In this episode, Dave Hoekstra of Calabrio sits down with Jinesh Nair, Head of Service Planning & Performance at Hargreaves Lansdown, to discuss how one of the UK’s leading financial services organizations transformed its approach to workforce planning.

Jinesh shares how a 350-agent operation spanning 25 departments tackled declining schedule adherence, 43% shrinkage, and highly manual real-time management by building a service planning function from the ground up. With Calabrio at the center, the team introduced greater agent autonomy, meaningful adherence and performance KPIs, and a data-driven real-time approach that shifted planners from manual adjustments to proactive insights.

The results speak for themselves: schedule adherence increased from 82% to 91%, multiskilling became a strategic advantage, and the contact center evolved into a more resilient, connected part of the organization.

The conversation explores why investing in the right people and processes matters more than tools alone, and why Net Promoter Score remains the ultimate pulse of the organization, reflecting customer experience, brand, and revenue in a single metric.

In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra speaks with Dan Eddie, Customer Services Director at Simplyhealth - loyal Calabrio customer - about the evolution of customer service in the healthcare sector. Together, they explore Simplyhealth’s mission to improve access to healthcare in the UK, the shift from voice to digital contact channels, and how AI is being integrated to enhance the customer experience.

Dan shares practical insights on the importance of business readiness, employee satisfaction, and the real-world challenges of implementing AI in the contact center. The conversation highlights why having a clear purpose and strategy is essential when adopting new technologies, and how Simplyhealth’s focus on “Speed to Happiness” is shaping its CX transformation.

AI is saving contact centers time, but is it actually making life better for agents? In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra chats with Steve Morrell from ContactBabel about new research into agent burnout, the evolving role of the agent, and what really happens when productivity goes up but KPIs don’t change. From AI-powered self-service and agent assist to analytics that tell us why customers are calling, they explore whether time saved is being reinvested wisely, or quietly driving new pressures. The conversation also digs into manager empathy, agent empowerment, and why up to 25% of call time is still spent hunting for information, proving that the data is there, but we may be asking the wrong questions.