Difference Between Occupancy and Utilization

What is Difference between agents Occupancy and Utilization and what is formula for both

Question asked by v

Occupancy and Utilization Are Used Interchangeably

Occupancy and Utilization are terms that are often used interchangeably, but are different. This is very important in contact centres and BPO.

Difference between Occupancy and Utilisation

Have a read of this article

or see these two articles about how to Calculate Occupancy and How to Work out How Many Staff you Need

With thanks to Jonty

Occupancy Differs From Utilization

Occupancy differs from utilization, in that occupancy considers only live logged in time, but utilization considers total time at work (including logged out time such as training).

Occupancy

Occupancy = What percentage of time that my agents are logged in live, are they actually productively busy with a customer activity, or are they available to do more?

Utilisation

Utilization = What percentage of the time that I pay my agent, are they logged in and assisting or available to assist with a customer activity?

Occupancy typically will be calculated as:

(Talk+Hold+Wrap+Customer-related activities), divided by (Talk+Hold+Wrap+Customer-related activities+Available Time).

Whereas utilization is calculated as

(Talk+Hold+Wrap+Customer-related activities+Available Time), divided by (Paid Hours on-site / Total Shift Time).

Occupancy is especially important in schedule design, as it assists with measuring schedule optimization, so as not to have agents sitting and waiting for calls.

Utilization is important as input to shrinkage or overhead calculations, as it considers “non customer-related activities” that still get paid for, but that takes the agent away from servicing a customer, such as: