Original Post By Kevin McMahon
Learn More About Remote Working
The work-from-home option has been gaining momentum for a number of years now
With the right tools and agents, there’s no question that it can yield significant business benefits.
Could home working be right for your center? We’ve compiled the top benefits leading to the continued growth of at-home working in contact center environments.
1. Higher Agent Productivity
Many businesses don’t have the space to create separate areas for inbound customer support and outbound sales. At-home working completely eradicates problematic noise level issues and allows agents to work uninterrupted.
2. Improved Customer Service
Most people would agree that they can perform better in a more focused environment where concentrating on the task at hand is easier. Without interruptions from other staff members, your agent’s only priority becomes the customer.
Customers appreciate this as well as they have the full attention of the agent and are not asked to constantly repeat themselves.
3. Wider Talent Pool
A busy contact or call center environment is not to everyone’s cup of tea. In fact it could be a major deterrent for agent recruitment. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. At-home working is an attractive choice for skilled contact center staff who don’t enjoy the busy contact center environment.
Remote work is also a great fit for people who have the perfect skills for the role but have family or other commitments. Home workers have the flexibility to do the school run or go to their appointments but can still log in and commit to their agreed hours. This creates a win/win situation by adding certain agents at certain times of day where you know you’re likely to have peaks.
4. Increased Flexibility
Using home workers can help you to scale up and down in line with the needs of the business. With remote working, you have the flexibility to schedule your staff as needed making it far easier to manage seasonal peaks.
5. Cost Savings
Equipment and office space isn’t cheap. Huge cost savings can be made by employing home workers. With a physical office, you need to be ready for the maximum number of agents that you’ll ever need — even if it’s only a few days a year that you actually need that many. By utilizing some additional home workers you can help keep expenses related to space and infrastructure to a minimum.
And for a growing business, employing at-home workers allows you to expand without physically relocating.
6. Skill Retention, Staff Loyalty and Reduced Agent Turnover
Sometimes employees have an off-day where the last thing they want to do is face 50+ of their colleagues. We’ve all been there. And what about the occasional snow day? With remote work, employees can still be productive without requiring time off for unexpected issues.
Have you ever heard someone talk about how much they enjoy the drive to and from the office? At-home work alleviates the burden of commuting to the office, making for a happier employee. And happier staff leads to greater commitment and more motivation.
Bottom line: Increased Employee Engagement = Increased Employee Retention AND Increased Customer Satisfaction ratings.
7. Improved Business Perception
With the cost savings of at-home work, you could increase the budget for employee benefits such as child care vouchers and gym memberships. This satisfies the work/life balance needs of your teams and employee engagement ratings will increase.
Learn More About Remote Working
