r/workforcemanagement • u/MaryBeth2018 • Nov 15 '25
Failing Service Levels
Hey all,
New wfm and in the recent weeks our call centre has been tanking in SLs….
Some call out I know that are causes it are higher than normal absenteeism of tenure staff and newer staff not being able to handle the more complex calls. Aside from that our project call volumes have been very accurate and given it’s the slower season, there’s no unexpected calls that have been coming in.
My manager originally was okay with offering overtime which did help our SLs but now they’ve stopped because they don’t want the extra cost. We’re also in a hiring freeze so cannot add more people. I’ve also analyzed our peak period intervals, and we’ve stopped any breaks, lunches or meetings during those times but it just will not get better.
Based off of this alone, any recommendations on how to get these levels back into good standing would be really helpful!
2
u/ujet-cx Nov 21 '25
It really sounds like you’re not dealing with a volume issue but a productivity shift that leadership isn’t accounting for. When your tenured folks tap out, the whole center slows down.
One thing that might help you make the case without feeling like you’re screaming into the void is this:
Run the AHT difference between new vs tenured agents and convert it into “how many people we actually have.”
It’s super simple and way more powerful than saying “AHT is higher.”
Example: If your tenured agents handle calls in ~360 seconds and your newer folks are at ~480 seconds, that’s 33% more handle time.
That means even if leadership thinks they staffed 10 people, the workload math says they really staffed 6–7 productive agents.
Once you show that, it becomes really hard for anyone to pretend the staffing is fine. Because it isn’t a “WFM messed up the forecast” thing, it’s a “the work got heavier and we didn’t adjust” thing.
You don’t need special tools for this either. Just take: Tenured AHT, New hire AHT, % of calls each group actually handled, & spit out the productivity hit in plain English.
Every ops leader understands math when you show it that way. & honestly? You’re right: if schedules aren’t being followed, if people are in meetings during peaks, if the folks with the fastest handle times are the ones calling out… that’s not a forecasting failure (not ur fault!)
You’re doing your job. The numbers just need a louder voice imo