Effectively Managing Call Center Employees During the Holidays

During the holidays, call center managers face unique scheduling challenges. Employees may want additional flexibility with their schedules, and they may even want to rearrange their shifts to spend extra time with family and friends. [Software name] was designed with these scheduling challenges in mind, and will simplify the process of holiday scheduling.

Communication is Key During the Holidays

When managing your employees during the holiday season, it’s important to communicate your expectations clearly. At the beginning of the holiday season, you should analyze your historical call traffic data with the [software name] Communications Center. This will give you a clear idea of how many hours you should schedule your employees for during the holiday season.

Additionally, you’ll be able to quickly and efficiently view your agent schedules in our graphical user interface. This will make it easy to communicate your expectations for the holiday season to all your employees.

Communicating Policy is Integral

At the beginning of the holiday season, be sure to clearly communicate company policy to all your agents. Give them an opportunity to ask questions and clear up any confusion they may have about your policies. This will prevent them from misunderstanding your policy on issues such as unexcused absences and shift trading.

Offer Perks to Boost Morale 

Many call centers require some employees to work overtime during the holiday season. Some employees are even expected to pick up additional shifts to cover for people who call in sick. In order to boost employee morale and prevent burnout, you should consider offering extra perks. If certain employees are ambitious enough to volunteer for overtime, reward them with more than just the bare minimum of a paycheck.

Extra breaks, bonuses, and even promotions are a great way to show that you appreciate your employees going the extra mile. [Software name] will allow you to easily schedule extra breaks for your employees as a reward.

Be Fair to All Employees and Don’t Play Favorites 

Although it can be challenging to schedule time off for everyone during the holidays, no employee wants to feel like their manager is playing favorites. In order to be fair to all employees, time off should be given on a first-come-first-serve basis. Employees with seniority shouldn’t be given preference over newer employees.

Set Reasonable Deadlines for All Employees

You should aim to set reasonable deadlines for call length during the holiday season. [Software name] allows you to set realistic expectations for your employees based on historical call data. You’ll be able to assign each person with a reasonable workload, and shorten wait time in the queue for your customers.

Allow Employees to Trade Shifts

Trading shifts allows employees to take holiday scheduling into their own hands. It boosts employee satisfaction because it allows them to have more control. When your employees want to trade shifts, [software name] allows you to quickly visualize and change their schedules without a hassle.

[Software name] will simplify holiday scheduling for your call center. It will provide you with a greater sense of control, and it will even create greater sense of satisfaction for your agents!