Workforce Engagement Management

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  • 1.  Shift Preference

    Posted 09-03-2021 12:06
    No replies, thread closed.
    Does WEM allow you to enter agent shift preferences? My WFM team asked about it and I do not see shift preferences mentioned anywhere. 
    #Workforce Engagement Management


  • 2.  RE: Shift Preference

    Posted 09-04-2021 07:33
    No replies, thread closed.
    Hi Chris,
    Unlike the legacy WFM on Engage, which supports shift preferences, this feature doesn't exist in Genesys Cloud.
    I thought I have previously seen some discussion thread around this topic but as I couldn't find it under the Genesys Ideas portal, I have logged it here: https://genesyscloud.ideas.aha.io/ideas/CLWFO-I-620
    Feel free to vote or add your specific use cases.


    ------------------------------
    Hichem Agrebi
    hichem.agrebi@cc-expertise.com
    CC-Expertise Ltd
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Shift Preference

    GENESYS
    Posted 09-06-2021 06:57
    No replies, thread closed.
    Hi Chris, 
    At the moment WEM / Genesys Cloud WFM does not support this. We are currently researching and reviewing employee based scheduling. 

    I have merged @Hichem Agrebi's idea with https://genesyscloud.ideas.aha.io/ideas/CLWFO-I-100 which we are currently researching against and already has a number of other linked ideas and votes.

    Paul​

    ------------------------------
    Paul Wood
    Genesys - Employees
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  • 4.  RE: Shift Preference

    GENESYS
    Posted 09-06-2021 15:49
    Edited by System 01-26-2024 19:24
    No replies, thread closed.
    Thanks for reaching out Chris, and thank you for @Hichem Agrebi for linking the associated idea. Just a bit more information here to understand where we are going with WFM and more importantly where the customer and user feedback has taken us.

    Please do excuse the long and detailed answer.

    Through 2019 and 2020 we spend considerable time with organizations to understand their overall scheduling needs​ the problem statement was the following: 

    Problem Statement:

    How might we provide a streamlined workforce management solution for customers that:
    • Increases employee satisfaction by giving them more control of their schedule
    • Increases management satisfaction by controlling available capacity, adhering to business staffing rules, and increasing efficiency across the board

    Research:

    After completing extensive interviews of both users of Genesys products (Engage or Genesys Cloud) and other 3rd parties we uncovered a considerable amount of dissatisfaction and complexity when looking across the topic. 20 years of options had created a monster that most users felt was due for an update. .

    These are direct user quotes:

    • "When I hear shift bidding I want to die" - brutal feedback :)
    • "It is truly Painful"
    • "Our ideal solution is intuitive and simple yet customizable. We want more automation to save time."
    • "Most of our staff are fixed schedules"
    • Overwhelming concern for system "fairness"

    And on the flip side we heard in considerable detail to the question "My ideal system provides" the following:

    • "flexibility of choice and transparency of the impact of those choices."
    • "Transparency for agents into scheduling"
    • "Notifications on mobile devices"
    • "A fair way for agents to sign up for most desirable shifts"
    • "Ways to gamify performance metrics"
    • "Flexibility for agents to choose shifts within set parameters "
    • "Gig Workers need full control"

    As a product set within the Genesys Cloud platform we have also these core pillars of focus. 

    1. Automation of Complexity through focusing on outcomes not physical actions
    2. Provide self service and instant access
    3. Move towards a world of Self Resolution and a system of Guidance instead of ingrained Knowledge

    Understand Customer Usage:

    We also embarked on a journey to learn more about the current design and shifts, workplans and overall operational rules within our customer base. We analyzed the configuration of 1500 Organizations using Genesys Cloud Workforce Management and found the following: 

    1. 87% of the worldwide employee workforce were on fixed weekly hours
    2. 65% of the worldwide employee workforce are on fixed 8hr shifts x 5 days per week. 
    3. 52% of the 13% of the employees who were not fixed weekly hours had fixed shift hours 
    4. The net result was only 6.5% of the employee population had flexible shift lengths of any kind

    The below table outlines the overall user population:

    • Flexible Weekly Paid Time: 87% of the Employees had fixed Weekly paid time.
      • True
        • Flexible Paid Time on Shifts:
          • False: 82.5% of the Employees
          • True: 5.4% of the Employees
      • False
        • Flexible Paid Time on Shifts:
          • False: 6.6% of the Employees
          • True: 6.7% of the Employees

    The following graphic shows overall paid time and the window in which the shift can operate to further understand the distribution. 
    In this image the further read the cross section, the higher the employee population


    Results

    The net result here is that preferences and shift windows overall is a very small portion of the user population, and when we spoke to organizations on issues relating to flexibility the traditional system of preferences, availability, shift bidding and the like were 'to be avoided'.

