Editorial
The Gist
- Metric clarity. Clearly define AHT purpose and measurement for effective use.
- Agent focus. Allow agents to prioritize problem resolution over AHT adherence.
- Implementation strategy. Tailor AHT policies to fit unique business needs and contexts.
At a contact center for a major US brand, my colleague discovered an interesting phenomenon while observing agents live in action. A management advisory firm had advised the company to maintain the average handle time (AHT) of 480 seconds, or 8 minutes, based on a benchmark study.
Apparently, the company’s AHT was higher and needed to be reduced. Given the nature of the business and the typical problems customers had, calls would frequently extend beyond this new threshold. And because of the company's strict adherence policy, agents routinely received negative performance reviews.
Agents Get Creative
Consequently, agents became creative and would end their call within the 8-minute window, even if the matter was not resolved. Then they would simply make an immediate outbound call to the customer. There was no policy around outbound calling. On one such occasion, an agent told her customer, “I need to hang up to ensure I stay within my allotted time limit for my calls." She further informed the customer that she would call them back immediately and solve their problem.
Average Handle Time Metrics: Same Name, Different Game
Average handle time is one of the most prominent and ubiquitous metrics for a contact center. I have yet to work with a single company that does not measure AHT. Yet, while the terminology is the same, the purpose, definition, measurement and implementation are often very different. Thus, comparison of AHTs from two companies within the same industry, may not necessarily be an apples-to-apples comparison.
Related Article: 29 Call Center Metrics That Drive Customer Satisfaction
Evaluating AHT: Key Questions for Managers
Let’s consider some key questions contact center managers need to ask: Is average handle time a valuable metric for contact centers? If so, how do we measure it? What do we do with the data? What effect does AHT have on agents? On customers? What is AHT telling contact center leaders? Should AHT be reduced, maintained or increased? How should this be done? Is there a standard or benchmark AHT for contact centers?
Now let's focus on several of these important questions. The answer to the first question above is an absolute, emphatic, "YES, but…!"
AHT is a tremendously valuable metric if:
- Its purpose is succinctly stated and understood by the entire organization.
- It is defined and measured correctly.
- It is implemented uniformly and consistently.
The Purpose
What AHT Should Be:
My experience has shown that ideally average handle time should be an internal-operations-focused metric. Its singular primary purpose must be to forecast the demand for agents. In other words, AHT should mainly focus on planning capacity properly and scheduling agents with precision.
Furthermore, AHT should be used to identify flaws in the company’s contact center processes, knowledge, infrastructure and systems. These issues hinder agents from providing the highest level of customer service and lead to lengthy calls. AHT can also provide valuable input toward specific training for agents.
What AHT Should NOT Be:
AHT should not be associated with customer experience or satisfaction. Projecting AHT as a customer-centric metric is a mistake. Handle time from a customer perspective is quite different (refer to this article for customer-centric calculation of handle time). Customers care about having their problem resolved, not the amount of time it took to solve it — unless they were put on multiple and long holds with annoying music and irrelevant announcements, and/or requiring them to repeat their situation several times.
Adherence to AHT should not be the agents’ responsibility. Neither should they be penalized for exceeding the arbitrary AHT target. If it is measured with the wrong perspective, agents will find many creative ways to beat the system. Agents should be free to focus only on resolving the caller’s problem, and not have to keep one eye glued to the call timer.
AHT should not be used as a tool to create any type of competition among agents. If anything, competition should be around whether the customers’ problems were resolved or not. That is tracked by another key metric — first call resolution or FCR — a topic for a future article.
Related Article: What Is Average Handle Time (AHT) and Does It Impact Customer Experience?
Definition and Measurement
The definition of the AHT should be directly based on the stated purpose of the AHT for your company. The definition should also include the unit of time and the relative time frame that is most relevant to the business.
For example, a simple definition could be, “Handle time includes all time from the moment a call is delivered to an agent to the point when the customer hangs up the phone and the agent’s status is changed.” This can include what is known as a combination of "talk time, hold time, transfer time, After Call Work (ACW)," etc. In short, if the purpose is to ensure proper capacity forecasting and scheduling, then any aspect that affects the relevant parameters should be accounted for.
