Question

A telephone call center uses five customer service representatives (CSRs) during the 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. time period. The standard service rate is 5.0 minutes per telephone call per CSR. Assuming a target labor utilization rate of 70 percent, how many calls can these five CSRs handle during this half-hour period? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

Given values:

Number of customer service representatives (CSRs) = 5

Service rate = 5.0 minutes per telephone call per CSR

Utilization rate = 70% or 0.70

Solution:

Service rate = 5.0 minutes/call/CSR

For half-hour period, i.e. 30 minutes,

Service rate = 30 minutes / 5 minutes

Service rate = 6 calls per CSR

Utilization is calculated as,

Utilization = Demand rate / (Service rate x Number of CSRs)

Putting the given values in the above formula,

0.70 = Demand rate / (6 calls per CSR x 5)

Demand rate = 21 calls

Number of calls handled by the 5 CSRs during the half-hour period = 21 calls