Agent satisfaction and retention remain a perennial issue in contact center and back-office environments.
According to the
2025 Workforce Management Trends for Contact Center Leadership, the average turnover now hovers around 39% for contact center agents and 34% for back-office employees. The same survey found that 58% of respondents say agent attrition has gotten worse in recent years. With the cost of turnover averaging over $20,000 per agent, addressing these challenges is top priority for workforce managers.
Today's workforce—particularly millennials, Gen Z employees, and remote workers—deeply values flexible work arrangements. Offering greater scheduling flexibility is one of the most effective ways to improve agent satisfaction and retention. Self-service scheduling tools are key to empowering agents while letting managers define permissions, configure activity codes, and set parameters for shift trades.
To deliver the flexible scheduling today’s employees want, you’ll need workforce management (WFM) tools that offer agile capabilities for agents and don't overburden managers with administrative tasks. Here are nine ways leading organizations are driving agent engagement with WFM.
1. Self-service anytime, anywhere with mobile access
For self-service to be useful for agents, they need to be able to access their schedules and make requests no matter where they are. Modern WFM tools offer mobile access so agents can trade shifts, conduct self-swaps, request time off, and make schedule updates on the go. Managers can stay informed on these requests whether the employee is on the clock, working remote, or on a day off.
Mobile access also allows agents to keep up to date on their KPIs. Some apps include performance statistics views where agents can get insight into how they’re performing well before their next coaching session. This supports agents in self-management, empowering them to continue improving their performance proactively.
2. Intelligent auto-adjusting schedule trades
Manually approving every single shift trade request adds loads of menial work to managers’ plates and can frustrate agents in the process. Pre-approved shift trades simplify the process and give agents more flexibility without disrupting operations. Carefully calibrated in advance to match specific rules around availability, preferences, and skills, shift trades can be quick and customizable where needed.
For example, an agent can trade a shift or block of time with multiple agents (one-to-many) if a single colleague with the same skill set is not available for the full period of time being traded. This intelligent auto-adjusting capability relieves managers of the friction typically associated with the approval process. Managers can ensure that the contact center maintains appropriate staffing levels while stepping back a bit and letting agents handle trades.
3. Real-time visibility into request change management
Ideally, your
WFM tools will give you and your team real-time visibility into the status of requests. It’s frustrating for both parties when agents need to continuously follow up and check whether or not their time off, overtime (OT) or voluntary time-off (VTO) request has been approved. Visibility into where the request is in the process minimizes friction and administrative delays.
4. Effective time off management
It’s all about visibility! Agents need access to see their balances of earned, used, and remaining leave to best plan time off. Mobile apps are a useful tool here as well, letting agents seamlessly request days off. Some WFM platforms also have waitlist capabilities, further removing the administrative burden from managers and supervisors.
5. Gamification of scheduling with shift currency
Forecasted demand and intraday staffing requirements can fluctuate, and you may have situations where you need to offer extra hours to agents. Incentivize agents to pick up extra hours for premium intervals by offering them shift currency through your WFM. Agents can pick up premium intervals for shift currency credits. You configure how many currency credits a particular premium interval is worth. Shift currency gives agents a voice in the scheduling process and leverages gamification for better employee engagement.
6. Automated self-swaps
With self-swaps functionality, agents can change and arrange their own shifts by swapping out a scheduled block of work time and swapping in one or multiple equivalent shifts. The swap is completed automatically and immediately, but only if it optimizes staffing for the contact center. Done manually, self-service shift swapping would be prohibitively time- and resource-consuming, error prone, and difficult to track. The complexity and time required would grow exponentially as the swaps spread across teams of agents. With the right WFM tool, the benefits of self-swaps can be realized without cumbersome manual tasks.
7. Adaptive events functionality
Sometimes, agents need to adjust scheduled breaks and other activities. With the number of channels agents must manage daily multiplying (60% of those surveyed in the
2025 Workforce Management Trends report said the number of customer channels they use increased again last year), interactions likely don’t follow the agent’s preset schedule.
Adaptive events functionality in some WFM tools can provide real-time alerts and automatically adjust the agent’s schedule. You can decide how far the event can move when an adjustment comes in to keep overall schedules for the day on track. This way, agents don’t have to contact their supervisor to inform them of the updated schedule. This empowers your employee to put the customer first.
8. Gig scheduling
Hybrid work schedules don’t just refer to remote/office combos. You can create flexibility in agent scheduling by offering a hybrid “gig” style of scheduling.
For example, you can create a 20-hour weekly base schedule and then allow your employees to fill in the rest of their required hours with open shifts. Agents can choose their “gigs” to fit their schedule and achieve a better work-life balance. This approach also protects the business by keeping staff levels at the near-term interval requirements and avoiding required overtime or voluntary time off.
Depending on business needs and agent preferences, you could also consider a full gig-scheduling model. Here, you allow staff to pick up open shifts for their full schedule with pre-approval based on rules and requirements customized to your business.
9. Shift bidding
Use shift bidding as a tool for engagement, instead of a punishment. Leading contact centers have best practices for shift bidding that leverage this process to reward their top talent with targeted KPIs. This keeps teams motivated, provides better customer service, and keeps your schedule needs current with the forecast demands.
Schedule bidding also incentivizes your staff to select more undesirable shifts. When possible, have your current team bid and then offer the leftover shifts to your new hires. Even better: Post the expected shift in the job description for roles you’re currently hiring for. This proactive approach allows you to hire talent for schedules that fit their work-life balance needs.
Implementing flexible scheduling tools is a win for everyone involved. By giving agents more control over their schedules, you can reduce stress, build trust, and foster a positive workplace environment. For your organization, this means improved retention, reduced overtime costs, and better alignment of staffing with demand.
NICE WFM offers features that tap all nine of the best practices listed here and more, increasing employee engagement and flexibility while bettering customer service and the business’ bottom line.
