How to Improve Adherence in a Call Center: 10 Proven Strategies

Every call center manager recognizes adherence as one of the biggest and most persistent operational challenges in their day-to-day business. You’ve crafted the perfect schedule, accounted for every possible scenario, and then agents are late returning from breaks, switching between tasks at the wrong times, or outright unavailable when the queue starts building. Schedule adherence is more than a metric to track. It’s the difference between a smoothly running operation and absolute chaos every day of the week.

The truth about adherence is that it’s never been just a numbers game. Behind every percentage point sits a human being juggling personal responsibilities, dealing with burnout, or simply struggling with systems that make following the schedule harder than it needs to be. 

Companies understand that 100% adherence is just unrealistic and set the higher numbers in the 85%-95% range as the target. However, even that can be unachievable without the right processes and strategies. You can’t discipline your way to better adherence any more than you can schedule your way out of engagement problems.

This article combines hard-won lessons from our experiences and research to increase adherence rates without sacrificing agent morale or customer experiences.

Schedule adherence measures the percentage of time agents are available to handle calls compared to their scheduled work time. It’s calculated using this formula:

Adherence = (Time Available for Calls / Total Scheduled Time) × 100

For example, if an agent is scheduled to work 8 hours but is only available for calls for 6.8 hours after accounting for breaks, lunch, and other activities, their adherence rate would be 85%.

Most call centers target an adherence rate between 85-90%. While 100% adherence is theoretically possible, it’s unrealistic and unsustainable. Agents need breaks, occasional training sessions, and brief moments to decompress between difficult calls. Setting achievable targets ensures agents can maintain productivity without burning out.

Poor adherence directly impacts your bottom line. When agents aren’t available as scheduled, you face two costly scenarios: either you over-staff to compensate (increasing labor costs by 10% or more), or you under-staff and watch service levels plummet, leading to abandoned calls and frustrated customers.

Now that we understand why adherence rates need to be considered, let’s discuss how you can increase them at your contact center.

Many agents don’t fully understand how their individual adherence affects the entire operation. They may think, “What difference does five minutes make?” The answer: quite a lot.

Start by measuring your current adherence rates and calculating the actual business impact. Run the numbers to show how poor adherence translates into:

• Increased customer wait times
• Higher abandonment rates
• Additional staffing costs
• Reduced service levels
• Lost revenue opportunities

Create visual representations that make these impacts tangible. For instance, demonstrate that if 10% of your 100-agent workforce is consistently out of adherence, you’re effectively operating with only 90 agents. To maintain service levels, you’d need to hire 11 additional agents, significantly increasing your operational costs.

Share these findings with your entire team. When agents understand the “power of one”, that each person’s adherence genuinely matters to customer experience and team workload, they’re more likely to take their schedules seriously. Use team meetings to discuss adherence data, celebrating improvements and addressing challenges openly.

Nothing demotivates agents faster than impossible targets. Setting your adherence goal at 98% or 99% is a recipe for straight-up disaster.

When establishing adherence targets, consider several factors:

• Average Handle Time: If your calls typically last 8-10 minutes, agents will occasionally be on calls when their break time arrives. They can’t simply hang up on customers, so some variance is inevitable.
• Call Complexity: Centers handling technical support or complex issues need more flexibility than those with straightforward transactions.
• Workforce Demographics: Newer agents may need more time for after-call work, while experienced agents may handle tasks more efficiently.
• Industry Benchmarks: Most high-performing call centers maintain adherence between 85% and 95%. There are no firm industry benchmarks here, but this range is widely accepted. Use these benchmarks as a starting point, then adjust based on your specific circumstances.

Manual tracking of adherence is time-consuming, error-prone, and often provides data too late to be actionable. Modern workforce management (WFM) software transforms adherence management from a reactive headache into a proactive opportunity.

When you’re choosing a WFM software, here are some features you should be looking for:

• Real-Time Dashboards: Give supervisors instant visibility into who’s in adherence and who needs support. When issues arise, managers can address them immediately rather than discovering problems days later.
• Automated Alerts and Notifications: Configure the system to alert supervisors when agents miss scheduled activities or exceed break times. Better yet, send gentle reminders to agents themselves before they go out of adherence.
• Detailed Reporting: Track adherence by agent, team, and time period. Identify patterns such as consistently poor adherence on Friday afternoons or after holiday weekends.
• Exception Management: Capture and categorize reasons for out-of-adherence time, whether it’s emergency meetings, system outages, or training sessions.
• Mobile Access: Allow agents to view their schedules, request time off, and receive notifications through their smartphones, giving them ownership over their adherence.

How Calabrio ONE Can Help

Calabrio ONE is the industry standard in workforce management platforms. It comes with a full suite of unified features that directly address the challenges contact centers face daily.

AI-Powered Pattern Recognition

Our Real-Time Adherence (RTA) capabilities use machine learning to identify adherence patterns before they become problems. When the system detects that specific teams consistently struggle after lunch breaks or that adherence drops during certain call types, it automatically alerts supervisors and suggests proactive schedule adjustments to prevent service level impacts.

