The Ultimate Guide to Call Center Staffing: Models and Best Practices

Excellent customer service is a key factor for businesses to achieve success and reach desired heights in today’s world. A well-staffed call center is crucial for thriving and fostering growth in the digital world of telecommunication. It ensures good customer service and organizes the staff into a cohesive team, setting the stage for a successful operation. 

To successfully operate your business, you need to manage the internal organization effectively and maintain great collaboration among colleagues. Your company should have proper staff management, skilled manpower in specific roles, and a productive workflow. Thus, we have prepared this article to inform you about how to maintain great call center staffing. 

In this blog, we will discuss call center staff, what it is, why your business needs it, the call center staffing model, and the software feature required to manage call center staffing. 

So let’s get into it. 

What is call center staffing?

Call Center Staffing is the process of strategically managing the number of staff and their roles to ensure effective customer interaction. This includes planning, hiring, scheduling, and organizing the staff according to the call center’s requirements and ensuring that there are enough staff to handle customer calls. 

Call Center Staffing solutions involve distributing workload according to the employee’s skills and capabilities and scheduling shifts according to the number of incoming calls and workload. It helps businesses provide timely customer support, improve positive customer experience, and balance workflow and productivity. 

Why does your call center need good staffing?

Good call center staffing is crucial for any business to ensure great customer service and maintain brand image. To make good call center staffing, you must ensure that your staff are adequate in numbers, neither less nor more. You need to be sure that your staff is enough to handle customer interaction and that there is no staff shortage during peak business hours. 

This means you dont need to direct hire many contact center agents while there are limited incoming calls. You will be wasting your money on employees just to sit, whereas you can invest that money in another business sector. Alternatively, you need to hire enough staff if the incoming calls are increased so that your customers dont have to wait a long time and also your staff dont get frustrated and tired from the workload. 

Let’s see some reason why your call center needs good staffing. 

1. Customer satisfaction

Adequate numbers of staff can handle customer calls efficiently, and customers also dont have to face long wait times. This ensures that customers receive effective and great service in minimal wait time, ultimately improving customer satisfaction. 

2. Cost savings

With good call center staffing strategies, your company can save a lot of costs by reducing unnecessary elements like bad hiring and implementing unnecessary business tools.  

3. Employee satisfaction 

Good call center staffing solutions can satisfy customers and employees. Your employees can reduce stress and handle customers effectively by giving proper information and taking enough time with each customer. This can help reduce employee burnout and workload, from which you can gain dedicated and loyal employees. 

4. Business performance and metrics

If your call center staffing is good, it can directly impact your business performance, as call center agents are the doorway for customers to enter your business. Good customer service can also help you retain customers, which can increase your business performance and sales. With greater customer satisfaction, clients will likely be loyal to your business and trust your brand. 

4 most common call center staffing models

The call center staffing model is a framework for determining how to add staff based on call volumes and how long customers can be on hold. Most commonly, it has four types: in-house, outsourced, remote, and hybrid. Let’s understand these 4 types of call center staffing solutions models in detail. 

A. In-house staffing 

The in-house staffing model involves hiring agents directly within the company as the company agents. This model allows you to control and enjoy direct communication with all agents and oversee data, privacy, and security. Furthermore, it enhances faster and more effective communication.

B. Remote staffing 

Remote staffing is similar to an in-house staffing solution. Your agents can work remotely from home, a cafe, or an office, regardless of their location. This model provides flexibility and mobility to your employees, ultimately increasing workforce engagement platforms, productivity, and efficiency.

This staffing model can help recruit the most competent workforce for your organization since most individuals prefer to work from home or other places without being physically present in office premises. 

C. Outsourced staffing 

The outsourced staffing model is a process where the firm integrates with a third party to recruit, train, and oversee the customer service department and call center agents. It is less costly than direct hiring your own team and expanding your team size and capacity. 

This staffing model is suitable for businesses that receive a large number of incoming calls during peak business hours and also you can easily scale your team according to your team’s needs and requirements. 

D. Hybrid staffing 

hybrid staffing is the concept of mixing the in-house staffing and outsourced staffing models to improve the elements of the work flow strategy. In this type of staffing, companies usually direct hire and train their own staff, and when incoming calls are escalated, they outsource the staff. 

Furthermore, employees need to be physically present on the office premises but can also work remotely. This is suitable for businesses that want to balance quality and cost. It can also be an appropriate model for a company that has a large number of incoming calls but fewer at some point. 

Best practices of call center staffing

Call center staffing can be challenging at some point in time. Thus, to eliminate the challenges, here are some essential call center best practices.

I. Hire skilled candidate

Identifying and choosing the perfect candidate for your call center team can be difficult initially yet, with proper management and hiring procedures, you can easily create a team of perfect and skilled manpower. During the recruiting process, you need to look for qualities like problem-solving, friendliness, good communication skills, marketing skills, and experience in a candidate. 

You can develop a detailed job description and benefits list before the interview so that interviewers know exactly what to expect from the position and what skills are required. 

II. Provide training to your agents

The customer support team is the frontline of the customer journey. Thus, giving them the continual training they need to perform at their best will foster a positive customer experience. Training must also be needed to update agents on new products and sales, increasing productivity and customer service skills.

According to the analytics report, a well-trained agent can overcome heavy call spikes and work. Training your contact center team enhances their problem-solving ability, handles high call volume rates, and addresses issues instantly. 

