![](\"http:\/\/images.tmcnet.com\/headshots\/2013\/rory-t.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWFO, or workforce optimization, is a concept that has been around for a while but has only recently begun to gain traction in the call center industry. The idea behind it is that if you can optimize what your employees do and how they do it, your bottom line will show the difference. Yet what many fail to realize is that the staff you hire can have a greater impact than the employees you already have on staff.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the view of Jennifer Waite, Product Marketing Manager at inContact, a leading provider of cloud-based call center solutions. In a recent blog post, Waite took a closer look at WFO and shared some valuable insights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hiring process is often overlooked as a key step in implementing an effective WFO strategy,\u201d she maintains.\u00a0\u201cAn agent\u2019s relationship often begins many weeks before handling the first customer interaction, and academic research has found that the candidate\u2019s perception of the hiring process has a direct impact on his or her overall satisfaction with the company and his or her performance potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
As such, Waite concludes that the hiring process\u2014and the new hire\u2019s perception of it\u2014is just as important to a successful WFO strategy as selecting the right technology. She examines three distinct parts of the process and explains why they are important:<\/p>\n
Attraction:<\/strong> \u201cA company\u2019s website careers page will attract active job seekers\u2014those who know what they\u2019re looking for and where to look\u2014as will leading job sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo Jobs, and the like,\u201d Waite says. But passive job seekers need to be attracted as well. Social media can play a big role in helping draw them in, she adds. <\/p>\n Selection:<\/strong> A critical part of the selection process is screening candidates for their ability to handle the rigors of contact center work. \u201cThis is typically done through a recruiter-led phone interview in which a recruiter asks the agent candidate a series of questions designed not only to validate the candidate\u2019s skills, but also to gain insight into his or her communication style, energy, and personality\u2014all of which are critical success factors in customer-facing roles,\u201d Waite says. Basically, it\u2019s designed to ensure that the candidate will fit in with the existing team.<\/p>\n Retention:<\/strong> \u201cThis is where the worlds of recruiting and WFO effectively come together,\u201d Waite believes. New agents need to complete a comprehensive training program to prepare them for the rigors of contact center work. But if done properly, new employees will soon become veterans, and the next generation coming up behind them will want to follow their example.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 21, 2016 WFO, or workforce optimization, is an idea that’s been around for a while, but has only recently begun to gain more traction in the call center field. The idea behind it is, if you can optimize what your workers do and how they do it, your bottom line will see the difference. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contact-center-outsourcing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}