Lost and misplaced seconds and minutes add up to hard dollars. Get a grip on how time is used in your contact center. Learn how to manage and optimize agent work states and use manned-time metrics to recognize opportunities for improvement.

Consultants, accountants and attorneys track their time carefully-it's important. No less important to your company's success is the time you and your agents spend working. Insights into what agents are doing and when they are doing it affects your staffing decisions and the priorities you place on improvement initiatives.

The article addresses both aspects of the work-states battle-how to define and use work states, and how to achieve agent cooperation and buy in to their implementation. Although it recognizes that every contact center is different, it provides an example of how you can assign specific activities to specific work states.

Along with its sister article on schedule adherence, "Adapting Schedule Adherence Measurement to Improve Performance" (Response Design product code 10039), it provides a comprehensive picture of time utilization.