AHT is simply the mathematical average, i.e., the sum of all individual handle times for calls within a given period divided by the total number of calls handled in that period.
At this point, another set of questions arises. Is a single value of AHT really useful? Or can it be misleading? Would it be better to measure AHT for specific queues or sets of intents? Or would it help to have a different AHT for specific periods? For example, healthcare benefits enrollment is an annual event for most employees and medicare participants. Typically, this is a stressful event and people need a lot of hand-holding to navigate the complex rules and jargon. A typical annual AHT threshold may probably not be relevant in such times. On the other hand, including these handle times in the measurement of a single value could likely skew the AHT.
Another Example
Using another example, flight delays and cancellations have been plaguing the airline industry over the past couple of years. Regardless of the cause, airline contact centers are experiencing significant volumes and customer backlash. Call density — the number of calls in a given period — is usually very high. They are often ill-equipped to respond to customers’ questions, let alone solve their problems. Dealing with irate customers desperate to reach their destinations adds enormous stress on the agent. These calls also last longer than most other routine calls received by airlines. Perhaps it may be beneficial to have a separate AHT for such calls.
Thus, a single AHT value could ostensibly lead to overstaffing or understaffing at times. A granular set of AHTs would require deeper capturing and analyzing of data. It is a trade-off that needs careful consideration for your specific company.
Uniform and Consistent Implementation
As with everything else, execution is the key. Thus, how average handle time is determined and implemented will ultimately determine the value and effectiveness of your organization. One company I have interacted with had an AHT target of 11 minutes and 29 seconds. The company's methodology was doing a rolling 12-month AHT calculation. Another company had a flat value of 12 minutes. It's rationale was that the company had researched benchmarks for their industry and set the AHT accordingly.
Additionally, there are differences in how each company enforces AHT. Some are very rigorous and measure every call and hold the agents accountable for their personal adherence to AHT. In such cases, there is also a significant variation of the time unit — some measure agents’ AHT daily, some weekly or even monthly basis. Some others are decentralized in their execution, leaving the decision with individual team leaders, thus creating inconsistent approaches within the same organization. And some others are extremely lax with little enforcement.
Owning the Problem
In one of the global companies I have worked with, I observed agents in their tech-support organization — who are not strictly tethered to any time constraint. The company does measure AHT but uses it simply to schedule agents appropriately. These agents listen to their customers’ issues and painstakingly try to solve them while on the phone.
If they are unable to solve the problem, they end the call and spend time researching potential solutions. They may consult with other internal experts or create work orders for field support if necessary. They will reach out to the customer again to share the status and/or finally resolve the problem. They own the problem and typically do not receive other phone calls until they either resolve the problem or hand over the ownership of the problem to a colleague. This scenario works well for this company. The agents seem to be happier and more engaged given that they feel they are genuinely helping their customers.
Related Article: Are Your Call Center Operations Making Employees Leave?
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Call to Action
I strongly recommended the following short-term actions.
- Eliminate the pressure on the agent to adhere to an AHT and let them focus freely on solving customers’ problems. But on the backend, capture the handle times and adjust demand forecasting accordingly.
- Conduct an inventory of nonessential call scripting required of the agent to ensure that we are not adding unnecessary time to the call. For example, requiring agents to say things like, “... and thank you for sharing this information…” every time a caller provides some information. I once counted 7 instances of this statement on a call — that’s about 12-13 seconds. Besides, it can be annoying to customers.
- Identify infrastructure elements that need to be upgraded to support and improve handle times. For example, finding specific and accurate information in a knowledge base is typically a key problem for a lot of contact centers.
- Seek to understand the highs and lows of average handle time. Ask why some agents have lower AHT vs. others that have high AHT. Both can be bad. Work with the agents in side-by-side coaching sessions to understand how to bring out the best practices.
Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle is entirely adaptable and applicable here. We already know the "What" (AHT). But the "Why" and "How" are clear as mud.
There is no single, one-size-fits-all mechanism to determine and implement the average handle time. It is imperative that each company review its policies, and revise the purpose, calculations and implementation based on their industries. But more importantly, reevaluate your unique situation in the business lifecycle. Agents will be happier and provide a better customer experience if they are unburdened with time pressures.
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