About this role
By joining Sedgwick, you'll be part of something truly meaningful. It’s what our 33,000 colleagues do every day for people around the world who are facing the unexpected. We invite you to grow your career with us, experience our caring culture, and enjoy work-life balance. Here, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.
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AVP of Workforce Management
PRIMARY PURPOSE : The AVP, Workforce Management is responsible for ensuring workforce management operates as a strategic decision-support and problem-solving function, not solely as a forecasting, scheduling, and reporting organization.
This leader will apply strong critical thinking and business judgment to complex workforce and operational challenges, distinguish symptoms from root causes, identify risks and opportunities, develop multiple solution paths, and facilitate cross-functional decisions that improve organizational performance.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES
- Applies advanced critical thinking, structured problem solving, and business judgment to complex workforce, service, staffing, and operational challenges.
- Evaluates workforce and operational data to distinguish root causes from symptoms, identify patterns, test assumptions, assess risks, and determine the operational and financial implications of potential decisions.
- Approaches complex problems with intellectual curiosity, asking the appropriate questions before determining solutions and ensuring recommendations are supported by data, business context, and sound judgment.
- Develops multiple solution scenarios when appropriate, clearly articulating the benefits, risks, trade-offs, dependencies, costs, and expected outcomes of each alternative.
- Challenges existing assumptions, processes, and practices constructively when data or business conditions indicate a different approach may produce better results.
- Anticipates downstream impacts of workforce decisions, including potential effects on service levels, colleague experience, customer experience, productivity, expense, recruiting, training, and operational capacity.
- Maintains an enterprise perspective when resolving issues, avoiding solutions that optimize one department or metric at the expense of overall organizational performance.
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategic Thinking & Problem Solving
- Applies advanced critical thinking, structured problem solving, and business judgment to complex workforce, service, staffing, and operational challenges.
- Evaluates workforce and operational data to distinguish root causes from symptoms, identify patterns, test assumptions, assess risks, and determine the operational and financial implications of potential decisions.
- Approaches complex problems with intellectual curiosity, asking the appropriate questions before determining solutions and ensuring recommendations are supported by data, business context, and sound judgment.
- Develops multiple solution scenarios when appropriate, clearly articulating the benefits, risks, trade-offs, dependencies, costs, and expected outcomes of each alternative.
- Challenges existing assumptions, processes, and practices constructively when data or business conditions indicate a different approach may produce better results.
- Anticipates downstream impacts of workforce decisions, including potential effects on service levels, colleague experience, customer experience, productivity, expense, recruiting, training, and operational capacity.
- Maintains an enterprise perspective when resolving issues, avoiding solutions that optimize one department or metric at the expense of overall organizational performance.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
- Travels as required.
Cross-Functional Solution Facilitation
- Serves as a strategic partner and solution facilitator across Workforce Management, Operations, Recruiting, Human Resources, Finance, Technology, Training, Quality, and other business functions.
- Brings appropriate stakeholders together to define problems, clarify facts, resolve conflicting assumptions, evaluate alternatives, establish ownership, and facilitate timely decisions.
- Leads productive conversations when teams have competing priorities or differing perspectives, maintaining focus on facts, business outcomes, client commitments, and sustainable solutions.
- Uses data and business insights to influence decisions while recognizing situations in which qualitative operational knowledge, colleague experience, or business context must also be considered.
- Facilitates the development of shared action plans with clearly defined owners, milestones, dependencies, success measures, and escalation points.
- Influences leaders across organizational boundaries without relying solely on positional authority.
- Identifies systemic or recurring issues requiring enterprise-level intervention and facilitates resolution across the appropriate teams.
- Creates mechanisms to ensure decisions translate into execution, including defined accountability, follow-up expectations, measurable outcomes, and closed-loop review.
Workforce Strategy & Optimization
- Develops and drives strategic workforce management objectives across multiple business units in alignment with enterprise goals, client commitments, operational requirements, colleague experience, and financial objectives.
- Establishes integrated approaches for demand forecasting, capacity planning, staffing, scheduling, shrinkage management, adherence, occupancy, real-time management, and performance optimization.
- Ensures development of organizational and business-unit-level short- and long-term forecasts and workforce plans.
- Evaluates forecast assumptions and staffing models to identify risk, sensitivity, and potential gaps before those issues materially affect service delivery.
- Partners with Operations, Recruiting, Training, and Finance to translate workload requirements into actionable hiring, staffing, scheduling, and capacity strategies.
- Leads scenario and contingency planning for changes in demand, staffing availability, attrition, absenteeism, operational processes, technology, client requirements, or other business conditions.
- Balances key workforce outcomes including service level, ASA, abandonment, occupancy, adherence, shrinkage, productivity, staffing levels, and cost, recognizing that no individual metric should be optimized in isolation.
- Ensures workforce recommendations clearly differentiate between forecast assumptions, observed results, risks, and proposed actions.
Data, Analytics & Decision Support
- Establishes reporting and analytics capabilities that provide leaders with actionable insight rather than data alone.
- Translates complex workforce information into concise executive-level narratives explaining what happened, why it happened, what is likely to happen next, and what actions are recommended.
