- AHT
Average Handle Time
The average total time an agent spends on one contact, including talk, hold and after-call work.
Read definition - ASA
Average Speed of Answer
The mean time contacts wait in queue before being answered, including those answered instantly.
Read definition - Term
Occupancy
The share of an agent's available, logged-in time that is spent handling contacts.
Read definition - Term
Shrinkage
The percentage of paid time agents are not available to handle contacts.
Read definition - Term
Attrition
The rate at which employees leave the operation over a given period.
Read definition - Term
Service Level
The percentage of contacts answered within a stated number of seconds, such as 80% in 20 seconds.
Read definition - Term
Erlang C
The queueing formula that converts contact volume and handle time into a staffing requirement.
Read definition - FTE
Full-Time Equivalent
A unit of staffing capacity equal to one person working a standard full-time schedule.
Read definition - Term
Schedule Adherence
How closely agents follow their published schedule, minute by minute.
Read definition - Term
Utilisation
Productive time as a share of total paid time, including breaks, training and absence.
Read definition - FCR
First Contact Resolution
The share of contacts fully resolved on the first interaction, with no follow-up needed.
Read definition - WFM
Workforce Management
The discipline of getting the right number of skilled people in the right place at the right time.
Read definition - RTM
Real Time Management
Managing the current day's queues, staffing and adherence as events unfold.
Read definition - Term
Forecast Accuracy
How closely forecast volume and AHT matched what actually happened.
Read definition - Term
Skill-Based Routing
Routing each contact to an agent qualified to handle that specific contact type.
Read definition - ABN
Abandon Rate
The percentage of callers who hang up before reaching an agent, usually while waiting in queue.
Read definition - WEM
Workforce Engagement Management
A category that combines traditional WFM with agent experience tools such as coaching, surveys and gamification.
Read definition - Term
Load Balancing
Distributing incoming contact volume evenly across agents, queues or skill groups to avoid local overload.
Read definition - LIA
Longest Idle Agent
A routing method that sends the next contact to the qualified agent who has been free longest.
Read definition - Term
Holt-Winters Method
A forecasting technique that models level, trend and seasonality together for data with repeating patterns.
Read definition - Term
Handled Call
A contact that reaches and is answered by an agent, as opposed to one that is abandoned.
Read definition - Forecasting
Trend
The long-term upward or downward movement in volume once seasonal and random fluctuations are removed.
Read definition - Term
Speech Analytics
Technology that analyses call audio to detect patterns, keywords, sentiment and compliance issues at scale.
Read definition - Term
Erlang A
A staffing formula that extends Erlang C by explicitly modelling callers abandoning while they wait.
Read definition - Term
Schedule Conformance
Whether an agent worked their total scheduled minutes for the day, regardless of exact timing.
Read definition - Term
Blending
Having agents handle more than one contact type or channel, shifting between them as queue demand changes.
Read definition - Term
Split Shift
A work day broken into two or more working periods separated by an extended unpaid break.
Read definition - Term
Capacity Planning
The longer-range discipline of determining how many agents an operation needs over months to a year.
Read definition - Term
Intraday Management
Monitoring live demand against live coverage through the day and adjusting before gaps hit service level.
Read definition - Term
Absenteeism
Unplanned agent absence from a scheduled shift, feeding into shrinkage as an unplanned component.
Read definition - Term
Shift Bidding
A scheduling process where agents request preferred shifts and an allocation rule assigns them within coverage.
Read definition
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