Workforce Planning Analyst

A leading CX provider, unrivalled in developing and training its people to be the best they can be. This investment in people ensures longest staff retention possible enabling them to best serve client's customer service needs.

Reporting to the Workforce Manager, you will play a crucial role in analyzing and optimizing resource plans across cross-functional accounts. Your primary responsibility will be to provide accurate forecasting, create effective workforce/workload models, and identify improvement opportunities to enhance productivity and revenue.

This role requires:

• Strong analytical skills in building long, mid, and short-term capacity plans and forecast models.
• Advanced Excel proficiency.
• The ability to collaborate with various stakeholders to achieve operational excellence.
• Ability to interpret large sets of data and articulate this back into operational and resourcing plans.

Key Responsibilities

1. Forecasting and Demand Analysis:
   • Utilize historical data, trends, and other key indicators to generate accurate demand forecasts, including forecasting for omni-channel.
   • Collaborate with operations teams to identify key drivers that impact intraday performance and factor them into capacity models to reforecast demand and build remedial plans.
   • Regularly monitor forecast vs planned accuracy and make necessary adjustments to improve future plans.
2. Resource and Capacity Planning:
   • Develop resource plans to ensure optimal utilization of available resources across cross-functional accounts.
   • Collaborate with workforce planning team internally to allocate staff efficiently and align schedules with forecasted demand.
   • Monitor capacity utilization, queue availability, and proactively identify potential bottlenecks or overages, recommending adjustments as needed.
3. Performance Analysis and Reporting:
   • Conduct performance analysis by comparing actual KPI outcomes with forecasts and targets.
   • Identify and investigate deviations from plan, analysing root causes and providing recommendations for improvement.
   • Create dashboards, reports, and presentations to communicate telephony and staffing performance insights to stakeholders.
4. SOP Improvement Initiatives:
   • Continuously identify opportunities to enhance optimizations, streamline processes, and reduce costs across the business.
   • Collaborate with all internal stakeholders to implement process improvements, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
5. Cross-functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Management:
   • Work closely with operations teams, workforce management, quality assurance, and other relevant stakeholders to gather insights and understand account-specific requirements.
   • Work with Senior ops to align planning activities with client expectations and contractual obligations.
   • Act as a liaison between different departments, fostering effective communication and promoting a collaborative work environment.

Key Requirements

1. Professional Experience:
   • 2+ years of experience managing a workforce planning team, ideally within an outsourced contact centre environment.
   • NQF level 4/5.
   • Lean 6 Sigma preferable.
   • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyse complex data sets and translate them into actionable insights.
   • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, formulas, macros) and other data analysis tools.
   • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex information in a clear and concise manner.
   • Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
   • Experience with workforce management tools and forecasting software is a plus.
2. Soft Skills:
   • Enthusiastic about workforce management as a value-added service.
   • Ability to manage stakeholder relationships both internally and externally.
   • Articulate and create storyline through performance delivery.
3. Judgement & Decision Making:
   • Ability to make key decisions that impact resources.
   • Ability to problem solve and come up with solutions.
   • Ability to identify when and how to escalate.
   • Understand when and who should be challenged when there are issues.

Must be able to intuitively execute resource planning strategies.