We're going to call him Bob. We're going to say that he's fictional, but I think we all know a Bob.
I met this fictional and totally non-real person, Bob, at the ICMI Contact Center Expo. Bob came up to me because he is a workforce management professional, just like I am, and he was clearly proud of his team, his software and what he'd built. He lands with the biggest smile on his face and says, "My forecast accuracy is consistently at 98%."
And I sat there waiting for him to finish the thought.
So, my response is, "And...?"
Bob, unfortunately, as successful as he's being, has fallen into the trap that I think a lot of workforce management professionals do. They think that our job is to predict the future. And I think that's part of our environment. That is absolutely part of what we're supposed to be doing. But that's not the whole job.
Should Bob be congratulated for his 98%? Absolutely. Congratulations, Bob. You did a good thing. But I'm still going to stick with my "and”?
Because here's the trap that I think workforce management falls into, and sometimes we grow up inside of it and don't even realize that it's a trap. Too often, we look at our metrics, our forecast accuracy, schedule efficiency, occupancy, insert data point, insert data point, insert data point ad nauseam and think that's our job. Our job is to increase the data points, become more accurate and simply predict the future better.
And I think that's wrong.
I'll go on record saying the point of workforce management isn't to chase these metrics. The point of workforce management is to be a connector.
But before we get to what connecting means and why I think that's the point, let's sit inside the metrics for a second, because they aren't random. Occupancy, service level, shrinkage and forecast accuracy all influence one another. That's typically the world we live in. We don't live in disparate data points. We see the connections.
That's what makes us really good at workforce management.
We think holistically and critically about the larger picture, and so we leverage these data points to, again from my perspective, predict the future. It's a good thing. A lot of the time, that's where we were asked to start.
There's a new call center. Labor costs are off, service levels are struggling and someone points out there's a discipline called workforce management that can help. From there, the goal becomes clear: better predict staffing needs and customer demand.
That's where most workforce management teams start.
Unfortunately, too often, that's also where we stay.
They put us in our corners, hand us the scorecard, and we respond with reports, schedules and maybe an RTA team to manage the day-to-day. Everything stays centered on service level, occupancy and forecast accuracy.
At some point, that’s on us.
They don't know how valuable we can be or fully understand workforce management like we do. Too often, I see teams sitting on the sidelines saying, "They're not asking me to join the meeting or share my opinion, so I'll just stay quiet over here."
I hear people saying, "I wish I had a seat at the table," but they're doing nothing to explain why they should be there. And even when they do get invited in, they often default back to reporting numbers instead of shaping decisions.
Honestly, I'm kind of tired of hearing people talk about getting a seat at the table. I'm pointing a finger at myself here because I've definitely given talks and presentations about workforce management getting a seat at the table. But a seat isn't the goal. The goal is what you do once you're there.
It's about influence and connecting. It's about being part of the conversation before decisions are made, not just reacting after the fact. And the way you get there isn't by perfecting your reports. It's by connecting your work to the people and decisions that actually move the business forward.
Sure, Bob, your 98% is super impressive, and I genuinely am glad that you hit that. But are you also connected with finance? When it comes to budgeting season, are you simply consuming the finance output, or are you helping drive the budgeting conversation?
Bob, when marketing creates a campaign and pushes new promotions, are you finding out at the last-minute, or helping shape when it should start and stop based on staffing? When agents complain about schedules, are you driving initiatives with HR to adjust policies, or shut out because you haven’t built those relationships?
I might be giving Bob a hard time, and maybe he doesn't deserve it. But remember, he is a fictional person, so it's OK.
The reality is that workforce management is so often seen as a hard-data discipline that we completely miss the fact that connecting is the best way to ensure our longevity. Because when all you are is an output, it's easy to see how "they" could automate you through AI. When all I need you to do is create a report, why wouldn't they just find a faster report creator?
This is my warning to other WFM professionals: When you see the scorecard of forecast accuracy, service levels, and occupancy as your goal, you are positioning yourself to be easily replaced through layoffs and AI automation.
The best way to avoid that is not to get a seat at the table. It's to get in the seat at the table and help connect the people who are already there. Listen and start contributing to the larger conversation, not just with your data points, but with critical thought for the whole team at the table.
If I were to join a WFM team and it's thriving across the board, the metrics are solid, the agents aren't complaining and everything seems to be running well, but my boss and my organization aren't connecting me to other departments, that's a red flag to me.
It might be that workforce management is running smoothly, but why doesn't marketing or finance or HR need to know that I'm here? Why am I not developing relationships? And what is that saying about my workforce management practice?
It genuinely makes me nervous that I could be in an organization that values my output instead of my influence.
And like I said, output is easily automated.
Here’s the thing, Bob: I will take an organization with 50% forecast accuracy and significant influence over an organization, instead of 98% accuracy and no influence.
Because from my perspective, those connections and that ability to influence are how I'm going to improve my forecast. It's how I'm going to ensure that what my forecast produces drives business decisions, impacts employee engagement and improves customer experience.
Yeah, 50% accuracy straight up sucks. But I'm confident that with the right relationships, I can improve that. And I can stay relevant and valuable to the larger organization once the forecast starts to settle down.
Workforce management should care about forecast accuracy, schedule adherence and occupancy. Those are important pieces of a larger puzzle. But that is not the game we're trying to play. We should not be looking at that dashboard or scorecard and thinking that somehow we're ahead.
What we should be looking at is: when something goes sideways, who outside of our department reaches out to us to let us know? When people are thinking about making dramatic changes, do they pull us into the conversation because they know we care and we'll have an opinion? Or are we sitting on the sidelines with an amazing scorecard and accuracy, but no one is listening?
I'm hoping and challenging my fellow WFM leaders to stop trying to win the wrong game.