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Free tool

Free shrinkage calculator

Evoriqa's free shrinkage calculator shows how much of your scheduled time never reaches the phones. Enter your scheduled hours and the hours lost to breaks, leave, sickness and training. You get your shrinkage percentage and how much extra to schedule. The maths runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Paid hours your team was rostered to work in the period.

Breaks, leave, sickness, training and meetings. Leave blank for none.

Shrinkage 25% (40 of 160 scheduled hours lost)

Shrinkage
25%
Hours available
12075%
Schedule factor
1.33hours per hour needed

To get one productive hour, schedule 1.33 hours. Multiply the agents the Erlang C calculator gives you by the schedule factor.

Fewer contacts that need a person

Evoriqa’s AI agent answers some calls itself and passes the rest to your team, so you may need fewer people on the rota. Work out the agents you need on the line with the Erlang C staffing calculator. Check the call length with the average handle time calculator.

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How shrinkage is worked out

One division, then one more to turn it into a rota. Shrinkage feeds staffing, so it comes after the Erlang C step.

Shrinkage

Shrinkage = hours lost ÷ hours scheduled × 100

40 hours lost out of 160 scheduled is 25%.

Schedule factor

Factor = scheduled ÷ available

At 25% shrinkage, 120 of 160 hours are available. The factor is 1.33, so 6 agents needed means scheduling 8.

What it leaves out

An average hides busy weeks and quiet ones. Leave and sickness cluster, so the rate can swing. Check it against your own rota over several periods.

How to calculate shrinkage

  1. 01

    Pick a period

    Choose a week or a month. Use the same period for scheduled hours and lost hours, and the same length each time.
  2. 02

    Add up the scheduled hours

    Count the paid hours your team was rostered to work, across all agents. These are the hours you planned to have available.
  3. 03

    Add up the hours lost

    Count time when scheduled agents could not take contacts. Examples are breaks, leave, sickness, training, coaching and team meetings.
  4. 04

    Use the schedule factor

    Multiply the agents you need on the line by the schedule factor. The result is how many to put on the rota.

Frequently asked questions

What is shrinkage?

Shrinkage is the share of scheduled working time when agents are not available to take contacts, even though they are paid.

How do you calculate shrinkage?

Divide the hours lost by the hours scheduled, then multiply by 100. For example, 40 lost hours out of 160 scheduled is 25%.

What counts as shrinkage?

Breaks, leave, sickness, training, coaching and meetings are typical. Your team decides the list. Keep it the same so figures stay comparable.

What is a good shrinkage rate?

There is no single target. It depends on your leave rules, training load and shift pattern. Compare your rate with your own past figures.

How does shrinkage affect staffing?

A team scheduled for the agents you need will fall short. Divide the agents you need by the share available, or multiply by the schedule factor.

Why can shrinkage not reach 100%?

At 100% nobody would be available, and no rota could cover it. The calculator asks for lost hours below scheduled hours.

Is shrinkage the same as attrition?

No. Shrinkage is time lost from the schedule. Attrition is staff leaving the business. They are tracked separately.

Does the calculator save my numbers?

No. The maths runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to Evoriqa. Site analytics records only that a result was copied.

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