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Workforce Management has spent too long being treated as a tactical function — focused on schedules, service levels, and intraday firefighting. In this final episode of the WFM series, we elevate the conversation.

Workforce Management 401: The Strategic Partner is the capstone episode that ties everything together — from forecasting fundamentals to operational maturity — and challenges WFM leaders to step fully into their role as strategic business partners.

Joined by Arlyne Pardo and Dan Smitley, this conversation explores what truly changes when WFM moves beyond execution and into influence.

We discuss:

• Why WFM gets stuck in tactics — and how mindset is often the real blocker
• What it actually means for WFM to be a strategic partner to Operations, Finance, and Leadership
• How listening to frontline teams turns data into actionable insight
• Why “better” systems matter more than “easier” ones
• The role of trust, transparency, and curiosity in high-performing WFM teams
• How AI and automation should support WFM — not replace judgment
• The future skills WFM leaders need to grow their influence in an AI-driven CX landscape

This episode is for:

• Workforce Management professionals looking to grow beyond scheduling
• CX leaders who want stronger planning, forecasting, and cross-functional partnership
• Operations leaders trying to reduce burnout, chaos, and reactive decision-making
• Anyone building modern support organizations at scale

If you’ve ever felt like WFM’s insights were underutilized, ignored, or misunderstood — this episode puts language to that frustration and offers a clear path forward.

This is not about doing more work.

It’s about doing better work — with clarity, influence, and intention.

🎧 This is the final episode of the Workforce Management series.

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In this episode of CX Roundtable, we continue our Workforce Management (WFM) series with a deep dive into what good WFM actually looks like in practice.

After covering WFM fundamentals (WFM 101) and why workforce management matters (WFM 201), this episode focuses on the operational reality of workforce management—including KPIs, forecasting accuracy, intraday management, SOPs, tooling, and organizational trust.

Host Sarah Caminiti is joined by workforce management experts Dan Smitley and Arlyne Pardo to unpack how mature WFM teams operate inside modern contact centers, BPOs, and customer experience organizations.

You’ll learn:

• Which WFM KPIs actually matter—and why context is more important than activity
• How forecast accuracy works across volume, handle time, shrinkage, and absenteeism
• Why burnout is often a capacity and planning issue, not a performance problem
• What strong SOPs enable for forecasting, scheduling, and intraday execution
• How intraday management (RTA) keeps teams stable when demand shifts
• What to look for in workforce management tools, platforms, and vendor partnerships
• How trust and curiosity turn WFM into a strategic partner instead of a reporting function

Whether you’re a CX leader, operations leader, WFM analyst, contact center manager, or BPO partner, this episode demystifies workforce management and reframes it as applied decision-making at scale.

If workforce management has ever felt overly technical, intimidating, or disconnected from leadership strategy, this conversation grounds it in reality—and shows how to build a WFM function that actually works.

Stay tuned for the final episode in the series, where we explore strategic partnerships and cross-functional collaboration in workforce management.

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Workforce Management 201: The Link Between Cost, Burnout, and Experience

Workforce management is often treated as a scheduling function.

In reality, it’s a leadership decision with lasting consequences.

In this episode of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti is joined by workforce management leaders Dan Smitley and Arlyne Pardo to unpack how staffing decisions quietly shape three things every organization cares about: cost, burnout, and customer experience.

This conversation moves beyond definitions and tools to examine what actually happens when demand and capacity are misaligned—and why those effects show up later as attrition, absenteeism, missed revenue, and degraded trust.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why labor is one of the most misunderstood cost drivers in CX
• How bad schedules directly contribute to burnout and absenteeism
• The hidden revenue impact of missed demand
• A practical framework for balancing customer experience, business outcomes, and agent wellbeing
• How reclaiming autonomy in scheduling can improve engagement without breaking operations

Episode 1 laid the foundation.

Episode 2 is where the tradeoffs get real.

If you lead CX, Support, or Operations, this episode gives language to decisions you’re already making—and clarity on how to make them more intentionally.

🎧 Listen now and stay with the series.

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Workforce Management (WFM) is one of the most critical—and misunderstood—functions in Customer Experience.

In the first episode of the CX Roundtable Workforce Management Series, host Sarah Caminiti sits down with Arlyne Pardo, a seasoned WFM professional, and Dan Smitley, founder of a workforce management consulting practice, to break down what WFM actually is, why it matters, and how it quietly shapes customer experience, employee wellbeing, and leadership decisions.

This conversation strips workforce management back to its foundation: understanding demand, matching it to real human capacity, and responding when things inevitably change. From forecasting and scheduling to real-time adherence and cross-functional collaboration, this episode explains how WFM works in practice—and why so many CX problems are actually capacity problems in disguise.

You’ll hear why workforce management isn’t just an operations function, how it impacts agent burnout and attrition, and why leaders must stop treating “do more” as a strategy. The discussion also explores the human ripple effects of WFM decisions, including how schedules, staffing gaps, and response plans affect frontline teams and the communities they belong to.

