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New Project Staffing for Outsourced Call Centers with Global Service Level Agreements

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas R. Robbins

    (Department of Marketing and Supply Chain, College of Business, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858)

  • Terry P. Harrison

    (Dept. of Supply chain and Information Systems, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802)

Abstract

We consider the issue of new project staffing in an outsourced call center required to meet a monthly Service Level Agreement (SLA). We present empirical analysis generated during a field study with a provider of outsourced call center services to illustrate the unique issues related to staffing a new project. Our work shows that during the start-up phase of a project agents experience significant improvements in productivity that reduce the staffing requirements over time. We also find that turnover, which is typically high in a call center environment, may be even higher for a project launch dominated by newly hired agents. These factors interact with the uncertainty of call volumes and talk time to create a difficult hiring challenge. We develop a model that finds the level of hiring with the lowest total expected cost of operation while meeting service level commitments. [ Service Science , ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas R. Robbins & Terry P. Harrison, 2011. "New Project Staffing for Outsourced Call Centers with Global Service Level Agreements," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 41-66, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orserv:v:3:y:2011:i:1:p:41-66
    DOI: 10.1287/serv.3.1.41
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