Running a contact center can sometimes feel like aiming at a constantly shifting target. One day, your team is swamped with back-to-back calls while customers wait in lengthy queues. The next week, you’re watching your team sit idle between occasional calls, knowing you’re paying for more coverage than you need.
This inconsistency doesn’t just affect your operations; it impacts customer satisfaction and your operational costs.
While fluctuating call volumes are inevitable in call centers, their impact on your operations doesn’t have to be. The key lies in flexible staffing: scaling your team up or down based on demand. This approach ensures you’re equipped to handle peak periods without maintaining unnecessary staff during slower times.
The Cost of Unbalanced Staffing
When your contact center is understaffed, both service quality and customer loyalty take a hit. Research shows that customers expect hold times of six minutes or less—yet the reality is starkly different. The average hold time stretches to 17.4 minutes, with two-thirds of callers waiting over 10 minutes and nearly a quarter waiting 30 minutes or more.¹
This gap between expectations and reality directly impacts customer retention: more than half of customers who hang up won’t call back, resulting in lost opportunities and damaged relationships.
The financial impact is equally concerning. Consider a mid-sized call center with 50 agents. Having just five agents idle during slow periods, at $20 per hour, adds up to roughly $16,000 in unnecessary costs per month. These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; they represent resources that could be invested in better technology, training, or customer experience improvements.
Staffing imbalances also affect your team’s performance. During understaffed periods, agents face constant pressure and higher call volumes, leading to burnout and increased errors. During overstaffed times, agents may become disengaged, affecting their productivity and job satisfaction.
The key is finding a staffing model that adapts to demand without creating unnecessary strain on your team or your budget. Flexibility is also key to managing fluctuating call volumes.
Flexible Staffing: The Secret to Managing Fluctuating Call Volumes
Flexible staffing has proven to be one of the most effective strategies for handling unpredictable call volumes while maintaining efficiency and quality. Here’s how it can transform your operations:
Scale Your Team Based on Real-Time Demand
Instead of constantly playing catch-up, flexible staffing lets you build a team that matches your real-time needs. During peak seasons, you bring in temporary agents to manage the influx, keeping wait times down and customer satisfaction high. When the pace slows, you scale back to your core team, keeping up with demand and staying efficient without overcommitting resources.
Optimize Your Workforce Efficiency
Flexible staffing isn’t just about filling in gaps. It improves operations by allowing you to assign temporary workers to straightforward tasks, freeing your permanent staff to focus on more complex customer needs. This helps build stronger customer relationships and ensures consistent service levels across all interactions.
Stay Prepared for Unexpected Surges
Having a flexible staffing strategy helps you handle unexpected volume increases, whether from product recalls, viral marketing campaigns, or sudden market changes. For example, during flu season, healthcare call centers can quickly bring in temporary staff to handle routine appointment scheduling and basic health inquiries, allowing experienced agents to manage more critical cases.
Maintain Consistent Service
At its core, flexible staffing is about delivering consistent, high-quality service no matter the circumstances. With customer expectations higher than ever, the ability to adapt quickly and create positive experiences sets you apart from competitors who struggle with delays or inefficiencies.
How to Build a Team That Moves with Demand
Before diving into hiring temporary staff, you need a solid strategy to make flexible staffing work for your call center. Here’s how to build an effective approach:
Analyze Your Call Volume Patterns
Use your historical call center data to pinpoint patterns in volume fluctuations. Track key workforce metrics like:
- Time-to-fill rates during previous peak periods
- Historical temporary staff retention during busy seasons
- Training completion timelines for seasonal staff
- Workforce utilization rates across different periods
- Cost per temporary hire compared to permanent staff
Map these metrics against your call patterns. Do you see seasonal spikes that require quick ramp-ups? For instance, many subscription-based companies need additional staff within days of launching promotional campaigns.
Retail contact centers often need to double their workforce during holiday seasons. Understanding these patterns helps you plan your temporary staffing needs in advance rather than scrambling to fill positions at the last minute.
Create an Efficient Onboarding Process
Set up a streamlined process to get temporary staff up to speed quickly. While they don’t need to master every aspect of your operation, they need the essential tools to contribute effectively.
Start with a structured onboarding checklist:
- Basic systems access and login credentials
- Company communication tools and protocols
- Required compliance and security training
- Core customer service policies
- Standard call scripts and response templates
- Documentation procedures
Develop focused training modules that temporary staff can complete within their first few days:
- Recording and reviewing practice calls
- Shadowing experienced agents
- Role-playing common customer scenarios
- Hands-on system navigation practice
- Team collaboration protocols
Set clear performance expectations from day one:
- Define specific productivity goals for the first week
- Establish quality standards for customer interactions
- Create a timeline for reaching full productivity
- Outline communication channels for questions or issues
- Schedule regular check-ins with supervisors
This balanced approach helps temporary staff become productive quickly while ensuring they meet your service standards. The goal is to have them handling basic calls independently within days, gradually taking on more complex interactions as they gain confidence.
Establish Clear Communication Channels
Strong communication between your core team and temporary staff is essential for smooth operations. Create a clear structure that keeps everyone aligned without adding unnecessary complexity.
Set up a simple communication hierarchy by designating team leads for temporary staff and establishing clear escalation paths for urgent issues. Regular team huddles and an accessible knowledge base can address common questions efficiently.
Keep daily communication focused on what matters most: staffing schedules, priority tasks, and essential updates. This ensures temporary staff can quickly find answers to their questions and understand their daily responsibilities.
Most importantly, make sure temporary staff know exactly who to contact for different situations and how to escalate customer issues when needed. This clarity helps them integrate smoothly with your permanent team while maintaining clear lines of authority.
This framework helps temporary staff become productive members of your team quickly, even during the busiest periods.
Read More: Enhancing Employee Training with Virtual Reality: The Future of Skill Development in Contact Centers
Partner with the Right Staffing Agency
Working with a specialized staffing partner can simplify the process, especially during time-sensitive periods. They can provide pre-screened candidates with relevant experience, saving you valuable time on vetting and basic training. This ensures new hires can contribute meaningfully from day one.
Read More: Assess, Improve, Innovate: Maximizing Call Center Staffing Efficiency
Ready to Take the Next Step Towards Efficiency?
Let Salem Solutions build a flexible staffing solution for you! Our team understands the challenges of managing high call volumes while staying efficient during quieter times. That’s why we specialize in creating flexible staffing strategies tailored to your needs. Whether you’re gearing up for seasonal surges or navigating slower periods, our expert team will help you strike the perfect balance.
Let’s work together to ensure your contact agency runs smoothly, efficiently, and profitably—no matter how busy or quiet the phones get. Reach out today!
Reference
- Consumer Insights about Customer Service: TCN consumer survey finds Americans overwhelmingly prefer to interact with a live person when dealing with customer service reps. (2021). In Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210727005281/en/TCN-Consumer-Survey-Finds-Americans-Overwhelmingly-Prefer-to-Interact-with-a-Live-Person-When-Dealing-with-Customer-Service-Reps