- Develops and continuously improves reporting resources supporting client, operational, financial, pricing, analytical, and planning requirements.
- Ensures metrics and reporting methodologies are clearly defined, consistently applied, and appropriately interpreted.
- Identifies trends, anomalies, and emerging risks requiring leadership attention or cross-functional action.
- Uses workforce analytics to support scenario modeling, investment decisions, staffing strategies, operational improvement, and long-term planning.
Technology & Continuous Improvement
- Identifies technology and automation opportunities capable of improving workforce planning, forecasting accuracy, scheduling effectiveness, analytics, real-time management, and decision speed.
- Partners with Technology and business teams to define problems and business requirements before determining technology solutions.
- Leads or sponsors workforce technology and process improvement initiatives from business case development through implementation and benefit realization.
- Evaluates existing processes to identify unnecessary complexity, manual effort, duplicate activities, or barriers to effective decision-making.
- Promotes continuous improvement by establishing mechanisms for reviewing outcomes, identifying lessons learned, and incorporating those insights into future planning.
Executive Presence & Leadership
- Communicates effectively with executive leadership regarding workforce forecasts, staffing requirements, operational risks, performance trends, financial implications, and recommended actions.
- Presents complex workforce challenges in clear business language appropriate for executives, operational leaders, and clients.
- Participates in leadership and client discussions as a strategic workforce subject-matter expert.
- Demonstrates the ability to appropriately challenge assumptions and recommendations while maintaining productive, collaborative relationships.
- Escalates significant workforce or performance risks early, presenting leadership with the issue, business impact, root cause, available options, recommendation, ownership, and required decision.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Administers company personnel policies in all areas and follows company staffing standards and training recommendations.
- Interviews, hires and establishes colleague performance development plans; conducts colleague performance discussions.
- Provides support, guidance, leadership and motivation to promote maximum performance.
- Leads and develops Workforce Management leaders and colleagues across multiple levels of the organization.
- Builds a team culture that values curiosity, critical thinking, accountability, constructive challenge, collaboration, and solution-oriented leadership.
- Coaches leaders to move beyond reporting problems toward identifying root causes and recommending solutions.
- Establishes clear expectations that workforce leaders should be capable of explaining not only what the data says, but why it matters and what should happen next.
- Develops colleague problem-solving, analytical, communication, and influence capabilities.
- Encourages constructive disagreement and creates an environment where colleagues can challenge assumptions respectfully using facts and sound reasoning.
- Establishes performance and development plans and conducts regular performance and development discussions.
- Provides coaching, guidance, leadership, and motivation to promote individual and organizational performance.
- Establishes clear accountability while empowering leaders to make appropriate decisions within their areas of responsibility.
- Ensures compliance with organizational policies, staffing standards, and applicable leadership requirements.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university strongly preferred.
- Relevant advanced education, workforce management certifications, analytics expertise, or equivalent demonstrated professional experience may be considered.
Education & Licensing
Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university preferred.
Experience
Ten (10) years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience required, including progressive experience in workforce management, contact center operations, analytics, planning, or customer service leadership.
Experience should demonstrate increasing responsibility for:
- Complex workforce planning and optimization
- Cross-functional problem solving
- Executive-level decision support
- Forecasting and capacity planning
- Operational and financial analysis
- Leadership of leaders
- Organizational change or transformation
- Workforce technology and automation
Experience administering automated workforce management platforms within a complex, multi-site and/or remote operating environment strongly preferred.
Skills & Knowledge
- Proficiency in current technology tools for contact center management, reporting tools, common office applications, and presentation software
- Ability to drive performance targets to completion
- Strong oral and written communication, including presentation skills
- PC literate, including Microsoft Office products
- Leadership/management/motivational skills
- Ability to work in a team environment
- Ability to meet or exceed Performance Competencies
Workforce Management Expertis
- Expert knowledge of workforce management principles and automated WFM technology
- Strong understanding of contact center forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, shrinkage, adherence, occupancy, real-time management, productivity, and service-level management
- Knowledge of multi-channel and complex service center environments
- Strong understanding of the relationships among workload, staffing, employee availability, customer demand, service delivery, and cost
- Strong leadership, coaching, and talent-development capabilities
Leadership & Communication
- Excellent executive written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to translate technical or analytical concepts into clear business language
- Strong presentation and storytelling capabilities
- Ability to communicate recommendations with confidence while remaining open to alternative perspectives
- Excellent organizational and prioritization skills
- Ability to operate effectively in complex, ambiguous, and rapidly changing environments
WORK ENVIRONMENT
When applicable and appropriate, consideration will be given to reasonable accommodations.
Mental: Clear and conceptual thinking ability; excellent judgment, troubleshooting, problem solving, analysis, and discretion; ability to handle work-related stress; ability to handle multiple priorities simultaneously; and ability to meet deadlines
Physical: Computer keyboarding, travel as required
Auditory/Visual: Hearing, vision and talking
NOTE : Credit security clearance, confirmed via a background credit check, is required for this position.
The statements contained in this document are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by a colleague assigned to this description. They are not intended to constitute a comprehensive list of functions, duties, or local variances. Management retains the discretion to add or to change the duties of the position at any time.
Sedgwick is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Drug-Free Workplace.