III. Adopt advanced technology 

By leveraging advanced technology, agents can provide personalized and quick service to their customers. Various automation tools like AI, chatbots, Virtual Assistance, etc, help to deliver customers with timely and tailored solutions that enhance operational efficiency and satisfaction. 

IV. Investing  in call center technology 

As technologies continue to evolve rapidly, it is essential to invest in the latest helpful technology to provide top-notch service for your customers. Investing in the latest technologies and devices can help your agents deliver smoother service and enhance customer satisfaction. 

Tools such as customer relationship management(CRM), call routing, Interactive Voice Response(IVR), call forwarding, etc., can be great tools to implement into your call center. Chatbots and other AI technologies could also be great integration tools, ultimately providing efficient and smooth workflows and workforce engagement platforms. 

V. Flexible scheduling 

By adopting flexible scheduling in call centers, staff can adjust to varying call volumes, optimizing workforce management. This adaptability ensures that staffing levels align with demand,  improving overall efficiency and customer service by having the right number of agents available at times. 

VI. Employee engagement 

Creating a positive work environment through incentives, recognition, and career development opportunities fosters employee engagement. The call center team focuses on engaged agents as they are more likely to deliver exceptional customer service, reducing turnover rates and contributing to a positive call center culture. 

How to calculate call center staffing? Erlang C formula 

The Erlang C formula is a mathematical equation for calculating the number of agents that you need in a call center, given the number of calls and the service level that you want to achieve. It was named after the Danish mathematician A.K. Erlang, who developed the Erlang Formula 100 years ago in 1917. 

An Erlang staffing calculator helps the telecoms system estimate the resources needed for a specific amount of traffic or workload. Call centers and customer support departments often use it to handle incoming requests or calls. It considers the traffic intensity(the average number of arrivals per unit of time), the average call duration, and the desired service level(usually expressed as the percentage of calls answered within a certain time threshold). 

Software features essential to managing call center staffing

There are a lot of contact center software features that help manage call center staffing. Let’s take a look at the contact center platform features that can provide you with all the data you need to support your staffing decision. 

Automatic Call Distribution(ACD) 

An Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) feature is a must-have for any call center. It allows the center agent to handle a large volume of inbound calls. With ACD, calls are smartly routed to specific departments, considering the customers’ issues or wants. 

Interactive Voice Response(IVR) 

Interactive Voice Response is a useful feature for any contact center software. It is a virtual business phone operator that consists of pre-recorded Voice messages assisting you in routing your call by pressing numerical on the keypad. For example, when you call any business, you can hear the welcome message and guidelines like “press 1 for technical support, 2 for pricing, and 3 for any inquiry”. Then, when you hear the message and press the button according to your need, the call is routed automatically to that department. 

CRM integrations

Integrating contact centers with customer relationship management(CRM) software allows access to customer information, call history, preference, and call details. By generating leads, emphasizing the customer’s needs, and using this information via CRM software, the call center agent can increase efficiency and productivity. 

Build in AI

AI in contact centers is termed contact center AI(CCAI). It automates repetitive tasks, freeing up agents for more complex work and powers more in intelligent analytics. AI prioritizes agent skills and balances accordingly by distributing shifts. 

Manage your call center staffing with Dialaxy

Businesses seeking to manage call center staffing must choose a reliable and trustworthy staffing agency. Dialaxy is a complete, all-in-one call center management solution that helps with operations like staffing, process outsourcing, and strategies. It provides multiple features, such as call routing, CRM integration, ACD, Interactive Voice Response(IVR), etc., which are essential for call centers. 

With Dialaxy’s robust features, figuring out your staffing levels will become much easier. Our call analytics feature provides real-time data, including call duration, inbound and outbound calls, and every required insight data and information. 

Our strong, reliable, cost-effective solution supports businesses of all sizes with flexible plans and 24/7 customer support. Choose Dialaxy as your service provider to use a great service at an affordable price range. 

Conclusion 

An effective call center staffing agency is crucial for any business to enhance customer experience and operate a call center successfully. By leveraging call center staffing best practices, your business can foster growth in the digital market and deliver exceptional service. Implementing the right staffing model can ensure great quality in cost-effective solutions, timely customer support, and enhanced business performance. 

Call center staffing is important because it not only enhances customer experience but also improves employee work-life and job satisfaction. It can significantly balance the workload among the employees by leveraging AI features. With the best practices of call center staffing, a friendly and flexible workforce engagement platform can be created, and you can increase the rate of your employee loyalty. 

FAQs

What is call center staffing?

Call Center Staffing is the process of strategically managing the number of staff and their roles to ensure effective customer interaction. This includes planning, hiring, recruiting process, scheduling, and organizing the staff according to the call center’s requirements and ensuring that there are enough staff to handle customer calls. 

Why choose Dialaxy for your call center?

Dialaxy offers a comprehensive solution for call centers at an affordable price, with advanced communication features like call routing, Interactive Voice Response(IVR), ACD, and CRM.

How many types of call center staffing models are there?

There are mainly 4 types of call center staffing models, and they are.

• In-house staffing 
• Remote staffing 
• Outsource staffing 
• Hybrid staffing 

What is in-house call center staffing?

The in-house staffing model involves hiring contact center agents directly within the company as the company agents. This model allows you to control at every turn, enjoy a direct line of communication with all agents, and oversee data privacy and security. 

What software features are essential for managing a call center?

Software features like Automatic Call Distribution(ACD), Interactive Voice Response(IVR), CRM integration, and built-in AI are essential for managing call centers.