Whether you are a help desk manager, technical support manager or call center manager, you need a way to justify a request for more people for your center or to justify keeping the headcount you already have. The Gross Staffing Model helps you put together the facts needed to make good staffing decisions.

Have you ever had a conversation with your boss that went something like this?

Support Manager: “Hi, boss. We are really getting killed in support. People are working overtime, the phone is ringing off the hook, and we are stressed. I think I need to hire two more people. Now, I’ve written this description for our open positions listing on the web site…"

Boss: “How exactly do you know that you need more people in the support center? Every time I come down there, I see at least one person walking around, talking to other people. And I haven’t heard any complaints from our customers about increasing hold times.”

Support Manager: “Well, that person walking around is our senior analyst, who’s supposed to be helping the other analysts, and actually, I’ve heard many complaints about hold times. Plus, with the new release of software coming up, I’m very concerned about incoming volumes increasing.”

Boss: “I can’t give you approval for hiring more employees on anecdotal information. Maybe you could go talk to Accounting and see if they can help you quantify your situation. I’ll be glad to talk to you then.”