Shrinkage is a critical workforce management (WFM) metric that represents the percentage of scheduled agent time that is not available to handle customer interactions. This includes "External Shrinkage" like vacations and sick leave, and "Internal Shrinkage" like team meetings, 1:1 coaching, breaks, and administrative training.
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How is Shrinkage Rate calculated?
Shrinkage = (Total Unavailable Hours / Total Scheduled Hours) × 100. For example, if an agent is scheduled for 40 hours but spends 10 hours in meetings, breaks, and training, their shrinkage rate is 25%. Industry standards typically range from 25% to 35%.
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Why is Shrinkage essential for Staffing Models?
If you need 100 agents to handle peak ticket volume and your shrinkage is 30%, you actually need to hire 130 agents. Ignoring shrinkage is the #1 reason Support teams feel chronically understaffed despite "hitting their hiring targets."
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How can Support Ops optimize "Internal Shrinkage"?
Optimization isn't about cutting breaks, but about "Strategic Scheduling." Use WFM tools to schedule meetings and training during "Low-Volume Valleys" rather than during peak morning or afternoon rushes, protecting your Service Level (SLA).
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What are the main categories of "Support Shrinkage"?
1) Planned (Holidays, Training, Meetings). 2) Unplanned (Sickness, System downtime, Latency issues). 3) Discretionary (Coaching, Project time). Successful teams track these separately to identify where they can recover lost capacity.
Knowledge Challenge
Mastered Shrinkage Rate? Now try to guess the related 5-letter word!
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