Industry

Retail

Optimizing an efficient customer support model can be challenging when peak volumes occur at the beginning and end of the day, and supporting schedules overlap where volumes are light. Idle capacity, coupled with the dissatisfaction and performance impact of not having enough to keep busy, create unnecessary expenses. The solution is to implement innovative and sustainable shift management strategies.

The Challenge:

Scaling Customer Operations & Reducing Costs

Scheduling resources for a 12-hour, 7-days-a-week support service had become inefficient for a US-based manufacturer of consumer electronics, and related accessories and software. Overlapping schedules in the middle of the day began resulting in:

Excessive costs related to idle capacity
Deteriorating agent job satisfaction resulting in attrition
Performance impact of new hires

The client tried several solutions—such as offering voluntary time off (VTO) and split shifts, but they were not long-term sustainable. The client needed innovative thinking to solve the problem.

Our Solution:

ResultsCX used a part-time work-from-home staffing model in Pasig, Philippines (where the client’s customer support was managed) as a solution. Although not unique to the market, the solution offered opportunities to address the problem.

For the pilot, the ResultsCX recruitment team posted job descriptions for short early and late shift opportunities. The response was overwhelming. Over 2,500 candidates applied in the first four days alone.

As a work-from-home offering, the solution capitalized on highly qualified resources looking for extra work opportunities without the challenges and costs associated with a commute. They filled specific high-volume portions of the day without adding to the over-staffing where volumes were low, aligning hours requirements with volume needs (this covered the ‘length of shift’ issues). The program was so successful that it became the sole means for growth and attrition backfills in the enterprise.

To facilitate the success of this new structure , it was imperative to align part-time training with the same part-time production schedules. ResultsCX migrated to a fully remote learning environment and coordinated with the client to create 4-hour curriculum modules without increasing the overall training duration. As a result, agent training time was halved, but the yield remained the same, if not better. When needed, this training model could also be applied to full-time recruits to address training costs and time issues. Additionally, ResultsCX also rolled out effective engagement and coaching practices for these remote agents, created team channels for communication and immediate assistance, and modified the approach over time to ensure optimized results.

ResultsCX is also piloting the use of existing agents in other accounts experiencing similar idle times. It is building part-time schedules across multiple clients to reduce costs to serve, improve efficiency and create additional ﬂexibility, on-site stability, oversight, and career pathing opportunities for full-time employees.

The Results:

Maximizing occupancy & reducing idle time

Consistent occupancy growth: 51% improvement in agent occupancy directly correlating with the strategic launch of part-time agents
Reduced training time: Removed redundant training components to enable 4-hour modules, while maintaining total time to train
Optimized coverage of peak call intervals: Part-time agents were strategically scheduled during high-volume periods. This led to a reduction of 2500+ monthly hours of stranded capacity and the associated costs while improving service levels.

Speed-to-proficiency & performance excellence

Part-time agents demonstrated quicker speed to proficiency in key KPIs compared to full-time agents within their first 30 days.

Email capture: Part-time agents outperformed full-time agents by 6% driving better data collection
First call resolution (FCR): Part-time agents also maintained the same enterprise leading FCR performance as their full-time counterparts, without any quality degradation

Impact on client’s business operations

Cost-effective workforce planning: The introduction of part-time agents allowed for ﬂexible staffing models, optimizing labor costs while maintaining service excellence
Higher call volume handling efficiency: Part-time agents’ concentrated work hours increased muscle memory development, leading to faster proficiency and stronger engagement
Sustained performance without compromise: Despite working fewer hours, part-time agents achieved near equal or superior performance compared to full-time agents, validating the effectiveness of this hiring strategy

The unconventional solution has helped the client reduce the cost related to idle capacity, lower the cost and time to replace attrition, and improve new hire performance. It has also helped ResultsCX secure the position as the client’s most cost-effective and highest-performing partner. Overall, the approach helped the client tackle the root cause of the problem—the length of the shifts employed, training duration, recruitment profiles, and agent performance—and transformed the client’s support service. The model has become the default for attrition backfill and drives growth across the enterprise.