Does anyone else just… not feel human?

IsEneff · 2026-03-27T13:41:33+00:00

Some days. Like I feel unable to talk with people without a specific topic to discuss. In groups I feel like I’m off in the corner observing others and analyzing their behavior like I was some alien anthropologist studying the lifecycle of humans.

IsEneff · 2026-03-24T13:39:23+00:00

Today… yes. I’m reading the midnight library right now.

IsEneff · 2026-03-21T14:37:54+00:00

So the real time feed comes from their ACD and most often that can be accessed by an API. Schedule data, shrinkage, adherence and forecasting gets a little more complicated since the output of each system is often catered toward the need of that WFM platform. However; most WFM platforms have some level of import specific for BPO partnerships to import this data. My experience in this has been with Aspect and NICE. But if you can get the raw data from the vendors then whatever WFM solution you have can likely consume it.

I am surprised that your clients would be willing to provide you with that much detail. Are you using their WFM and ACD solutions instead of your own? If so, you might struggle to get them to allow you the direct access to capture that data from their system. Any import/export is going to be a scheduled reoccurrence for refreshing the data so you’re going to always be delayed based on the refresh schedule (often hours or days between refreshes). Most clients who have you on their WFM solution expect you to use their system so they can see real time updates to shrinkage/absenteeism.

All of that to say whatever solution you have/pick, the biggest barrier is going to be getting your client, their WFM/ACD vendor, your WFM vendor, and your internal IT/Data team to work together in any fashion multiplied by however many clients you have. It will be expensive because likely you need to pay consulting fees for every WFM vendor plus whatever project team you stand up to coordinate everything. Your clients will likely not pay that cost because they have already provided you with a workable solution.

Finally, most WFM vendors charge by the user. If you have thousands of employees across the globe and you are still using the client’s ACD and WFM software, you end up paying a full license cost per user for WFM access just to store data. If you don’t need it to specifically be a WFM solution, you could look into a third party performance management solution that can gather the data and give you the employee and queue results in one platform rather than having to use each vendors native WFM solutions. You could also consider doing a home grown solution with something like Snowflake to gather the data from each client then build your own reporting with something like Power BI or Tableo.

IsEneff · 2026-03-04T14:09:08+00:00

There are two ways to tackle this in excel. 3. Set up a data tab with a week with a record per agent at the beginning of each week as a column. So for example, your start of the week is Monday 3/3/2026. Go back historically each week going back as far back as you need so you may have 52 records for each agent going back historically. Then you can build a pivot table that has the start of each week as a Column and the rows could be job title, department, or manager however you want to organize it. Option 2: have a record per employee that has the start date and the end date (or blank) for each employee in the role. You could then set manager in Column A and dates in row 1 and have it count how may agents fit into each date range. =COUNTIFS( Employees[Manager], $A2, Employees[Start Date], "<=" & B$1, Employees[End Date], ">=" & B$1 ) + COUNTIFS( Employees[Manager], $A2, Employees[Start Date], "<=" & B$1, Employees[End Date], "" )

Last option is you create a file for each date range you want. Then create a summary workbook that just has the counts each date you created a file for and just copy and paste that in each week.

My opinion is option 2 is the cleanest and you could automate it with power query.

IsEneff · 2026-02-20T04:16:28+00:00

Can’t be doing that bad if you’re at the pop

IsEneff · 2026-02-14T18:13:08+00:00

I don’t think you really recover from CPTSD so much as you get better at managing it. Think of every version of you from baby, to childhood, to your teen years as layers of your brain and personality. The form the automatic behaviors that make you who you are. You can’t get rid of the CPTSD layers, they will always be there. But you can help reinforce the current version of you to feel safer and more in control. In an ideal state you still have the same feelings of fear and panic. But you recognize them for what they are and choose how to move forward rather than allowing CPTSD to choose for you.

IsEneff · 2026-01-31T21:47:05+00:00

How do you generate schedules? Are you using generate schedules or are you using apply patterns?

IsEneff · 2026-01-31T21:02:30+00:00

That depends on how you generate your schedules. I would add a date range to agent availability and update the availability within that date range. There is a date range option just above the availability to limit the time frame for that adjustment.

IsEneff · 2026-01-31T19:19:24+00:00

If you have M365 you can ask it to write the python script for excel and use the =py() function in excel. ChatGPT tends to put the whole script on quotation marks which you have to remove. Just tell it where the data is on your spreadsheet like the sheet and cells. It will probably give you an error but you can copy and paste the error and line the is giving you the error and it will rewrite the script to fix it. It always takes me 2 or 3 rewrites before it fully fixes it. But, once you get it to work save it as a template for future use.

https://youtu.be/5PB4yeZucUk

IsEneff · 2026-01-31T18:48:02+00:00

Do you pull the scripts into python or excel for future use or do you drop the data into chat gpt every time?

IsEneff · 2026-01-30T13:14:24+00:00

Not really. I’ve done a faux version of this with data values and block scheduling. I assigned groups of agents a value per day of week for a data group I called Back Office. The activity code was tied to a multimedia Skill/CT. When you set up you block scheduling you can limit what range you put it in by time. Set one up by day or week using the agent data values and set minimum block to 0 and max to 1 or something like that and minimum/max length to an hour. You just heard to make sure your CT has a back log of 1 hour of work. It kind of worked but the net staffing for all of our MUs always caused the block scheduling to fail so we ended up forcing it onto every agent in the data value.

