Auxiliary Work State

What is an auxiliary work state?

Auxiliary work state is the amount of time a call center agent spends on duties other than managing calls. Call center managers use auxiliary work states to ensure that work is distributed equally and efficiently among agents.

Call center agents are marked as unavailable during an auxiliary time state, and any incoming calls are routed to other available agents.

Occasionally, the work that agents are required to complete during periods of auxiliary work state is pre-defined. When there are few incoming calls and occupancy is low, managers may suggest that auxiliary roles be performed without any additional clarification.

Importance of auxiliary work state

Auxiliary work states is a metric that can measure if an agent isn’t managing calls is required in call centers. The auxiliary work state represents the work of agents such as paperwork sorting, emailing, etc. Inbound calls are not received by call center agents who are in auxiliary mode. 

The work that agents are supposed to do during auxiliary work periods is often clearly specified in advance. When there are few incoming calls and occupancy is low, managers may suggest that auxiliary roles be performed without any further detail.