Mobile-First Agent Empowerment

MyTime puts schedule control directly in agents’ hands through iOS, Android, and web apps. Agents swap shifts, request time off, and receive instant automated approvals; all within predefined business rules. Wix saw adherence improve by 15% simply by eliminating the friction of manual schedule management.

Instant Intraday Adjustments

When adherence issues come up, Calabrio’s AI-enhanced scheduling engine automatically recalculates coverage needs and redistributes resources in real-time. Instead of scrambling to fill gaps, supervisors receive intelligent recommendations that maintain service levels while respecting agent preferences.

Root Cause Analytics

Calabrio ONE connects adherence metrics with quality scores, sentiment analysis, and interaction data to reveal why adherence fails. This integrated intelligence transforms coaching from “you were late from break” to “let’s discuss the challenging interactions affecting your schedule.”

Organizations using Calabrio ONE consistently achieve 90%+ adherence rates while simultaneously improving agent satisfaction. Schedule a demo to learn more today.

Transparency drives accountability. When adherence data is hidden in management reports, agents lack the feedback they need to improve. Make adherence visible through:

• Agent-Facing Dashboards: Provide agents with real-time access to their own adherence scores. When they can see their current status throughout the day, they’re empowered to self-correct rather than waiting for supervisor intervention.
• Team Leaderboards: Display team adherence metrics (not individual rankings that create unhealthy competition) in common areas. This creates positive peer pressure and team accountability.
• Regular One-on-One Reviews: Schedule weekly or bi-weekly check-ins where supervisors review adherence data with individual agents. Use these sessions to identify barriers, provide coaching, and celebrate improvements.
• Visual Indicators: Use color-coded systems (green, yellow, red) to make adherence status immediately apparent. Photo-based agent displays help supervisors quickly locate specific agents who need support.

Poor adherence rarely stems from laziness or defiance. More often, it results from one of three categories:

The “Don’t Know” Agents

The agent in this category don’t understand expectations or aren’t aware that their behavior is problematic. Perhaps they think logging out two minutes late is acceptable, or they’re unclear about proper procedures for unscheduled breaks.

Solution: Provide clear, documented expectations during onboarding and regular refresher training. Give timely, specific feedback: “I noticed you returned from lunch 18 minutes late today. Remember, our adherence target requires us to be back within an X-amount of minutes of our scheduled time.”

The “Can’t” Agents 

These agents face legitimate barriers preventing adherence. Maybe the break room is too far from their desk, the time clock system is unreliable, or they need additional equipment to work efficiently.

Solution: Conduct barrier analysis through agent surveys and focus groups. Ask: “What prevents you from maintaining adherence?” Then systematically remove those barriers. Sometimes, simple fixes like adding break room stations closer to workstations or improving computer performance can significantly boost adherence.

The “Won’t” Agents

These agents lack motivation or face competing priorities. This is less common but requires a different approach.

Solution: Examine consequences and incentives. Are agents receiving mixed messages? For instance, if schedule adherence is supposedly important but top performers with poor adherence receive the same rewards as those maintaining excellent adherence, agents will prioritize other metrics. Make sure consequences are positive, immediate, and certain.

Positive reinforcement is far more effective than punishment in driving lasting behavior change. Create a well-thought-out recognition program that celebrates adherence excellence:

Tiered Recognition

Acknowledge different achievement levels. Perhaps agents maintaining 95%+ adherence receive monthly recognition, while those achieving 90-95% receive quarterly acknowledgment.

Meaningful Rewards

Ask your agents what matters to them. Common high-value rewards include:

• Premium parking spots for the month
• Schedule preference for the following period
• Extra paid time off
• Gift cards to popular restaurants or retailers
• Work-from-home days
• Choice of shift assignments
• Team celebrations or meals

Public Celebration

Recognize top performers in team meetings, company newsletters, or on dedicated achievement boards. Many people are motivated by peer recognition as much as tangible rewards.

Team-Based Incentives

Balance individual recognition with team goals. When the entire team hits adherence targets, celebrate together with an off-site event or team lunch. This builds camaraderie and encourages peers to support each other’s success.

Tie to Compensation

Consider linking quarterly or annual bonuses partially to adherence scores. Even a small financial incentive demonstrates that adherence truly matters to the organization.

Gamification turns adherence from a dry compliance metric into an interesting challenge. By incorporating game elements into daily operations, you can significantly boost motivation and make adherence more enjoyable.

• Points Systems: Award points for maintaining adherence throughout the day, week, or month. Agents can accumulate points to “purchase” rewards like extra break time, preferred shifts, or company merchandise.
• Badges and Achievements: Create digital badges for adherence milestones: “Perfect Week,” “30-Day Streak,” “Adherence Champion.” Display these achievements on agent profiles or dashboards, tapping into the human desire for recognition and status.
• Leaderboards: Implement friendly competition through team-based leaderboards. Rotate which metrics count toward rankings (adherence, customer satisfaction, first-call resolution) to prevent burnout and maintain interest.
• Bingo Cards: Create adherence bingo where agents mark off squares for specific achievements like “100% adherence on Monday,” “No late returns from break this week,” or “Perfect adherence for 5 consecutive days.” Completing a line or full card earns rewards.

