Workforce Engagement Management for Contact Centers: A Guide

Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) systems provide contact centers with a unified suite of tools they can use to optimize resource allocation, support team members, and maintain high levels of morale and motivation among workers.  

With WEM technologies, contact center leaders can access the performance analytics, feedback systems, and workforce management tools they need to empower and delight their employees.  

What is Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)? 

Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) is an approach to improving employee engagement, managing resources, and improving operational efficiency in the contact center, with a suite of software solutions and tools. The term was first coined by Gartner to describe software that helps optimize agent engagement throughout the employment lifecycle. It built on the concept of Workforce Management tools, which previously focused on aligning and coordinating teams.  

Notably, WEM solutions aren’t the same as Workforce Management (WFM), or Workforce Optimization tools. Although workforce engagement management does include features that help with team management, such as scheduling systems, and quality analysis applications, its focus is more employee centric.  

Businesses use workforce engagement management tools not just to boost productivity and manage labor costs, but also to improve employee satisfaction and retention rates. The goal is to leverage data and intelligent strategies that create an environment where every team member feels recognized, empowered, and supported.  

Benefits of Workforce Engagement Management for Contact Centers  

At a time when only around 36% of employees are actively “engaged” in any workplace, workforce engagement management tools are becoming increasingly important. In the contact center space, these technologies help businesses to improve operational outcomes and employee satisfaction help them achieve their goals for sustainable growth.  

The most significant benefits of workforce engagement management for contact centers include: 

1. Increased Employee Retention 

The high-stress environment of the contact center makes rapid agent turnover a common problem for many companies. In fact, in the contact center space, the average staff turnover rate is 26% - much higher than the national average of 15%. Employee-focused WEM tools help to address this issue, giving companies the data they need to boost employee experiences. 

With insights into issues that can harm engagement, and the opportunity to source feedback directly from employees, companies can create a more supportive, motivational work environment. Companies can even use gamification and personalized development strategies to boost job satisfaction and increase retention rates.  

2. Higher Efficiency and Reduced Operational Costs 

Workforce Engagement Management solutions can also help businesses to reduce costs and improve efficiency in various ways. As mentioned above; by improving employee experiences, these tools can minimize the costs associated with hiring and training new employees.  

Additionally, WEM tools also include features that streamline and improve resource allocation. They can help companies to create schedules and staffing strategies that ensure they make the most of their resources, without overburdening certain employees. AI tools built into these systems can even help managers identify areas where staff need extra support, to reduce bottlenecks and improve efficiency in day-to-day processes. 

3. Improved Customer Experiences 

The engagement and satisfaction of employees in your contact center has a significant impact on your ability to improve customer experiences. As research from the Harvard Business Review shows, highly engaged employees are more motivated, attentive, and effective in their roles. They’re also more committed to their employer, which means they go above and beyond to deliver results. 

With the performance management tools built into workforce engagement management software, companies can also provide agents with constant feedback and guidance. This helps them to improve their skills and overcome weaknesses that might harm customer satisfaction rates. 

4. Enhanced Flexibility 

One of the biggest strengths of workforce engagement management for contact centers is its ability to enable flexible workforce management. Intelligent WEM systems can help companies more effectively manage employees and their schedules, regardless of whether they’re working in a hybrid environment, remotely, or in the office.  

When suggesting scheduling options, AI-powered systems can also account for different employee skills and preferences, ensuring agents are always available at the right times. Plus, they enable agents to swap and alter shifts with ease through self-service platforms, reducing absenteeism and minimizing the stress associated with rigid scheduling models. 

5. Stronger Decision Making 

Workforce engagement management platforms excel at offering business leaders and managers access to valuable insights on workplace patterns and performance, and information. These systems can record and transcribe conversations, to identify patterns and opportunities to improve efficiency and customer service.  

They can also monitor countless metrics associated with employee performance and productivity, helping companies to make informed decisions about how to train new team members, organize their resources, and adjust staffing models. With data-driven insights, contact centers can continually refine their processes, leading to improved outcomes for both employees and customers. 

6. Better Compliance 

An intuitive WEM solution can even help companies improve compliance. With built-in solutions that can track quality assurance standards, companies can ensure agents are adhering to specific best practices in the contact center. Some solutions can even alert business leaders when team members don’t adhere to performance requirements, or fail to do something, like request permission to record a call.  

Plus, because they help companies to track scheduling and staffing processes, they ensure contact centers have an auditable record of how they’re adhering to labor and employment laws. This can significantly reduce a range of risks for business leaders.  

The Key Features of Workforce Engagement Management Solutions 

Like many innovative technologies in the contact center space, workforce engagement management platforms can vary in the features they offer. Most solutions will include innovative tools for call recording, scheduling, staffing, and quality management.  

However, there are some particularly crucial features all business leaders should focus on when selecting the right WEM software: 

Real-Time Performance Analytics 

Access to in-depth data is crucial in any workforce engagement management strategy. Historical data is valuable, particularly when it comes to making scheduling and staffing decisions. However, real-time insights can be pivotal to rapid process optimization. 

