Call center shrinkage: how to calculate and reduce it

Meet Monica, a workforce planner at a call center. Arjun and Sara are two of her agents. They're fictional, but their days are familiar. We'll follow them to show how shrinkage looks from the planner's desk and from the agent's chair.

What is call center shrinkage?

Call center shrinkage is the share of paid agent time when agents can't handle customer contacts. The time goes to breaks, training, meetings, leave, sickness and system problems. Planners use it to decide how many agents to schedule, because paid hours and available hours are never the same.

Genesys describes it as the percentage of paid staff time that agents are unavailable to handle customer interactions.

Monica schedules enough agents for a busy Monday, yet the queue still backs up. Arjun is in training, Sara is on a break, and another agent called in sick.

In short: a schedule built on paid hours alone overstates who can answer calls.

What is the call center shrinkage formula?

The shrinkage rate equals unavailable paid hours divided by total paid hours. Add up every paid hour when agents can't take contacts, divide by all paid hours on the schedule, and show the result as a share of the whole. Split the total into planned and unplanned parts to see where the time goes.

Shrinkage rate = unavailable paid hours ÷ total paid hours

These example numbers are made up to show the steps. They are not a benchmark.

Shrinkage calculator

Enter hours for one period. The starting numbers are the made-up example week above. Replace them with your own. With those starting numbers, the calculator shows:

Agents to schedule = agents needed on the phones ÷ (1 minus the shrinkage rate), rounded up.

Monica fills in her own team's week with the same layout. The unplanned part turns out to be small, so she looks at planned time first.

In short: split the total, and you know where to act.

How do you calculate shrinkage in WFM and Excel?

In a workforce management (WFM) tool, shrinkage usually comes from scheduled and actual time states. In Excel, list each hour category by week, add the unavailable hours, and divide by paid hours. Use the same period for both numbers, and keep category names the same every week.

Sara's hours come from her time records, not from the schedule. Monica uses the records, because the schedule shows plans, not what happened.

In short: use actual hours, not planned ones, for the unplanned part.

What causes call center shrinkage?

Shrinkage has two sources. Planned shrinkage is time you schedule: breaks, training, meetings and leave. Unplanned shrinkage is time you can't predict: sickness, lateness, early exits and system downtime. Some sources call these internal and external, so choose one set of terms and keep it.

Arjun's shift often starts late because his login tool is slow. Nobody counts it, so it sits in the gaps of Monica's plan.

In short: name each cause, or it hides inside the total.

What is a good call center shrinkage rate?

There's no single correct rate. A good rate is one you can plan for, explain and improve. Vendor guides often cite a common range, but they rarely name a source, and definitions differ. Compare your rate with your own history first, and with others only if the definitions match.

Monica compares her rate with a sister center. That center leaves breaks out of its count, so the two numbers can't be compared.

In short: compare like with like, and start with your own trend.

How does shrinkage affect staffing and service level?

Shrinkage raises the number of agents you must schedule. Divide the agents you need on the phones by one minus your shrinkage rate. Service level is the share of contacts answered within a target time, and short staffing from ignored shrinkage pulls it down.

Monica's forecast says she needs agents on the phones for a big launch day. She schedules that number plus the shrinkage margin, and not the bare number. Good capacity planning starts there.

In short: divide by one minus shrinkage, or you'll be short.

How do you reduce call center shrinkage?

Reduce shrinkage by fixing the causes you can control. Schedule training and meetings in quiet hours, track adherence to the schedule, and look for patterns in sickness and lateness. Don't aim for zero, because breaks and training are needed for agents to stay well and do good work.

Employers

• Move meetings and coaching to low-volume hours.
• Check schedule adherence daily, and talk to people before you judge.
• Review sickness and lateness patterns by shift and team.

Agents

• Tell your planner early about known time off.
• Check your own attendance record and raise errors.

According to its attendance docs, We360.ai shows presence, punctuality, working hours and break patterns, with trends for late arrivals and break time. That can feed the unplanned part of your formula, through its attendance insights. See how it fits BPO teams.

Sara's lateness spikes on one weekday. Monica checks the attendance trend and learns that a shuttle bus runs late that day.

In short: look for the pattern before you blame the person.

How do you track shrinkage fairly for agents?

Track shrinkage as a team measure, tell agents which time counts and why, and let them see their own attendance data. A rate is a planning tool, not a punishment. Counting a short break against one agent builds resentment, while counting it in the team's plan is fair.

In We360.ai, managers see attendance for their assigned teams, and employees see their own information, according to the same docs. Open data is easier to accept than numbers an agent never sees.

Sara asks whether Monica tracks her breaks. Monica says yes, as part of the team's plan, and shows Sara her own record.

In short: tell agents what counts, and show them their own numbers.

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