    With that in mind we have been continuing our research on business needs and have identified a number of improvements that we will be implemented.

    Continuous Forecasting:
    Breaking down the legacy 'create forecast/update forecast' operating model as it inhibits downstream scheduling workflow from occurring efficiently. Considerable workflow is created to help manage if the forecast exists or does not exist. In our customer feedback we discovered considerable choices for the employee were limited in effectiveness because of the forecast not either completed or updated. As such the Workforce Planning teams implemented 'bidding' to help navigate this time of uncertainty. 

    We are committed to breaking this paradigm with AI technology we hope to have some exicting updates on this towards Christmas..

    Workplan Management:
    There was a need for the employee to manage the workplan directly. This feature will allow employees to choose from a marketplace of workplans that suite the business need. Employee's will be able to navigate to the workplan that suites there needs while also allowing flexibility of choice. The intent of this mechanism is to allow employees at any time to adjust working patterns while allowing Workforce Planning teams to focus on the outcome of the choice itself, "is this positive for my business?" 

    AI Enhancements to Scheduling
    Back in June we deployed a new Scheduling Service (v2 Internally) that rapidly evolved our scheduling engine in both accuracy and speed but also configurability. The engine is now built to less reliant on human action and more focused towards process automation. This new scheduling service will allow us to focus on identified issues above. 

    • Accuracy - Ability to tune labor hours against overall cost (time)
    • Flexibility - More rules and conditions support
    • Speed - Answer questions quickly eg:
      • Can we afford this team meeting?
      • How many employees do I need tomorrow/next week/2 years from now

    You will see a consistent stream from us on scheduling capabilities in future weeks and months. 

    In Summary

    In summary, historical features like preferences, availability, bidding and the like will make their way onto the platform however they will be designed for the 2021 Contact Center and its needs. We do plan to provide the traditional capabilities however in a far more richer and modern design that leverages AI capabilities at its core. 

    We are however aware that change can be difficult. We will be supporting users going through operational change with the ability to leverage of the new capabilities in old ways. A great example of this is the upcoming automated time off feature which will support the traditional 'PTO Bidding' scenario through waitlists while also leveraging new capabilities to automatically process requests for Workforce Planners. 

    If anybody is interested in our product research please register on the Sponsor User Program main page here: https://www.genesys.com/genesys-sponsor-user-program 

    #Workforcemanagement

    Cheers





    ------------------------------
    Cameron Smith
    VP, Product Management - Workforce Engagement Management

    cameron.smith@genesys.com
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Shift Preference

    Posted 09-09-2021 14:27
    Edited by CHRISTOPHER SEKELSKY 09-09-2021 14:35
    No replies, thread closed.


  • 6.  RE: Shift Preference

    Posted 09-09-2021 14:29
    No replies, thread closed.

    Great answers Cameron.

     
    In the summary you say that schedule preferences will make it into Genesys Cloud and be designed for the 2021 Contact Center.  Can you tell me where the schedule preference feature is on the roadmap




  • 7.  RE: Shift Preference

    GENESYS
    Posted 09-17-2021 11:46
    Edited by System 01-26-2024 19:24
    No replies, thread closed.
    Hi Chris, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Been a busy week. 

    Employee shift preferences is an item that we are working on as part of the "Enable Employee to Select Alternative Shift initiative" on the roadmap. This in conjunction with improvements we are making to the scheduling workflow (producing expected shifts) will give the ability for employees to request preferences off the back of a shift being present. We are still designing the final solution but feel that it is very important to allow employee input into shift selection - if you have team members who would like to get involved in this feature design we can certainly involve you within this. 

    To register, please follow the link here to the Sponsor User Program. This captures contact details including user job role. We reach out to users most weeks for feedback on either workflow, user interface design and even ideation on overall problems. We would love to have Prog Leasing join us as we build out the next generation of Workforce Engagement. 

    Cheers



    ------------------------------
    Cameron Smith
    VP, Product Management - Workforce Engagement Management

    cameron.smith@genesys.com
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Shift Preference

    Posted 12-07-2021 02:53
    No replies, thread closed.
    Hi Cameron,

    Can you please explain... 
    You start to notice that you spoke to organizations on issues relating to flexibility the traditional system of preferences, availability, shift bidding and the like were 'to be avoided'.... 
    Then their are 3 main enhancements:
    - Continues forecasting
    - Workplan Management (marketplace for workplans)
    - AI enhancements to scheduling

    In the summary it is said that historical features like preferences, availability, bidding and the like will make their way onto the platform in 2021.
    What is the case? Is availability coming? Or 'just' the enhancements as notices above. 
    If you can reply on this it will be appreciated.

    ------------------------------
    Anouk van Gaalen
    KPN B.V.
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