Managing a call center isn’t easy. There are numerous employees who must be scheduled through a variety of different shifts. Since most call centers operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week, you not only need to employee roster to handle that volume, but you also have to accommodate the shift requests for each of those workers.
Thankfully, there are methods of doing this that won’t leave your HR managers shaking their heads in frustration. It all starts with developing a good system for your company in Ireland and then putting those pieces into play.
Developing a Good Scheduling System
Employee roster management for a call center starts with putting a good scheduling system into place. In order to do this successfully, you’ll need to take certain steps. The first of these involves asking for feedback from your employees and then ensuring that it’s both fair and flexible.
Ensuring That Each Voice is Heard
Start out your employee roster planning by asking your workers what they want. Do they want to be able to make changes to the schedule on their own? Are they concerned about time off and shift requests getting lost in the shuffle? There are many problems that they face when it comes to scheduling and fairness, so why not let them take the lead. Ask for their thoughts and then find a system that will work for them.
Flexibility Matters
Your call center workers need flexibility when it comes to their schedules. Some may only be able to work certain shifts based on childcare needs or school schedules. Others might not have any limits at all.
No matter what, you need a good timekeeping system that allows for this flexibility in order to keep your workers engaged and happy.
Tracking Analytics
How do you track what goes on with the workers on your employee roster? You might need to track things like call times and resolutions. If you bill separate clients based on how many calls you handle for them at your business in Ireland, then you’ll need to track that as well. You need a program that can handle all of these metrics and make them easy to determine.
What an Employee Roster Management System Entails
A good employee roster management system meets all of the scheduling needs listed above. It does this by consisting of several important parts, such as a timekeeping system that tracking everything, as well as one that handles things like schedule changes and time off requests.
The better the program, the easier this will be on all of your employees in Ireland, from those that handle payroll to the call center workers who answer the phones.
Biometric Time Keeping Systems
There are biometric timekeeping systems that keep your workers honest. How many times have you had one worker clocking in for another who’s running late? This is dishonest and makes you wonder what other shortcuts your workers are taking.
On top of this, with a good biometric system, your workers will be able to clock in and out easily, and you won’t have to worry about them forgetting to do so after a break or their lunch. You might even be able to track how long they spend on calls for certain clients if you break up the billing in that manner. What matters here is that these timekeeping systems are sophisticated, yet simple to use. They will solve some of your employee roster issues.
Allow Your Employees to Schedule Themselves
In some cases, you might be able to allow your employees to schedule themselves. While you might have your human resources employees put the main schedule together, if one of your call center workers needs to switch shifts and find a coworker at your company in Ireland is who is able to cover for them, why not have them handle that themselves? They can have the authority to put those requests into the company system so that everyone knows who is working that shift and why. This just takes one additional thing off of your HR employees’ hand and provides some autonomy for your shift workers.
Handling Time off Requests
Many workplace issues involve time off requests. The workers on your employee roster might have to submit their requests to HR on paper forms, through email, or even via phone calls. All of these methods are difficult to track, leaving many to get lost in the system.
Thankfully, there are programs that can make this easier. You can use a shift scheduling program that allows your workers to make these requests within it. You won’t have to worry any longer about your HR employees getting overwhelmed with requests, as everything will be in the computer.
