BPO Shrinkage Calculator
Calculate planned and unplanned shrinkage from matching hours, then estimate the staffing allowance needed to cover your net requirement.
PLAN CAPACITY WITH CONFIDENCE
Calculate your shrinkage
Separate planned and unplanned time, understand available capacity and estimate the allowance for your staffing plan.
Activity breakdown
Each percentage uses the same total paid hours.
| Activity | Type | Hours | Share |
|---|
Percentages are displayed to 2 decimal places and may not sum exactly due to rounding. Calculations and target comparisons use the unrounded ratios.
Formula, definitions and assumptions
Shrinkage % = unavailable paid hours ÷ total paid hours in scope × 100
Gross required staffing = net required staffing ÷ (1 − shrinkage as a decimal)
Planned and unplanned categories must be mutually exclusive and use the same denominator. Paid breaks, meetings, coaching and training may count as planned time. Unexpected paid absence or downtime may count as unplanned time. Confirm your own reporting rules. Unpaid time is excluded from this paid-hours method.
Ready time waiting for the next contact is available capacity. After-call work is normally part of AHT; do not also deduct it here if your workload model already includes it. The tool sums the activity hours you supply; it cannot detect overlapping time records.
Example: 800 paid hours, 120 planned unavailable hours and 40 unplanned unavailable hours give 20% total shrinkage and 640 available hours. A net requirement of 80 equivalent agents becomes 100 after applying that allowance.
Equivalent-agent results round up to a whole unit. FTE results round up to 0.01 FTE. These are capacity equivalents, not a hiring recommendation. Establish your net requirement using appropriate workload, queueing, service-level, skills and concurrency assumptions first. Aggregate hours do not prove coverage in each interval.
At 100% shrinkage there is no available capacity. Shrinkage can still be reported, but no finite gross staffing allowance can cover a positive net requirement. This tool is for planning illustrations; validate assumptions before changing live schedules.
Learn more in our shrinkage formula guide. Formula references: Genesys shrinkage definition and NiCE staffing calculations.
How to use this Shrinkage Calculator
1. Enter your total paid hours
Use the complete paid-time base for the same team and reporting period, including the paid unavailable hours you will list below.
2. Enter unavailable hours by activity
Rename the existing activities or select Add activity to create your own. Choose Planned or Unplanned for each activity. Count every hour only once.
3. Use decimal hours
For example, enter 1.5 for one hour and thirty minutes. Blank activity hours count as zero.
4. Include staffing adjustment if needed
Tick the optional checkbox, enter your net staffing requirement and choose equivalent agents or FTE. Use a requirement that does not already include this shrinkage allowance.
5. Add your target if applicable
Enter your own maximum shrinkage target for comparison, or leave it blank.
6. Calculate and review
Select Calculate shrinkage to see total shrinkage, available hours and the activity breakdown. Select Download CSV to keep a copy. After editing any input, calculate again to refresh the results.
Frequently asked questions.
What is the formula used by this calculator?
Shrinkage percentage equals unavailable paid hours divided by total paid hours in scope, multiplied by 100. Planned and unplanned shrinkage use the same denominator. For example, 160 unavailable hours out of 800 paid hours gives 20% shrinkage.
What is the difference between planned and unplanned shrinkage?
Planned shrinkage covers known paid time away from contact duties, such as scheduled breaks, training, coaching and meetings. Unplanned shrinkage covers unexpected paid unavailability, such as certain absences or system interruptions. Apply your organisation’s activity definitions and avoid overlapping entries.
Should I include unpaid breaks, ready time or after-call work?
Exclude unpaid time from this calculator’s paid-hours method. Ready time waiting for a contact is available capacity. After-call work normally belongs to AHT, so do not also deduct it as shrinkage when your workload model already includes it.
How does the staffing adjustment work?
The calculator divides your net staffing requirement by the available proportion of time. For example, a net requirement of 80 with 20% shrinkage becomes 80 ÷ 0.80 = 100 equivalent agents. Equivalent-agent results round up to whole units; FTE results round up to 0.01 FTE. This is a capacity estimate, and a complete staffing plan must also consider demand, service targets, skills and scheduling.
What happens if shrinkage reaches 100%?
The calculator reports 100% shrinkage and zero available hours. If staffing adjustment is selected, it explains that no finite staffing allowance can cover a positive net requirement when all capacity is unavailable.
Does this calculator save my information?
The calculator processes your inputs in your browser and does not save or send them. Download the CSV if you want to retain your results. Other website services, including advertising, may have separate data practices described in our Privacy Policy.