Manager Workforce - Planning

ibex; Palestine (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

ibex is seeking a Workforce Manager to oversee a team of WFM professionals responsible for workforce planning and intraday management. You will determine work schedules and resources for call queues across the organization, drawing on extensive experience to ensure optimal coverage and service levels.

You will partner with site and department leaders to staff by interval, develop contingency plans during peak demand, and own end-to-end processes with creativity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in any field required.
• At least 5 years of related experience in call center workforce management, with managerial experience.
• Experience with WFM tools preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manages the day-to-day operation of the Workforce Management Real time adherence team.
• Maintains service levels while keeping overtime costs to a minimum.
• Co-Leads forecasting, scheduling, and load balancing for call activities at site, optimizing service, and quality levels while ensuring most efficient use of resources.
• Develops, implements, maintains, and communicates the site work schedule.
• Develops and maintains schedule for all transaction based work (e.g., calls, correspondence, training, meetings, etc.)
• Analyzes call volume patterns to manage work shifts, lunches, and breaks.
• Adjusts workforce requirements based on changing/dynamic forecasts; reforecast when necessary.
• Collaborates with supervisors to identify and track both planned and unplanned absences.
• Ensures schedules are generated on a regular basis that coincide with the forecast.
• Manages and analyzes operational and workforce data to review and reforecast requirements.
• Generates forecasts on an intra-daily, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis for all workgroups, and compare actual results to forecasts, identifying opportunities for improvement and recommending solutions.
• Identifies call volume trends and averages on a monthly and quarterly/seasonal basis.
• Establishes and maintains communication channels regarding events that impact call volumes.
• Collaborates with key business partners and staff to identify opportunities for improvement of resource utilization and service levels.
• Advises Operations Managers and Supervisors regarding balancing work volume.
• Advises Site Director/Manager regarding forecasting/planning based on actual experience and trend analyses.
• Partners with staff and leadership within and across sites to identify business opportunities based on analysis of reports.
• Analyzes, develops action plan, and resolves service delivery and/or service level issues.
• Manages all scheduling-related communications to the site.
• Creates and maintains real time, historic and custom reports relevant to real-time monitoring, scheduling and forecasting.
• Manages administration of workforce scheduling area.
• Develops and maintains business continuation/disaster recovery plans for site as it relates to call routing.
• Manages workforce Real-time Supervisors
• Participates in hiring workforce related manpower requirements
• Manages the team to obtain desired performance
• Provide formal and informal performance feedback on an ongoing basis.

Skills

Effective communication

Analytical skills

Leadership

Team management

Organizational skills

Forecasting

Schedule development

Stakeholder collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s Degree (any field)

Tools

CMS

IEX Total View

eWFM

Blue Pumpkin

Excel

Job description

The Workforce Manager will oversee a team of WFM personnel that are responsible for all facets of workforce planning and intraday management. He or she will determine and communicate work schedules and resources for various call queues across the organization while relying on extensive experience and judgment to achieve optimal coverage results. The selected candidate will work with site and department leaders to ensure adequate staffing, coverage by interval, as well as, to develop contingency plans during times of peak demand. Ownership of an end to end process with a wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected.

Responsibilities

• Manages the day-to-day operation of the Workforce Management Real time adherence team
• Maintains service levels while keeping overtime costs to a minimum
• Creates policies and procedures to standardize specific Workforce management functions
• Provides support to other members of management, as needed.
• Co-Leads workforce forecasting, scheduling, and load balancing for call activities at site, optimizing service, and quality levels while ensuring most efficient use of resources
• Develops, implements, maintains, and communicates the site work schedule
• Develops and maintains schedule for all transaction based work (e.g., calls, correspondence, training, meetings, etc.)
• Analyzes call volume patterns to manage work shifts, lunches, and breaks
• Adjusts workforce requirements based on changing/dynamic forecasts; reforecast when necessary
• Collaborates with supervisors to identify and track both planned and unplanned absences
• Ensures schedules are generated on a regular basis that coincide with the forecast
• Manages and analyzes operational and workforce data to review and reforecast requirements
• Generates forecasts on an intra-daily, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis for all workgroups, and compare actual results to forecasts, identifying opportunities for improvement and recommending solutions
• Identifies call volume trends and averages on a monthly and quarterly/seasonal (when necessary) basis
• Establishes and maintains communication channels regarding events that impact call volumes
• Collaborates with key business partners and staff to identify opportunities for improvement of resource utilization and service levels
• Advices Operations Managers and Supervisors regarding balancing work volume
• Advices Site Director/Manager regarding forecasting/planning based on actual experience and trend analyses
• Partners with staff and leadership (e.g., Site Directors, Operations Managers, Supervisors) within and across sites to identify business opportunities based on analysis of reports (e.g., consolidate queues, change phone hours)
• Analyzes, develops action plan, and resolves service delivery and/or service level issues
• Manages all scheduling-related communications to the site
• Creates and maintains real time, historic and custom reports relevant to real-time monitoring, scheduling and forecasting
• Manages administration of workforce scheduling area
• Develops and maintains business continuation/disaster recovery plans for site as it relates to call routing.
• Manages workforce Real-time Supervisors
• Participates in hiring workforce related manpower requirements
• Manages the team to obtain desired performance
• Provide formal and informal performance feedback on an ongoing basis

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree (any field)
• At least 5 years of related experience in call center workforce management preferably with a global command center set up; 3 years related experience gained in a managerial capacity

Knowledge

• Proficient in the use of commonly used WFM tools such as CMS, IEX Total View (highly preferred), eWFM, Blue Pumpkin, advanced Excel
• Knowledge of Six Sigma methodologies preferably with Black and Greenbelt certification
• Knowledge of Call Center operations and procedures

Skills

• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent presentation and analytical skills
• Strong interpersonal skills at both individual and team level
• Must possess effective organizational skills and time management skills
• Strong reporting skills

Abilities

• Ability to effectively lead a team and foster professional working relationships and high standard of work ethics
• Possesses a collaborative working style and the ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• Ability to plan, organize, and schedule work flow to meet rigid project deadlines
• Adaptable and able to move with change while maintaining a positive attitude
• Ability to work on several projects simultaneously
• Ability to communicate professionally with all levels of management
• Ability to work on a flexible schedule (graveyard/shifting schedule)