Configuring Shrinkage and Adherence Exceptions in WFM

How-To-Articles
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Configuring Shrinkage and Adherence Exceptions in WFM

Executive Summary & Architectural Context

Workforce Management (WFM) algorithms in Genesys Cloud rely entirely on the concept of Adherence. If an agent is scheduled to be “On Queue” from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, but they switch their status to “Meeting” at 11:30 AM, the system flags them as Out of Adherence. This negatively impacts their performance metrics and throws off real-time intraday monitoring for the scheduling team.

However, contact centers are chaotic. Emergency coaching sessions, unplanned IT outages, or extended bathroom breaks happen. If WFM analysts have to manually adjust schedules after the fact for every 5-minute deviation, the administrative overhead becomes crushing.

The engineering solution relies on two critical WFM concepts: Shrinkage (for forecasting) and Adherence Exceptions (for real-time execution). This masterclass details how to properly configure activity codes to absorb acceptable schedule deviations automatically, keeping your adherence metrics accurate without punishing agents for necessary operational realities.

Prerequisites, Roles & Licensing

  • Licensing: Genesys Cloud CX 2 or 3 (WEM add-on required).
  • Roles & Permissions:
    • Workforce Management > Activity Code > Edit
    • Workforce Management > Management Unit > Edit
    • Workforce Management > Adherence > View/Edit

The Implementation Deep-Dive

1. Understanding Shrinkage vs. Adherence

  • Shrinkage is a forecasting concept. It is the percentage of paid time that agents are not available to take calls (vacations, sick time, meetings, training). If you need 100 agents on the floor, and your shrinkage is 30%, WFM will schedule 143 agents.
  • Adherence is an execution concept. It measures whether the agent did what they were scheduled to do at the exact minute they were scheduled to do it.

2. Configuring Activity Codes

The foundation of WFM is the Activity Code. Every state an agent can be in must map to a specific Activity Code.

  1. Navigate to Admin > Workforce Management > Activity Codes.
  2. You will see default codes like On Queue, Break, Meal, Meeting.
  3. Let’s create a custom code: Emergency Coaching.
  4. Category: Set to Unscheduled. (This means it is not placed on the baseline schedule).
  5. Presence / Routing Status Mapping: This is the most critical step. Map this Activity Code to the system presence Busy and the secondary status Coaching. When an agent clicks “Coaching” in their UI, WFM instantly knows they are in the Emergency Coaching activity.

3. Engineering the Adherence Exception Rules

By default, if an agent is scheduled for On Queue and switches to Emergency Coaching, they are instantly out of adherence. To fix this, we configure an Exception Rule.

  1. Navigate to Admin > Workforce Management > Management Units.
  2. Select your MU and go to the Adherence tab.
  3. Scroll down to Exception Rules.
  4. Click Add Rule.
  5. Name: Allow Brief Coaching Overrides.
  6. Scheduled Activity: Select On Queue.
  7. Actual Activity: Select Emergency Coaching.
  8. Thresholds:
    • You do not want agents hiding in “Coaching” all day.
    • Set a Tolerance: 15 minutes.
    • Logic: If the agent switches to Coaching during an On Queue block, WFM will completely ignore the deviation for the first 15 minutes. Their adherence will remain at 100%. If they stay in Coaching for 16 minutes, the system will instantly flag the entire 16-minute block as an Adherence Violation.

4. Shrinkage Profiles and Forecasting

When generating schedules, the forecasting engine needs to know how much random “Emergency Coaching” happens historically so it can over-staff accordingly.

  1. Navigate to Admin > Workforce Management > Shrinkage.
  2. Create a Shrinkage Profile (e.g., Standard Support Tier 1).
  3. Add the Emergency Coaching activity code.
  4. Set the planned shrinkage percentage. For example, if historically 2% of an agent’s week is spent in ad-hoc coaching, enter 2.0%.
  5. When the WFM analyst runs the schedule generation engine, it will mathematically inflate the required headcount by 2% to absorb these inevitable adherence exceptions.

Validation, Edge Cases & Troubleshooting

Edge Case 1: The “Late Log-In” Trap

If an agent’s shift starts at 8:00 AM, but they log in at 8:02 AM, WFM flags them as out of adherence. Many admins try to create a “2-minute grace period” exception rule.

  • Troubleshooting: Genesys Cloud handles start-of-shift grace periods separately from Activity exceptions. Do not use an Exception Rule for this. Instead, in the MU Adherence settings, look for the Severe Tolerance or Late Tolerance settings. Set the late tolerance to 2 minutes. This applies globally to all shift starts.

Edge Case 2: System Logouts vs. Network Drops

If an agent’s internet crashes, they disappear from Genesys Cloud. Their status becomes Offline.

  • The Trap: If they were scheduled for On Queue, Offline is an adherence violation. If they drop for 10 minutes and reconnect, their adherence takes a massive hit.
  • Solution: Admins cannot build an exception rule mapping On Queue to Offline (as that would allow agents to just close their laptops and stay in adherence). The only solution for network drops is for the WFM team to use the Historical Adherence Editor to manually insert an Outage exception block over the 10-minute gap after the fact.

Real-Time Validation

To prove your Exception Rules are working:

  1. Open the Real-Time Adherence (RTA) view.
  2. Have a test agent currently scheduled for On Queue change their status to Coaching.
  3. In the RTA view, the agent’s status will turn Yellow (Exception), but their Adherence % will not drop. A countdown timer will appear showing how much of their 15-minute tolerance remains.

Official References