Since 2020, the contact center workforce management (WFM) space has shifted in two significant ways.
First, the shift to remote work. The pandemic forced many businesses into remote environments, and while some companies have returned to the office, others have embraced hybrid or fully remote models.
That shift opened the door for new scheduling approaches like micro-shifts, voluntary time off, and split shifts.
After all, when people aren’t commuting to an office, it’s easier to get creative with their schedules. For example, they can work a few hours in the morning, take a break, and come back later in the day.
Remote work has made this level of flexibility possible.
Second, there is a heightened focus on people and well-being. The pandemic advanced conversations around employee wellness, and many organizations have kept that momentum going.
In WFM, this means balancing productivity and efficiency with supporting employees’ needs. It’s about creating schedules that work for both the business and the people doing the work.
Against this backdrop, Dan Smitley, Founder of 2:Three Consulting, joins the Contact Center Talk miniseries.
In conversation with host Justin Robbins, Founder & Principal Analyst at Metric Sherpa, Smitley shares seven best practices for contact center WFM in 2025.
A written rundown of each best practice is also available below.
1. Make Agent Well-Being and Engagement a Central WFM Metric
WFM teams have solid math for things like forecasting and occupancy. But, when it comes to understanding and meeting agent needs – like flexibility, satisfaction, and happiness – it’s harder to quantify. That makes it challenging to include those factors in calculations.
Organizations that are succeeding in hybrid or remote models are actively seeking ways to measure and prioritize agent well-being. They’re focusing on flexible schedules, creating a positive work environment, and ensuring employees feel supported.
That’s critical because if contact centers can’t turn well-being into something tangible, it’s easy to dismiss its importance. But it plays a huge role in productivity and culture.
2. Confront the Challenges of New Shift Patterns
The foundations of WFM remain the same: forecasting and scheduling. But, new gig models take flexibility to the extreme, and that introduces new challenges.
For example, instead of scheduling 40-hour shifts, a planner might create one- or three-hour blocks. While this adds flexibility, it also raises questions about quality, communication, and culture.
Control is another challenge. In a traditional model, planners can reasonably predict who will be working and when. Yet, in a gig model, they rely on people to voluntarily pick up shifts, which adds uncertainty.
WFM teams have to ask themselves: how do we create an environment where people want to show up? How do we balance flexibility with reliability? These are tough questions, and they require a shift in mindset.
3. Challenge Your Planning Assumptions
It’s easy for WFM teams to step into a planning conversation and say: “We already know the answer.”
After all, planners tend to assume they’re right about when breaks should happen, when training should occur, how many people are needed etc., because they have the data.
However, the way they approach those conversations can sometimes shut them down.
Take schedule adherence as another example. Often, a planner comes in with assumptions: “You’re supposed to be on break”, “You shouldn’t be in AUX”, or “Why aren’t you doing this?” These are rooted in the belief that they know best because of the numbers.
Yet, when the WFM team strips out the human element, they miss opportunities.
If they add that human element back, the conversation changes. It’s no longer about catching someone in the wrong state but understanding the why.
Instead of saying, “You’re in AUX too much today,” they can start with curiosity: “Hey, I noticed something seems off today—are you okay? Do you need help? Did we miss a schedule update?”
Approaching these conversations with kindness and curiosity shifts them from being corrective to collaborative. It fosters support and partnership rather than control.
4. Think About WFM’s Place within the Organization
Consider how the WFM team positions itself within the organization. Are planners the “numbers people” dictating actions, or are they collaborators who invite others into conversations to drive better outcomes?
This best practice isn’t limited to WFM. Quality analysts face a similar challenge. They’re experts in their standards, but they sometimes posture themselves as “the authority” instead of collaborators.
As experts in any field, service leaders must recognize that their role is not just to enforce standards but to position their expertise in a way that drives transformative value for the business.
5. Balance Agent, Business, & Customer Outcomes
Weighing up agent, business, and customer needs is a constant balancing act, and it’s easy to over-index one of these areas.
Take startups as an example. They often lean into agent flexibility: “We’re family; breaks happen whenever!” But in doing so, they may neglect to equip agents with clear guidelines for success.
Conversely, there are companies hyper-focused on business goals: occupancy rates, average handling time (AHT), and maximizing productivity. Then, there are those obsessed with customer experience at the expense of employees.
The key is intentionality. Different seasons require different focuses. For instance, a planner might prioritize profitability for capital investments one year and people-centric strategies the next.
What matters is aligning WFM to the organization’s broader strategy and supporting it through forecasts, schedules, and intraday practices.
Lastly, the WFM team must be at the table during strategic discussions. If WFM is misaligned – like enforcing rigid controls when leadership is advocating flexibility – it won’t have the impact it’s capable of.
6. Beware of How WFM Solutions Will Evolve
AI will revolutionize the data WFM teams use and how they operate.
For example, forecasting will become more dynamic. AI can pull in data from marketing campaigns, weather patterns, or even speech analytics systems to predict agent performance.
Imagine AI reforecasting intraday plans because it detects agents are disengaged or tired based on their tone in conversations. That’s the future.
AI can also aggregate insights about customer requests or product impacts on AHT. It will analyze data far beyond what a human could process.
For WFM leaders, though, this automation can feel threatening, as if AI is coming for their jobs.
Of course, AI will automate some tasks. That’s why it’s critical for planners to start building relationships and expanding their scope now…
7. Go Beyond Number-Crunching & Step Up!
Look beyond the contact center: can the WFM team support back-office operations? Can they become a strategic partner across more channels?
By positioning WFM as indispensable before automation takes hold, planners secure their roles and increase their impact.
That’s massive not just because of the future of AI. Indeed, WFM teams can do so much more than crunch numbers and deliver schedules.
Service leaders can offer support this by bringing planners into more strategic contact center conversations and challenging them to step up. That involves thinking in new ways and contributing to broader customer, employee, and business goals.
After all, WFM teams are capable of having a much bigger impact than they often receive credit for.
Don’t miss an episode of our Contact Center Talk miniseries. Sign up for the CX Today Newsletter.
Alternatively, to catch up on previous episodes, check out the stories below:
- 10 Best Practices for Contact Center Quality Assurance in 2025
- 7 Best Practices for Contact Center AI in 2025
- 6 Best Practices for the Work-From-Home (WFH) Contact Center in 2025
