Configure shrinkage

Contact center shrinkage is how much time is lost in the contact center due to unscheduled activities. Reasons for shrinkage include a wide range of events that result in agents not being available to help customers during their normal schedule. Depending upon the time frame being evaluated and what is currently scheduled, shrinkage events can include (but are not limited to) vacations, meetings, projects, sick time, and training.

The shrinkage percentage is used to take this into account when running a schedule. When shrinkage percentages are applied, the schedule overstaffs the service queue by the shrinkage percentages you configure for each interval.

The number of agents available to work when a schedule is run is typically not the same as the actual number of agents available once that future date arrives. This is due to predictable and unpredictable activities that cause these agents to no longer be available to work. The percentage difference between the two numbers is the shrinkage percentage.

EXAMPLE   On September 1, a schedule is run for the week of September 21. On August 31, Agents A, B, and C submitted time off requests for September 23. Only Agent A’s request was approved on September 1 before the schedule was run, and so Agent A is not considered available to work on that day. Agent B’s and Agent C’s time off requests were not approved until September 3, and so were scheduled to work on September 23 despite their pending time off requests when the schedule was run. When those requests are approved on September 3, the number of agents scheduled to work on September 23 shrinks by two agents.

The shrinkage feature enables you to configure shrinkage percentages by interval for the current week and for up to 11 weeks into the future (for a total of 12 weeks). Each week, the shrinkage percentage lessens as a schedule week approaches the current day. This is because activities (such as time off) that remove agents from the pool of available agents are added to the schedule, and you do not need to allow for the same amount of shrinkage each week. You become more certain of the number of agents available to be scheduled as you draw closer to the schedule week.

You can create an unlimited number of shrinkage categories that are appropriate for your contact center, although there is a limit of 10 shrinkage categories per shrinkage week. A shrinkage week details shrinkage percentages per interval per day of the week. You can create an unlimited number of shrinkage weeks. You can then go on to create shrinkage scenarios. The shrinkage scenarios apply shrinkage weeks in sequence from the current week to up to 11 weeks in the future for specific service queues.