIT”

• “YOU’RE FIRED”

• NO CALL/NO SHOWS

• DISABILITY TERMINATIONS

• RETIREMENTS

WHAT DOES WFM COUNT?• WE NEED TO REPLACE EVERY PERSON WHO LEAVES SO WE COUNT IT ALL

• FLOOR ATTRITION- GOOD AND BAD ATTRITION MATTER

• NEW HIRE ATTRITION- TELLS US HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL GRADUATE

• IF YOUR HR TEAM ONLY COUNTS BAD ATTRITION…

• THAT’S OK, LET THEM COUNT IT THAT WAY. THEY ARE TYPICALLY BENCHMARKING YOU AGAINST THE REST OF THE

COMPANY

• BUT…WE NEED BOTH SO JUST CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE:

• FLOOR TERMINATIONS

• CALL CENTER TERMS

• MAKE SURE TO REPORT BOTH

CALCULATING ATTRITION

• THE HR STANDARD IS:

TERMINATED EMPLOYEES

AVERAGE HEADCOUNT FOR THE PERIOD

• TERMINATED EMPLOYEES-ANYONE WHO LEAVES, GOOD OR BAD

• AVERAGE HEADCOUNT-STARTING HEADCOUNT PLUS ENDING HEADCOUNT DIVIDED BY 2

• PERIOD-TYPICALLY A MONTH BUT CAN BE ANY LENGTH OF TIME

SOME EXAMPLES• CENTER HAS 100 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 3 THIS WEEK.

• 3/((100+97)/2) = 3.05% ATTRITION THIS WEEK

• CENTER HAS 37 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 2 THIS MONTH.

• 2/((37+35)/2) = 5.56% ATTRITION THIS MONTH

• CENTER HAS 200 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 6 THIS YEAR.

• (6/((200+194)/2) = 3.05% ATTRITION THIS YEAR

ANNUALIZED ATTRITION

• SOLVES THE PROBLEM OF COMPARING WEEKS TO

MONTHS TO YEARS

• EVERYTHING GETS CONVERTED INTO A YEAR

• MULTIPLY THE RESULTS BY THE NUMBER OF

PERIODS PER YEAR:

• WEEKS 52

• MONTHS 12

• YEARS 1

• BIANNUAL .5

• OUR EXAMPLES ANNUALIZED

• CENTER HAS 100 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 3 THIS WEEK.

• 3/((100+97)/2)*52 = 158.38%

• CENTER HAS 37 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 2 THIS MONTH.

• 2/((37+36)/2)*12 = 66.67%

• CENTER HAS 200 EMPLOYEES, LOSES 6 THIS YEAR.

• (6/((200+194)/2)*1 = 3.05%

AND IN TABLE FORM…FTES Terms Period Attrition that

period

Annualized

Attrition

100 3 Week 3.05% 158.38%

37 2 Month 5.56% 66.67%

200 6 Year 3.05% 3.05%

• ANNUALIZED ATTRITION PUTS ALL ATTRITION ON THE SAME BASIS

• YES…100% ATTRITION MEANS YOU REPLACE YOUR ENTIRE STAFF ONCE IN A YEAR…

• ANNUALIZING IT PUTS IT INTO CLEAR PERSPECTIVE.

TO PLAN FOR ATTRITION YOU MUST…Forecast your attrition

Know how it affects your budget (who pays?)

Build it into your long term plans

Hire Agents as they are needed

Try to minimize attrition

FORECASTING ATTRITION

• JUST LIKE CALLS YOU CAN FORECAST ATTRITION

• LOOK AT TREND-IS IT GOING UP OR DOWN?

• CHECK FOR SEASONALITY-DO YOU LOSE PEOPLE AT

THE SAME TIME EVERY YEAR?

