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The Settings → Voicemail & Screening panel applies to outbound calls using separate speech and language models. The panel’s settings are not a promise of support on realtime speech-to-speech models. Native Athena’s phone-menu/answer handling is a separate runtime capability; use Phone menus and hold for that setup.

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Choose what happens on voicemail

  1. Open the agent’s Settings → Voicemail & Screening.
  2. Enable Enable voicemail and screening handling.
  3. Under When voicemail is detected, choose Disconnect the call or Leave a message.
  4. For Leave a message, fill in Voicemail message using Text or choose a library Recording. A nonempty message or recording is required; the agent plays it and disconnects.
  5. Choose Save Voicemail Settings, test the draft on a mailbox you control, and publish when the behavior is correct.
Use a concise message with the name, purpose, and approved callback details. Confirm the message was actually left; a voicemail disposition alone does not prove that recording reached the mailbox.

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Configure screening

In Screening message, state the agent’s name and reason for calling. Choose Text or a library Recording. After playing it, the agent waits silently for a person. Leave this field blank if screened calls should end instead. Open Timing and set Screening wait (seconds) from 1 to 60; the default is 30 seconds. Check a controlled screening flow where a person accepts, one where no one accepts, and a case with recorded prompts. Recordings require a supported playback path; see Recordings.

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Tune the opening listening window

Edit Start Call on the canvas. Enable Delayed Start and set Delay Duration (seconds) from 0.1 to 10 to replace the default 1.2-second initial listening window. A brief human greeting can end the wait sooner. Check both a silent answer and a person who says hello before choosing a value.

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Classification model and instructions

Under Classification model, leave Use Workflow LLM enabled to use the configured workflow model, or select a separate supported provider/model and its required account fields. Keep the built-in Classifier instructions unless you need to describe greetings or carrier announcements in another language. A custom prompt must preserve the full reply-label contract:
The response must be a single label. An unsupported response is treated as UNKNOWN and lets the call proceed; a prompt that only returns CONVERSATION or VOICEMAIL can silently disable the other branches. Clearing custom instructions restores the built-in behavior.

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Check results

Review classification activity, the message playback, silent wait, and final outcome in the run. Check human pickup, voicemail, screening, and an IVR separately. A campaign can automatically retry a voicemail outcome only when that campaign’s retry policy allows it; configure this separately from the voicemail message. See Campaigns.