SWPP is pleased to sponsor the 2010 Workforce Management Professional of the Year award, which will recognize a workforce management professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.

Who is a Workforce Management Professional?

A Workforce Management Professional is a person in the call center who is involved in getting the “just right” number of resources in place to handle customer contacts. Most call centers have a workforce management specialist or team of workforce planners whose sole job function is to focus on getting the right workforce in place to match the call center’s workload.

Workforce planning responsibilities may include one or several of the following duties:

• Analyze historical reports on workload.
• Create short-term and long-term workload forecasts.
• Calculate staff requirements based on service goals.
• Create staff schedules to maximize service and minimize cost.
• Process time-off requests and update daily schedule exceptions.
• Track actual events versus daily forecasts to adjust staff to meet service goals.
• Monitor real-time status and recommend changes to meet service and cost goals.
• Provide reports on workload trends and resource requirements.

Who should be nominated for Workforce Management Professional of the Year?

A Workforce Management Professional of the Year nominee should be someone who understands the importance of staffing in the call center, and also understands that workforce management is as much an “art” as it is a “science.” A successful workforce management professional combines computer skills and mathematical ability with a working knowledge of the business and the negotiation skills of a diplomat. There is no requirement that the nominee be a member of SWPP.

What does the Workforce Management Professional of the Year receive?

The five finalists for this award will be recognized at the 2010 SWPP Annual Conference, and will receive a 50% discount to the Conference. The Workforce Management Professional of the Year will receive an award at the Conference, and will be featured in an article in the SWPP newsletter, On Target, along with an industry press release. The winner will also receive a free 2010 Annual Conference pass.

What information should the nomination form contain?

First, prepare a summary of why you are nominating this person in three to five bullet points. Then follow this with a narrative with a minimum of 750 and maximum of 2,000 words. But the more you can tell us about your candidate, the better their chance of winning. You may submit your information in a Q&A format, or a story format. Please answer the following questions in your nomination form:

1. Why do you believe the nominee should receive the award?
2. Describe the individual and his or her personality characteristics, and how these characteristics helped to make him or her a success in the job.
3. How has this person contributed to realizing the goals of the call center? Give an example of what the person has achieved in the workforce management area of the call center.

Who may submit nominations?

Any authorized employee of the call center may submit a nominee from their call center. An employee of the call center’s business partner or a public relations representative acting on behalf of the call center or business partner may also submit candidates.

What is the deadline for nominations?

Nominations must be received by February 12, 2010. The five finalists will be notified by February 22, 2010.

Who will judge the nominations?

The Board of Advisors of SWPP will review the nominations and select five finalists for the award. The Board will then choose the Workforce Management Professional of the Year from those five finalists.

When will the award be announced?

The Workforce Management Professional of the Year award will be announced at the 2010 SWPP Annual Conference, which will be held March 17-19, 2010 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.

Click here to nominate a colleague for the Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award.

Congratulations to Drexel Fitzwater, 2009 Workforce Management Professional of the Year. Click here to read more about Drexel's accomplishments. Congratulations to the other finalists for this award: Liz Beardsley of Delta Air Lines, Tony Capuro of Prime Therapeutics, Taras Chmil of Siemens, and Tony Graczyk of Principal Financial Group. Click here to read more about these finalists.