Clearly the ratio depends very much on the type of calls the agents will be taking - ie, are they complex calls which may require team leader assistance and a high level of managment overseeing, or are they simple calls which require little supervision.Also, to what extent will you require the team leaders to man-manage - will they simply manage simple tasks such as annual leave entitlement, or be involved in more complex functions such as disciplinaries, payroll queries and development?

A good model which has been adopted as some of the larger call centres in the country is to have a larger team of 20 CSA's, with each team having one trainer and one team leader - the team leader handles all man-management issues but does not become involved in any development or assist with advanced queries - the trainer, being integral in the team handles these issues, freeing up the team leader for the management work.

In addition to this, you will find that some team leaders can handle more staff than others - it is a good idea to try to standardise, but to allow those who flourish with larger teams to grow gradually above your normal allocation, whilst others will be more productive with slightly smaller teams.