Question

You are managing a call center for the city water company.   You have twelve full time customer service representatives who answer incoming phone calls from current, future and previous customers. These calls are in regards to their bill, to request changes to their accounts (the customer is moving, has a new post office box, etc) or has a general complaint (rates are too high, they saw a water company truck driving too fast, etc).   The “phones are open” from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.   The CSR’s take 30 or 60 minute lunch periods with two fifteen minute breaks.   With vacations, doctor’s appointments, mandatory meetings, etc, it is not unusual to only have 5 or 6 CSR’s “on the phone” at any given time.   Your department is a “cost center”. The number of calls received by your staff varies widely by day or the week (Mondays > Tuesdays-Fridays), time of the day (8 a.m. surge, lunchtime surge), and time of the year (more people move out in late spring than in the dead of winter).

Your new manager has approached you with the following “contract”:   85% of the phone calls must be answered within 30 seconds every month. Additionally, no overtime will be permitted.

Historically, you have been able to accomplish this goal in January, February, March, October, November and December.   In the other months, you have dipped as low as 70%.   Your overtime costs have historically been about 5% of your total labor budget.

You believe your new manager’s proposal is unrealistic. Prepare a two or three paragraph counter proposal to meet her goal of “85% in 30”.   Consider more of a “balanced scorecard approach” to evaluation, recognizing that a goal of “85% in 30” cannot be dismissed.

Answer 1

The idea suggested by the manager to provide "85% in 30" and no overtime sounds cost-efficient and appealing for the business to save a lot of money and to improve process efficiency. This plan cannot be ruled out prima facia.

When we examine the market in which our rivals work and similar approaches, we may conclude that this idea is not currently for our business. Attaining 85% is 30% is desirable, but our business would not be able to achieve it when we try to enforce it. We have seen from our past estimates how the demand fluctuates in one year in accordance with different calendar months.

Even though we achieved the "85% in 30" in six out of 12 calendar months, it is difficult to achieve the same throughout the year. Our overtime costs are well regulated, and it is only 5% of the overall labor cost. If this proposal is implemented, we could see a possible layoff and a scenario where the employees are dissatisfied. I would recommend providing target-based monetary incentives to the employees that are cost-effective so that they feel motivated and the “85% in 30” could be achieved.