Each quarter SWPP surveys the workforce planning community on critical workforce planning topics. Almost 200 call center professionals representing a wide variety of industries participated and provided insight into this quarter’s survey on agent time-off.

Participant Profile

The largest percentage of participants (39%) is in large centers with over 500 agents. Sixteen percent have 100-200 agents, while 14% have 200-300 agents. Eleven percent have 50-100 agents. All types of call center operations are represented in the survey, with the biggest percentages representing financial, insurance, telecommunications, and health care.

How Time Off is Accrued

When asked how time off is accrued by agents, 32% say that it is accrued at the beginning of the year, 21% say monthly, and 16% say weekly. Thirty percent say they use another method.

Differentiate Between Sick & Vacation Days

Sixty-one percent of the respondents say that they differentiate between sick and vacation days.

Vacation Days Received by New Hire

Thirty-six percent say that new hires receive 10-14 days vacation, while 28% say they receive less than 5 days. New hires receive more than 15 days in 20% of the call centers, and 5-9 days in 16%.

Sick Days Received by New Hire

About half (44%) of the participants say that new hires receive less than five days of sick time, while 32% say 5-9 days, and 17% say 10-14 days. Only 7% say new hires receive more than 15 days.

Total Paid Days Off

When asked what the total number of paid days off is if sick and vacation days are not differentiated, 48% say more than 15 days, 26% say 10-14 days, and 15% say 5-9 days. Eleven percent say it is less than five days.

Other Types of Time Off

We asked about other time off (both paid and unpaid), and the top types mentioned include bereavement, jury duty, paid holidays, maternity, military, disability, floating holidays, paternity, and adoption.

Accruing Additional Week of Time Off

In almost half of the organizations (47%), an employee must work five years to accrue an additional week of time off. In 14%, the additional week is accrued in three years, and in 13% each, over five years and one year.

How Time Off is Requested

Online agent self-service tools are used in 82% of the organizations that participated in the survey, while only 11% use paper request forms, and 7% use a central board or calendar.

Days-Off Requested and Approved

Almost half (44%) of the participants say that days off are requested and approved 12 months in advance, while 29% say one month, and 16% say six months. Eleven percent say three months.

Minimum Requirement for Requesting Days Off

Over half (58%) of the participants say they require one day as the minimum time requirement for requesting days off, while 17% require 2-4 days, and 9% each report two weeks and one week.

Prioritizing Vacation Requests

Forty-eight percent say they use a mixture of seniority and performance to determine how vacation requests are prioritized, while 40% do this process by seniority only, and 12% by performance only.

Requests Granted if Submitted Less than One Week in Advance

Ninety-three percent of the participants can grant requests for time off if submitted less than one week in advance if the schedule can accommodate it. Seven percent say no, that it is considered unplanned time off.

General Level of Agent Satisfaction

Almost three-quarters (69%) say that agents are generally satisfied with getting desired days off. Fourteen percent say agents are very satisfied, while 12% say agents are somewhat dissatisfied, and five percent say agents are mostly dissatisfied.

Closing Comments

Based on these results, it appears that many companies are still separating vacation and sick time rather than converting to “paid time off” which does not differentiate. Almost half of the respondents provide up to 15 days of total time off, which is pretty normal for new hires in a variety of jobs in North America. Compared to companies in other parts of the world, this is quite low, as 4 weeks of vacation plus sick time and 10-12 bank holidays are common in parts of Europe for example. This would take many years of service to earn here. Nearly half of the respondents indicate that there is an annual vacation selection process and a surprising 80%+ indicated that the process is automated.

As more centers have moved from pure seniority for schedule bidding, we see a similar pattern in vacation choice with more than half using performance alone or in conjunction with seniority playing a role. Almost 1 in 6 reports that their agents are either somewhat or mostly dissatisfied with the current process of getting desired days off. This can contribute to absenteeism and turnover so is worthy of some attention.

We appreciate your participation in this study and hope that you will participate in our next survey, which will be available online soon.

©2012 Society of Workforce Planning Professionals