Scheduling 2.0: A Transparent Approach to Workforce Management

I've encountered numerous WFM scheduling software features over the years. Most of these systems can handle basic requirements, such as creating schedules based on business constraints and some employee inputs. At the end of the day though the scheduling feature typically optimizes schedules based on the business's demand patterns. Here are my thoughts on the next iteration of scheduling features for WFM software.

First, it’s crucial to allow associates to dynamically adjust their availability based on their personal needs. This functionality would give employees a sense of ownership over their schedules, or at the very least, make them feel like they have some control. The feature should enable associates to:

• Input multiple preferences for their availability and rank these preferences. For example:
  • Specify the start and end times of their daily shift range.
  • Indicate the minimum and maximum number of hours they’re available to work per day within a week.
  • Define the number of "cool-off" hours required between each scheduled shift.
  • Use a calendar to indicate when they are available to work their stated availability preferences.

These inputs should then connect to the company’s HR system, guiding associates on whether their preferences are feasible according to company policies and state labor laws. This is where leveraging LLMs could be beneficial, as they could condense complex policies and legal requirements into actionable variables, rather than requiring the associate or operational leaders to sift through the policies.

Inevitably, most contact centers will face situations where employee preferences conflict with business needs. At this point, the WFM system should be capable of incorporating performance rankings of frontline associates. Starting with the top-ranked individuals, the WFM system could create shifts that align with both the associates' stated preferences and the business’s needs, generating schedules accordingly. This approach means that higher-performing associates are more likely to receive their top choice, while lower-ranked individuals might receive a less preferred option. Additionally, associates should have clear visibility into their rank within the contact center and the likelihood of receiving their preferred availability.

In parallel, the WFM team should have access to multiple scenario builders. The primary function of these tools is to enable WFM to create various scenarios by adjusting the percentage of the scheduling model that considers associates' preferences. The WFM team can build out multiple scenarios to present to leadership, showcasing the impact on contact center capacity when different levels of associate preferences are honored. The system should also allow businesses to share these scenarios with frontline staff so they can understand the decisions made by the leadership team.

What I’m proposing is rooted in transparency for frontline staff. Too often, associates don’t understand why they didn’t receive the schedules they requested. We need to develop better mechanisms and tools so associates can easily comprehend the reasons behind their assigned schedules. Moreover, the system should empower associates to take ownership of their schedule preferences, based on the data presented about their ranking and the leadership's decision-making process in balancing customer and employee needs.