The Future of Real-Time Adherence in Workforce Management
One area I haven't developed much in my current Workforce Management (WFM) practice is the real-time adherence (RTA) teams, systems, and processes. It's not because I don't see the value in it, but rather I believe this portion of workforce management will change significantly in the future, leading to uncertainty about how to build the department.
First, we should all admit that changing schedules just to make associates adhere to their schedules is outdated and not beneficial for operations and the WFM team. For operations, it masks potential adherence issues within the business. For the WFM team, it creates administrative work that doesn’t add valuable insight to the business.
Moreover, most contact centers are moving towards omni-channel communication, where clients can choose to communicate through asynchronous channels rather than synchronous ones. A portion of synchronous communication will shift towards asynchronous channels. As I’ve explained in previous articles, in asynchronous channels, frontline associates have more leniency and don’t need to follow their schedules to the exact minute. Thus, while adherence remains important, its weight of importance will lessen.
The workforce is changing, with frontline staff demanding more flexibility in their schedules. Constantly updating schedules manually becomes a nuisance and an administrative burden on the team. Therefore, a WFM team leader should avoid building up their real-time administration team just to handle this increased manual workload. Furthermore, many WFM systems or third-party vendors offer features that allow frontline associates to change their schedules through self-service functionality, with these changes automatically reflected in the WFM system. This reduces the manual workload created by constant schedule changes.
I personally believe that the future value of RTA lies in accurate load balancing of workload in real time. Currently, teams monitor queues and react by changing skill sets, moving offline activities, offering OT/PTO, and shifting associates schedules. However, in most businesses I've seen and operated, these tasks are manual and involve a lot of back-and-forth between operations and WFM, creating friction and wasting valuable time needed to fix capacity in real time.
The future of RTA professionals will involve scaling these load balancing tasks while reducing friction between operations and the WFM team. This is easier said than done, as there isn’t one platform that allows an RTA analyst to create automatic process flows based on certain conditions. It requires solution architecting by integrating multiple systems, which demands a high degree of technical ability. Fortunately, this solution architecting will become easier with generative AI, which can create boilerplate codes. Eventually, a platform will be able to connect to these systems, allowing users to write automatic process flows in natural language. Check out automation platforms like Zapier or, if you're using Windows, Power Automate. It isn’t perfect for WFM RTA use cases but you can easily envision the future.
The evolution of WFM and RTA processes points towards increased automation and reduced manual intervention. As technology advances, RTA professionals will focus more on strategic tasks, ensuring seamless integration and efficient load balancing, ultimately driving greater value for organizations.