Real-time performance analytics provide both managers and employees with instant insights into valuable performance metrics. This enables employees to track their progress in real time, identifying areas for improvement and setting personal goals. Alternatively, managers can use performance data to deliver personalized support and training to each team member. 

Gamification and Employee Rewards 

As mentioned above, WEM solutions focus on enhancing the employee experience, to ensure you can keep top talent in your contact center. Workforce engagement management tools with gamification features can enhance employee experiences by boosting motivation and transforming routine tasks into engaging challenges.  

Leaderboards, badges, and achievements can help foster healthy competition and even camaraderie among team members as they strive to achieve specific goals. An integrated solution for delivering rewards to staff members based on their achievements helps to positively reinforce valuable behaviors in the contact center and increase staff satisfaction. 

Feedback and Coaching Solutions 

Solutions for collecting and sharing feedback and delivering training to employees within a WEM platform are incredibly useful. Voice of the employee systems, like automated solutions that send surveys to team members about their experiences help business leaders understand the challenges that staff members might face.  

Solutions that automate the delivery of valuable feedback to staff and provide them with access to training resources help to facilitate ongoing development and optimization. Some WEM solutions even use AI tools to deliver coaching guidance to employees in real-time. 

Flexible Scheduling and Shift Management Tools 

While WEM solutions aren’t all about staffing and resource allocation, they should help you to make the most of your available employee resources. Flexible scheduling and shift management tools allow companies to create schedules based on the specific skills and preferences of their employees while ensuring they can achieve their business goals.  

Platforms with self-service options for employees can also help to give team members more control over their work hours and shifts. The ability to swap shifts quickly, submit time off requests, and adjust schedules reduces the risk of burnout and absenteeism among employees.  

Best Practices for WEM in Contact Centers 

Implementing Workforce Engagement Management solutions into your contact center can boost employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall operational efficiency. To ensure you make the most out of your software, here are some of the top best practices to follow.  

1. Benchmark Engagement Levels First 

Before introducing WEM strategies and tools into your contact center, it’s important to have a clear idea of the current engagement levels in your environment. This will help you to see clearly how your new tools are having an impact on your workforce. Use surveys, interviews, focus groups, and data from your contact center analytics tools to gather insights.  

Learn as much as you can about employee satisfaction and turnover levels, motivation, and areas of concern. Understanding the existing engagement landscape will help you to not only measure the results of your software but identify specific issues you’ll need to address with your technology. 

2. Choose the Right WEM Tools for Your Specific Needs 

Different WEM solutions come with unique features. The technology you implement into your contact center should address the specific challenges and goals of your business. For instance, if you want to improve compliance and improve access to in-depth analytics, you might need a WEM solution that also includes recording and transcription features.  

If you’re trying to address issues associated with motivation levels, high turnover rates, or absenteeism, looking for tools with built-in gamification elements, employee feedback systems, and solutions for flexible scheduling can be beneficial.  

3. Deliver the Right Training 

Like any new technology in your contact center, your WEM solution will only deliver results if your employees know how to use it correctly. If staff members don’t know how to use their tools to track specific performance metrics or manage their schedules, this can lead to frustration.  

Train your team members on how they can use the features of your system effectively. Show them how different elements of the technology work with hands-on demonstrations and videos and provide access to software documentation. As you upgrade your technology with new features, like AI-powered coaching systems, update your training initiatives too.  

4. Create a Powerful Feedback Loop 

Creating a culture of continuous feedback and improvement is a vital component in the successful implementation of WEM technology. Not only should business leaders and managers be able to share personalized feedback with staff members easily, but they should be able to source insights from staff members too.  

Surveys and digital suggestion boxes can be an excellent way to collect employee feedback into ways that workplaces and processes can be improved. Make sure you pay attention to the ideas your employees share and make changes to your strategy based on what you discover.  

5. Monitor, Adapt and Improve 

Once your workforce engagement management tools and strategies are in place, continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure you’re making the most of their capabilities. Regularly review both employee feedback and performance metrics and compare them to your original benchmarks.  

Take a collaborative approach to constantly optimizing processes based on suggestions made by your team members and stay up to date with technology innovations. New developments in AI and automation technologies can improve workforce management strategies. For instance, AI can deliver real-time coaching to streamline employee development efforts. 

Optimizing Workforce Engagement 

The customer experience shouldn’t be the only “experience” that matters to contact centers. Investing in the experience your employees have in the workplace, with a consistent approach to improving engagement, and boosting morale can drive powerful results.  

With the right workforce engagement management technology, you’ll be able to not only improve workforce satisfaction and retention rates, but boost operational efficiency, and reduce operational costs too. Plus, because your employees will be happier and more satisfied in their roles, they’ll be more productive, creative, and effective at serving customers. 

Learn more about the powerful workforce engagement solutions you can integrate with your contact center systems today, by contacting ComputerTalk. Our cloud-based systems integrate with the leading tools for staff scheduling, resource optimization, and employee engagement.