Skills CX operations

Shrinkage, schedules and adherence

A forecast tells you how many agents you need on the phones. A schedule is how many people you employ, which shift they work, and whether they are actually there at the moment demand arrives.

CX operationsDemand and capacityPlaybookAny helpdeskRead-only
Installnpx rulebase-skills install cx-shrinkage-and-adherence

When to use it

Reach for this when someone says any of these — they are the phrases the skill itself triggers on:

  • we staffed to the forecast and still missed SLA
  • what shrinkage should we use
  • schedule adherence

How it works

The method, in the order the skill runs it. The full procedure — tables, worked examples and the edge cases — is in the skill itself.

  1. Shrinkage is where plans die

    Shrinkage is the share of paid time not available for handling contacts. It is routinely underestimated because people count only the obvious parts.

  2. Intraday fit, not daily totals

    A day can be perfectly staffed in aggregate and badly staffed all day. Demand moves by half-hour; shifts do not. The consequences are structural.

  3. Adherence and occupancy: two different things

    Adherence — was the agent doing what the schedule said, when it said. It is a schedule-integrity measure.

  4. Diagnosing "we staffed to plan and still missed"

    Work through these in order; each is a different owner: Was adherence what was assumed?.

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