Zendesk Agent Utilization Report: Measure and Optimize Workload

Knowing your team’s average first reply time and resolution time tells you how fast tickets move. But it doesn’t tell you whether your agents are stretched thin or sitting idle. Agent utilization closes that gap — it measures how much of an agent’s available time is spent on productive ticket work versus waiting, admin tasks, or downtime.

This guide covers how to build an agent utilization report in Zendesk, what healthy utilization looks like, and how to balance workload without burning out your team.

What agent utilization measures

Agent utilization is the ratio of productive work time to total available time:

Agent utilization = (Time spent on tickets ÷ Total available time) × 100

“Time spent on tickets” includes reading, replying, researching, and updating tickets. “Total available time” is the agent’s scheduled shift minus breaks, meetings, and training.

A few related metrics to know:

Utilization is the big-picture metric; handle time and tickets per agent are the components that drive it.

How to build the report in Zendesk Explore

Zendesk Explore doesn’t have a native “utilization %” metric, but you can approximate it with the data available. Here are two approaches depending on your Zendesk plan.

Approach 1: Tickets per agent (all plans)

This is the simplest proxy for utilization. It doesn’t measure time directly, but it shows relative workload distribution.

1. Create a new report in Explore using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. Metric: Solved tickets (COUNT).
3. Row dimension: Assignee name.
4. Column dimension: Ticket solved date (by week).
5. Filter: Exclude tickets solved by automation or system triggers if possible.

This gives you a heatmap of who resolved the most tickets each week. Combine it with your average handle time data: an agent resolving 80 tickets/week with 15-minute AHT is working ~20 productive hours — roughly 50% utilization on a 40-hour week.

Approach 2: Handle time ratio (Professional+)

If you track handle time (either via Zendesk’s time tracking app or your own process):

1. Create a report with Support: Tickets dataset.
2. Metric: Sum of handle time (hours).
3. Row dimension: Assignee name.
4. Time dimension: By week.
5. Calculate utilization — Export or use a calculated metric:

SUM(Handle time hours) / (Scheduled hours per agent per week) × 100

You’ll need to know each agent’s scheduled hours (e.g., 40 hours/week minus 5 hours for meetings/breaks = 35 available hours).

Approach 3: Zendesk WFM (Enterprise + WFM add-on)

If you have Zendesk’s Workforce Management add-on, utilization is built in:

• Occupancy rate — Tracks time spent on tickets vs idle time.
• Activity tracking — Breaks agent time into categories (ticket work, admin, break, training).
• Adherence reports — Compare actual activity to scheduled shifts.

For most small teams, Approach 1 or 2 is sufficient. WFM is worth the investment once you’re managing 15+ agents across multiple shifts.

What good utilization looks like

There’s no universal target, but these ranges are a useful starting point:

The 50–70% sweet spot exists because support work is inherently variable. Some tickets take 5 minutes; others take 45. Agents need buffer time to handle complex tickets without falling behind on simpler ones.

Spotting workload imbalances

The aggregate utilization number matters less than the distribution across your team. Look for these patterns:

The 80/20 split

If two agents handle 80% of the tickets while three others handle 20%, you don’t have a team — you have two heroes and three observers. Common causes:

• Sticky assignment — Round-robin isn’t enabled; tickets go to whoever touches them first.
• Skill concentration — Only certain agents can handle specific ticket types (billing, API, enterprise), creating bottlenecks.
• Cherry-picking — Agents select easy tickets from the queue, leaving complex ones for the diligent few.

Fix: enable omnichannel routing with capacity rules, cross-train agents on high-volume ticket types, and review your triggers to distribute work evenly.

The invisible workload

Not all ticket work shows up in solved counts:

• Internal notes and collaboration — An agent might spend 30 minutes researching a ticket and adding internal notes before it’s reassigned to a specialist.
• Ticket merging — Agents who merge duplicate tickets do work that doesn’t result in a “solved” count for them.
• Side conversations — Reaching out to engineering or sales teams via side conversations takes time that isn’t tracked as handle time.

If an agent’s solved count is low but their teammates say they’re constantly busy, look at internal note volume, merge activity, and side conversation counts.

Shift-based skew

For teams with staggered shifts or global coverage, compare utilization within the same shift window. An agent working the overnight shift may show lower utilization simply because ticket volume is lower — they’re not underperforming; they’re understimulated.

Balancing workload: practical steps

1. Set capacity limits

In Zendesk’s omnichannel routing, set capacity rules per agent and channel:

• Email/form tickets: 10–15 open at a time (depending on complexity)
• Chat: 3–5 concurrent conversations
• Phone: 1 active call

This prevents any single agent from being over-assigned while others wait for work.

2. Rotate specialized queues

If certain ticket types require specialized knowledge, rotate agents through those queues weekly instead of permanently assigning them. This cross-trains the team and spreads the load.

3. Use utilization in your weekly review

Add a utilization view to your weekly support ops review. Review tickets per agent, flag anyone consistently above 80% or below 40%, and adjust routing or scheduling before the imbalance becomes a problem.

4. Account for non-ticket work

Block time for documentation, macro updates, training, and process improvement. A team that spends 100% of its time in the queue never improves its tools — which means they stay in the queue forever. Budget 10–20% of agent time for non-ticket work.

5. Staff to forecasted volume

Combine your ticket volume forecast with your utilization data to predict when you’ll need to hire. If your team is averaging 75% utilization and volume is growing 10% quarter-over-quarter, you’ll cross into the danger zone within two quarters.

Common mistakes

• Treating solved tickets as the only productivity measure — An agent who resolves 5 complex enterprise tickets per day may generate more value than one who resolves 30 password resets. Weight by complexity or handle time, not just count.
• Optimizing for 100% utilization — This leaves zero buffer for spikes, training, or improvement work. Aim for 60–70% sustained.
• Ignoring quality alongside utilization — High utilization with rising reopen rate or declining CSAT means agents are rushing. Track quality metrics in parallel.
• Comparing agents without normalizing for ticket type — An agent handling mostly billing tickets (avg 8 min) will always out-count an agent handling mostly technical tickets (avg 25 min). Segment by ticket form or tag before comparing.

FAQ

What’s the difference between agent utilization and occupancy? They’re often used interchangeably, but in workforce management, occupancy = time handling contacts ÷ time available for contacts (excludes breaks, meetings). Utilization includes all scheduled time in the denominator. For most small teams, the distinction doesn’t matter — use whichever definition you can consistently measure.

How do I track utilization without Zendesk WFM? Use tickets per agent per week as a proxy, or install the Zendesk time tracking app to capture handle time per ticket. Divide total handle time by available hours to estimate utilization. It’s not perfect, but it’s directionally correct.

Should I share utilization data with agents? Yes, with context. Show agents their utilization relative to the team average, but frame it as a workload balancing tool — not a performance ranking. The goal is to distribute work fairly, not to pressure agents into speed over quality.

How does this relate to the agent performance dashboard? The agent performance dashboard focuses on output quality (CSAT, FCR, handle time per ticket). The utilization report focuses on capacity and workload distribution. Use both: performance tells you who’s doing great work, utilization tells you who has bandwidth.

See agent workload at a glance — start free