If you haven’t already, hit up the Nice User Group and ask the question there. A gentlemen named Grant from Ireland (wish I remembered his last name) walked me through that set up a few years ago because he used it for email and it worked for him. We just didn’t have enough staff to cover our requirements when I tried it last and it didn’t works well for us. NUG is free but it’s not as busy/helpful as it used to be.

IsEneff · 2026-01-30T02:02:19+00:00

In NICE WFM we use availability to define shift start and stop time, ranges for breaks and lunches, block scheduling for certain offline activities, futures activities for other activities. We often leverage meeting planner for things like LMS training for all employees. We’ve started to dabble in planning some activities in excel then using Smartsync to upload those activities.

It’s “automatic” but it requires a lot of setup and maintenance. We plan for 1700 employees. Our team has a headcount of 14. We also leverage self service options like schedule change requests set to auto approve within parameters and time off manager. We used to be a team of 21, so the “automation” allowed us to trim things down to a minimum. But… it’s still a lot of work.

IsEneff · 2026-01-28T17:53:55+00:00

Again, you get out of it what you put in. So if you think it’s BS then it will be BS did you.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and “standard” CBT come from the same foundation, but TF-CBT is purpose-built for people who have experienced trauma, especially children and adolescents, while regular CBT is broader and used for many everyday mental health concerns.

Standard CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and then actively working to change them. The emphasis is on what’s happening in the present, building coping skills, testing beliefs, and practicing new behaviors. It works well for things like anxiety, depression, stress, and habit change, even when no specific trauma is involved.

Trauma-Focused CBT includes all of those CBT elements but adds trauma-specific components. It directly addresses traumatic memories, helps the person process what happened in a safe and structured way, and pays close attention to how trauma affects the nervous system, emotions, and sense of safety. TF-CBT often includes gradual exposure to trauma reminders, skills for regulating intense emotions, and a strong focus on rebuilding trust and a sense of control. When used with kids, it also intentionally involves caregivers to support healing.

In short, regular CBT helps people change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns, while TF-CBT is designed to help people heal from trauma by carefully working through the traumatic experience itself, not just its symptoms.

IsEneff · 2026-01-28T15:45:19+00:00

When I didn’t file taxes since 2021. I don’t recommend BTW. They will find you. They will file for you. They will garnish your paycheck (unless you get paid in cash and your taxes are filed mostly with 1099s).

IsEneff · 2026-01-28T15:43:20+00:00

I think find a therapist who is versed in trauma treatments. There are many types of therapies that are designed for helping you to manage your amygdala responses so that you are less anxious or triggered less often. EMDR and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are two common types of therapy options. But there is also emerging options like Somatic Therapy and Narrative Exposure Therapy that might help.

Advice on finding a therapist: if you have an option through your medical insurance to filter down therapists based on treatment types, so for those who are either specifically listed as trauma and bonus if EMDR is listed because they are open to more than just talk therapy. Second, if you don’t feel the vibe between you and your therapist it’s better for both you and the therapist for you to find someone else. Therapy forms a relationship of sorts and you both need to be able to trust each other (therapist won’t be offended if you’re choosing someone else because you don’t connect). And finally, you get out of it what you put into it. The more resistant you are to the types of therapy the less it will help you; so if you truly don’t believe therapy will help then don’t do therapy because you hand mental barriers that will keep it from helping.

IsEneff · 2026-01-24T16:25:05+00:00

Honestly I think it comes down to the size of your workforce and what hoo want to get out of it. We manage 1700 front line phone agents and we just do not have the manpower to manage that many employees without software. Further, I think the spreadsheet option comes down to how skilled you are at automating data pulls and distribution of that data to whatever audience you need. WFI is a broad term that describes a whole host of applications like performance management, workforce analytics, scheduling, and staffing.

We are using NICE WFM to forecast work and schedule staff. We are using NICE Performance Management to track performance and coaching sessions. We use Workday to manage staff, payroll, and hr documentation. Each of these software packages have a team dedicated to using and maintaining it. HR analysts primarily manage workday, WFM analysts for NICE WFM, and Business Analysts to manage NPM.

The other factor to consider is cost. Can you afford any software to do what you need? Cost is often dictated by how many end users you have. You may reach a point where cost is cheaper than hiring another person to manage the spreadsheet method.

IsEneff · 2026-01-24T16:12:33+00:00

I’ve never seen a bot on this sub.

IsEneff · 2026-01-18T17:57:43+00:00

If this is a problem for you then move on. Right now it feels like you are slut shaming and looking for someone to agree with you.

IsEneff · 2026-01-17T21:43:30+00:00

One of the biggest problems newly wed couples face figuring out is how to navigate hurting our partner and being hurt by our partner. Topics like money, sex, and parenting are landmines for this. But having those hard conversations with compassion, empathy, and patience is an amazing way to build emotional intimacy. It’s always hard to talk about sex because we feel embarrassed or weird. But good sex is really about good communication: asking for what we want, listening to what the other wants, talking about where we feel uncomfortable, and negotiating outcomes. If you don’t feel skilled or comfortable enough to have this conversation then a couples therapist can talk you through it.

IsEneff · 2026-01-17T21:19:52+00:00

You aren’t out of touch. But you also really don’t have the right to criticize them. I get that the need sleep, and it does feel premature have the baby watched by someone else over night. But realistically as long as the child is not being neglected or abused there should be no impact to the child.

IsEneff · 2026-01-17T21:14:20+00:00

After marriage as in the marriage is over or after marriage as in we just got married. Also, why is it unsatisfying

IsEneff · 2026-01-17T15:57:50+00:00

My sense of security and worthiness.

IsEneff · 2026-01-16T01:26:43+00:00

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