Erlang C calculator for call center staffing

How many agents you need to hit your service level. Enter your calls, handle time and target to get agents, service level, average wait and occupancy.

Free, no signup, works on your phone.

Call volume

Usually 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

Talk time plus hold plus after-call work.

Service level target
Planning

Paid time off the phones: breaks, training, meetings, absence.

Above 85–90% agents burn out.

Agents needed on the phones

14

10 erlangs of traffic

Agents to schedule, with shrinkage

20

Service level

88.8%

in 20 s

Average wait

7.8 s

Average speed of answer

Occupancy

71.4%

17.4% of callers wait at all before they're answered.

Service level by number of agents

AgentsService levelAverage waitOccupancy
1139%2 min90.9%
1264%40.4 s83.3%
1379.6%17.1 s76.9%
1488.8%7.8 s71.4%
1594.1%3.7 s66.7%
1697.1%1.7 s62.5%
1798.6%0.8 s58.8%

How it works

Traffic in erlangs = calls × average handle time ÷ interval length. The calculator then tries one agent more than the traffic, and adds agents until the service level reaches your target and occupancy is under your cap.

Probability of waiting uses Erlang C, built from Erlang B step by step so it stays accurate for large teams. Service level = 1 − P(wait) × e−(agents − traffic) × target time ÷ handle time. Average wait = P(wait) × handle time ÷ (agents − traffic). Occupancy = traffic ÷ agents.

Everything runs in your browser.

Questions

Take the overflow without hiring

When the queue spikes or the office closes, Milo answers in seconds, handles routine calls and transfers the rest to your team. About 12¢ a minute, no seats to buy.