Gamification might seem like a gimmick at first, but it really does work. Microsoft’s “Making Agents Great” initiative used gamification in their BPO call centers and achieved a 10% productivity increase and 12% reduction in absenteeism, generating millions in annual ROI.

Even the most motivated agents struggle with adherence when schedules are poorly designed. If adherence is an issue across the board, it might be time to go back to the drawing board and make sure your scheduling practices are employee-friendly.

• Match Schedules to Skills: Use your WFM software to align agent schedules with their skill sets and customer demand patterns. When agents handle queries they’re trained for, they’re more efficient and less likely to need extended after-call work.
• Allow Schedule Input: Give agents some control over their schedules through bidding systems or preference surveys. When people have input into their work hours, they’re more committed to honoring them.
• Balance Workload: Avoid consistently scheduling your strongest adherence performers during the most challenging shifts. Distribute difficult time slots fairly across the team.
• Build in Flexibility: Schedules should include some flex time to account for the natural variability in call durations and unexpected situations. A schedule that’s too rigid will inevitably result in poor adherence.
• Limit Schedule Changes: Frequent last-minute schedule changes frustrate agents and make it difficult to plan their lives. While some changes are unavoidable, minimize disruptions by finalizing schedules at least two weeks in advance.
• Consider Peak Times Carefully: If your peak calling times correspond with agents’ break schedules, you’ll face constant adherence challenges. Stagger breaks and meal periods to maintain coverage while allowing agents to take their allotted time.

Poor adherence often stems from deeper issues that punitive measures won’t solve. Agents might struggle with time management, feel overwhelmed by back-to-back difficult calls, or simply not understand how their adherence affects the entire team. Regular coaching conversations transform adherence from a compliance metric into a collaborative goal.

The most effective coaching approaches adherence as a symptom, not the problem. When an agent consistently returns late from breaks, the conversation should explore what’s happening during those breaks. Are they decompressing from stressful interactions? Struggling with workload anxiety? Need additional training? These root cause discussions build trust while addressing the actual barriers to adherence.

Consistency matters more than frequency. Weekly five-minute check-ins often prove more valuable than monthly hour-long reviews that only happen after problems escalate. These regular touchpoints allow supervisors to recognize improving adherence trends, not just violations, reinforcing positive behaviors before negative patterns become entrenched habits.

In the end, sustainable adherence improvement requires cultural change. You need to build an environment where adherence matters to everyone, not just management.

Lead by Example

Adherence culture starts at the top. When supervisors consistently arrive late to meetings or ignore their own schedules, agents notice and follow suit. The most successful contact centers ensure managers model the time management they expect from their teams.

Consistency in enforcement matters equally. Nothing destroys adherence faster than selective accountability, such as when some agents face consequences while others don’t. Fair application of standards across all team members, regardless of seniority or performance in other areas, demonstrates that adherence truly matters to organizational success.

Build Team Ownership

To change the culture around adherence, you have to take it from an individual obligation into a collective commitment. Encourage agents to cover for teammates who need quick breaks or help colleagues who are delayed by customer questions. This mutual support creates positive peer pressure while building team resilience.

Include agents in solving adherence challenges. They often identify solutions managers miss because they live the daily reality. When adherence becomes part of your center’s identity (“We deliver exceptional experiences through strong teamwork and reliability”), agents take pride in maintaining standards rather than viewing them as imposed rules.

Connect Adherence to Purpose

Agents need to understand why adherence matters beyond “it’s company policy.” Explain the direct connection: “When we maintain strong adherence, customers wait less, we avoid the stress of being understaffed, and the company can invest in better tools and training.” They need to know that adherence is more than just managers being pushy to follow rules.

Share customer feedback and metrics that demonstrate how schedule commitment translates into positive outcomes. When agents see a thank-you note from a customer who appreciated the quick response time, or when they understand how their adherence prevented colleague burnout, the metric becomes meaningful rather than arbitrary.

Manual adherence management drains resources, frustrates agents, and delivers data too late to prevent service level failures. Modern WFM platforms transform this reality by automating the complex calculations, providing real-time visibility, and empowering agents with self-service capabilities that make adherence achievable rather than aspirational.

Calabrio brings together everything contact centers need for sustainable adherence improvement: AI-powered pattern recognition that prevents problems before they occur, mobile-first tools that give agents ownership over their schedules, and integrated analytics that reveal the root causes behind adherence challenges. 

Our customers consistently achieve 90%+ adherence rates while simultaneously improving agent satisfaction, proving that the right technology mutually reinforces operational excellence and employee engagement.

Stop fighting adherence battles with spreadsheets and stern warnings. Schedule a demo today and learn how Calabrio ONE turns adherence into your biggest advantage.