If you lead customer support, contact centers, CX operations, or people-driven teams—or if you’ve ever struggled with staffing, wait times, SLAs, or burnout—this episode will change how you think about capacity, planning, and leadership.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• What workforce management (WFM) actually is—and what it isn’t
• The difference between forecasting, scheduling, and real-time management
• Why capacity planning is a leadership responsibility, not an admin task
• How poor workforce management drives burnout, attrition, and poor CX
• The role of WFM in supporting supervisors, agents, and cross-functional teams
• Why “balance” isn’t the goal—and response is
• How data, communication, and psychological safety intersect in WFM

Who This Episode Is For

• CX leaders and customer support leaders
• Contact center managers and operations leaders
• Workforce management professionals
• Founders and executives scaling service teams
• Anyone responsible for staffing, capacity, or service delivery

About the Series

This four-part CX Roundtable WFM Series explores:

1. What workforce management is
2. Why it matters for cost, consistency, and people
3. What “good” actually looks like in WFM
4. How WFM becomes a strategic partner to the business

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the CX Roundtable

01:22 Meet the Experts: Arlyne and Dan

04:14 Understanding Workforce Management (WFM)

12:18 The Role of Real-Time Adherence (RTA)

17:19 Balancing Historical Data and Real-Time Variables

21:51 WFM and Operations: A Collaborative Effort

26:53 Tools and Technology in WFM

28:00 Exploring Workforce Management Tools

29:19 Transitioning from Excel to WFM Systems

30:54 Scaling Workforce Management Teams

33:11 Handling Staffing Challenges and Forecasting

42:02 Personal Journeys into Workforce Management

48:34 The Future of Workforce Management

51:50 Final Thoughts and Next Steps

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What does the next decade of contact centers look like?

In this episode of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti is joined by two global leaders in the customer experience industry — Brad Cleveland and Luke Jamieson — to break down the five major shifts transforming contact centers today.

From AI-driven workflows to the rise of human-in-the-loop models, to the quiet crisis of agent burnout, this conversation unpacks how contact centers are evolving into the intelligence hub of the entire organization.

We explore:

• Why AI will elevate agents, not replace them
• The overlooked metrics that reveal who your best performers really are
• How poor technology contributes to attrition and burnout
• Why empowered employees consistently create powerful customer experiences
• The leadership shift from efficiency to space-making
• How companies can build contact centers designed for both humans and the future

Packed with practical insights, candid stories, and strategic frameworks, this episode is a must-listen for CX leaders, contact center executives, support leaders in SaaS, and anyone navigating the future of customer experience.

Featuring:

⭐ Brad Cleveland — Founding Partner at ICMI, CX Advisor, Author

⭐ Luke Jamieson — CX Evangelist & Human-First Technology Leader

🎙️ Hosted by Sarah Caminiti, Career Strategist & Creator of CX Roundtable

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If the culture is bad, it’s on you.

If the product isn’t good, it’s on you.

— Pat Osorio, Co-Founder, Birdie AI

What does it really take to build a company that puts customers at the center — not just in words, but in every decision?

In this all-female Founders edition of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti brings together three powerhouse women redefining how customer experience is built, scaled, and led:

• Pat Osorio, Co-Founder of Birdie AI
• Nivedha Venkatesh, Founder & CEO of Pageloop
• Emma Roffey, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Trusted

Together, they open up about the realities of being a founder in CX — the weight of culture, the speed of growth, and the intentionality required to build something that lasts.

You’ll hear:

• Why founders — not CX teams — shape how customers are treated
• How to embed customer experience into your company’s DNA from day one
• What happens when women lead with empathy and strategy
• The mental load of building something that actually cares
• And the reminder that “if the culture is bad, it’s on you.”

This is more than a conversation about CX — it’s a masterclass in leadership, trust, and what it means to build with purpose.

🎧 Hosted by: Sarah Caminiti, Retention Strategist and Founder of the RVA Framework

📅 Release date: November 11, 2025

🔗 Follow CX Roundtable for honest, actionable conversations about leadership, retention, and the future of customer experience.

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Every thriving support org starts the same way — with one brave person, a shared inbox, and no documentation. But how do you turn that chaos into a foundation that lasts?

In this episode of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti sits down with two leaders who have lived every version of “building from scratch”: Kenji Hayward (Director of Support, Front) and Priscilla Brooke (Head of Podcaster Success, Buzzsprout). Together, they unpack what it really takes to build — and sustain — great support teams.

You’ll hear them discuss:

• What to prioritize (and what to ignore) when you’re the first or second hire.
• How ownership, documentation, and autonomy shape a team’s DNA.
• Why hiring for humanity matters more than experience.
• The role of psychological safety in speed, accuracy, and trust.
• How to raise the bar — and resist the temptation to settle for “fine.”
• Why metrics like CSAT and time-to-resolution don’t tell the full story.
• How emotional labor evolves as your team scales, and why rest is a leadership skill.

This isn’t just a conversation about starting small — it’s a masterclass in building culture, credibility, and resilience from the ground up.

If you’re hiring your first support rep, rebuilding a burned-out team, or redefining what “good” looks like in CX, this episode will help you build your Support DNA — one intentional decision at a time.

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The help desk has always been the backbone of customer experience — but in an age of AI, automation, and rapidly scaling SaaS, what will it look like five years from now?

In this episode of CX Roundtable, host Sarah Caminiti sits down with three product leaders shaping the tools support teams use every single day: Scott Rocher (VP of Product, Help Scout), Kevin Yang (Head of AI, Front), and Rachel Hughes (VP of Product, Kustomer). Together, they unpack how help desk platforms are evolving, what AI can (and can’t) deliver, and why empowering support teams as strategic partners may be the most important shift of all.

You’ll hear them discuss:

• How help desks are moving from ticket trackers to growth drivers.
• The promise and limits of AI in customer experience, and where human empathy still wins.
• Why root cause analysis is becoming the voice of the customer — and how tools are finally catching up.
• The new support ops roles emerging as frontline work evolves.
• Why unlimited access, data transparency, and real-time insights matter for CX leaders fighting for a seat at the table.
• What the next five years of help desk innovation might look like — from AI copilots to built-in knowledge ecosystems.

This isn’t a surface-level conversation about bots and metrics. It’s a candid look at how the people building CX platforms see the future of support, and what leaders can do today to prepare their teams, their tools, and their companies for what’s next.

If you’re a CX leader, support manager, or executive making technology decisions, this is the conversation that will help you reframe the help desk not as a cost center — but as a critical growth engine.

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