Definition
The percentage of paid working time lost to breaks, training, meetings, absenteeism, and other non-productive activity — time an agent is scheduled but not actually handling customer work.
Business Importance
Accurate shrinkage forecasting is what keeps a delivery pod correctly staffed against SLA targets; underestimating it is one of the most common causes of missed SLAs.
Industry Examples
A center scheduling 12 agents instead of 10 to absorb an expected 15% shrinkage rate from breaks and training.