Schedule adherence

What it means

Schedule adherence measures whether an agent was doing the scheduled activity at the scheduled time. It compares the published schedule against what actually happened, minute by minute, and counts deviation in both directions: being off the phone when scheduled on it, and being on the phone when scheduled for training or a break.

How it is calculated

Adherence = time in the scheduled state / total scheduled time

Why it matters

Adherence is what makes a forecast real. A perfectly accurate forecast and a perfectly built schedule still miss service level if people are not in seat when the schedule says they are, and unlike volume, adherence is something the operation directly controls.

Common mistakes

• Treating it as an attendance metric. Someone who works a full shift at the wrong times can post high attendance and poor adherence.
• Chasing 100 percent. Perfect adherence usually means the schedule is being rewritten after the fact, or agents are staying on contacts through their breaks.
• Ignoring the conformance side. Working extra unscheduled hours is also a deviation and it distorts the next forecast.

See also

• WFM: Workforce ManagementForecasting, scheduling, and adherence.
• ShrinkageThe portion of paid time agents are not available to handle contacts, from breaks, training, meetings, and absence.
• Intraday managementReal-time adjustments to staffing and breaks as the day's actual volume diverges from forecast.
• Service LevelThe percentage of contacts answered within a target time, written as 80/20 (80% within 20 seconds).