Equitable Shift Rotation Mechanism for Contact Center Scheduling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contact centers face challenges in scheduling agents equitably, particularly in accommodating preferences and handling changes such as absences or vacations, which often require manual adjustments and can be time-consuming for administrators.
Innovation Solution
An automated system that uses a point allocation scheme to assign agents to rotating shifts, allowing for equitable distribution and easy modification of schedules, with features like agent login authorization based on their work schedule.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual adjustments are made to accommodate agent preferences and changes, then scheduling flexibility is improved, but administrative time and effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables agents to self-manage their schedules by allowing them to view available shifts, select preferred shifts, and request schedule changes through automated workflows. This self-service capability reduces the need for administrators to manually adjust schedules while maintaining flexibility for agent preferences and accommodations.
Solution Approach 2:
The scheduling system dynamically adjusts shift assignments based on changing conditions such as agent availability, operational requirements, and preferences. The system automatically recalculates and redistributes shifts when changes occur, enabling flexible adaptation without requiring manual administrative intervention for each adjustment.
2Loss of time
If automated scheduling systems are implemented, then administrative time is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The scheduling system is divided into modular functional components including shift management modules, agent preference management modules, automated assignment algorithms, and exception handling modules. This segmentation allows the complex system to be developed, maintained, and scaled in manageable units while providing comprehensive scheduling capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The automated scheduling system is designed to handle multiple scheduling scenarios, agent preferences, and exception types through a unified platform. The system can manage various shift types, accommodate different agent requirements, and process diverse change requests, reducing the need for multiple separate systems while providing comprehensive functionality.
3Ease of operation
If rotating shifts are used to distribute work equitably, then fairness among agents is improved, but scheduling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements rotating shift patterns that periodically cycle through different agents to distribute undesirable shifts equitably. The automated scheduler manages these periodic rotations, tracking which agents have worked which shift types and automatically assigning shifts to maintain fairness, thereby simplifying the management of complex equitable scheduling requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The scheduling system incorporates feedback mechanisms that monitor shift distribution patterns, agent preferences, and workload equity metrics. This feedback is used by the automated scheduler to adjust future shift assignments, ensuring equitable distribution while adapting to changing conditions, thereby managing complexity through data-driven decision making.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for facilitating equitable assignment of rotating shifts to agents in a contact center. In one embodiment, points are allocated to agents indicating their frequency of receiving undesirable shift assignments. Based on the previously allocated points, future undesirable shifts are assigned to agents. The point allocation scheme accommodates various exceptions scheduling periodic rotating shifts, such as skipping assignment of an agent from an upcoming undesirable shift, agents leaving, swapping a shift, and agents being added. In another embodiments, agents are assigned to rotating shifts using constructs of a cycle and a rotation template, which facilitates assigning agents to a work schedule with a calendar in a repetitious manner, and where certain shifts are non-rotational in nature and other shifts are rotational in nature.