• IDENTIFY EVENTS

• NEW HIRE CLASSES

• END OF SCHOOL

• AFTER BONUSES ARE PAID

• LOOK FOR FUTURE DRIVERS

• HIRING IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS

• PROMOTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

• OTHER CENTERS HIRING

• INCREASED PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

JUST IN TIME HIRING

• HIRE SO THAT CLASSES GRADUATE JUST IN TIME TO MATCH STAFF REQUIREMENTS AND PROJECTED ATTRITION

• REQUIRES GOOD FORECASTING

• GETTING FINANCE ON BOARD IS DIFFICULT

• BUILD IT INTO BUDGETS

• WORK TOWARDS AUTOMATIC APPROVAL OF BUDGET HEADCOUNT

• CHALLENGES:

• AGENTS DON’T LEAVE JUST BECAUSE YOU SAID THEY WOULD

• YOU MAY BE HIRING WHEN SL IS GOOD

• YOU MAY NOT HIRE WHEN SL IS BAD

JUST IN TIME HIRING EXAMPLEJune July August September AVG

Requirements 95 98 103 100 99

Start Headcount 97 95 98 103 98

Attrition 2 2 2 2 2

In class 5 7 0 0 3

Graduates 0 5 7 0 3

End Headcount 95 98 103 101 99

Net Staff 0 0 0 1 0

Budget Staff 100 105 103 101 102

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT ATTRITION…

• SOME ATTRITION IS GOOD

• BAD EMPLOYEES

• UPWARD MOVEMENT

• YOUR CENTER PROBABLY WONT STACK UP TO THE REST OF THE COMPANY

• LEVEL OF EMPLOYEE

• SKILLS/EDUCATION

• ENTRY LEVEL OR NEAR ENTRY LEVEL POSITION

• OUTSIDE COMPETITION AT SIMILAR WAGES/SKILL LEVELS

• PEOPLE STEAL YOUR BEST EMPLOYEES

• CALL CENTER SKILLS ARE HIGHLY TRANSFERRABLE

WHAT CAN WFM DO ABOUT IT?

• FIX YOUR MONDAYS-BUSY MONDAYS CONTRIBUTE TO

LOW MORALE AND HIGH ABSENTEEISM ON

MONDAYS(WHICH ONLY MAKES THEM WORSE)

• GET CREATIVE AND FLEXIBLE WITH SCHEDULES

• FT TO PT CONVERSIONS

• EMERGENCY SCHEDULE CHANGE PROCESS

• LOOK AT ABSENTEEISM POLICIES

• MAKE DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENTS EASIER TO GO TO

• PLAN VACATIONS FARTHER IN ADVANCE

• OFFER “EXTRA HOURS” AND “EARLY OUT” TIME AS OFTEN

AS POSSIBLE

• LOOK AT FLEX STAFFING OPTIONS

• BACK OFFICE

• AT HOME FLEX SCHEDULES

• WHAT DO YOU DO?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

DAN RICKWALDERGENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS

DANIEL.RICKWALDER@GENESYS.COMTWITTER: @WFMGURU

BLOG: HTTP://WORDSOFWFM.BLOGSPOT.COM/443-451-4301

A consultant passionate about making the numbers work with the people

Dan Rickwalder is an industry leading consultant, author, seminar leader and speaker with nearly 20 years experience working and consulting in the contact center industry. Throughout his career Dan has been a passionate advocate for improving the value of contact centers by focusing analytics and the planning process on meeting the needs of customers, employees and the business.

Dan’s prior experience includes directing the Planning and Analytics practice at the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI). At ICMI, he built the Planning and Analytics practice from the ground up- introducing new consulting products, outsourced WFM services and developing the highly regarded WFM Boot Camp training. He has held a variety of call center leadership positions at Ascend One Corporation, Sylvan Prometric and iSKY- an outsourced call center operation with clients in many industries.

Dan is a certified ICMI Training Associate and a COPC-Six Sigma Yellow Belt. He is involved with several industry groups including a board member at the American Teleservices Association’s PotomicChapter and is a member of the Society of Workforce Planning Professionals. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from James Madison University.

Dan RickwalderStrategic Business Consultant, Genesys