Organizations are increasingly interested in having their customer service employees work from home, in addition to their regular employees. People are beginning to realize that this can go hand in hand with cost savings and more flexibility. It also results in less traffic jams, less occupation of space and higher productivity.
Various domestic and international organisations currently have customer service employees who work from home and who serve customers via all kinds of communication channels (voice, e-mail, web chat, text message, social media). Often 24 hours a day and seven days a week. However, according to the National Benchmark and Trend Survey Customer Interaction 2015, only 3.7 percent of customer contacts are handled from home. And in contact centres with customer service employees who work from home, 8.5 percent of customer contacts are handled from home. These numbers will increase in the coming years, precisely because of all the advantages.
Benefits of working from home
According to an extensive survey (pdf) conducted by industry body CCA (Customer Contact Association), 92 percent of organizations surveyed found that working from home leads to more flexible deployment of staff, and 61 percent cited cost savings as a reason. One of the main benefits of working from home for employees is reduced travel time. In addition, time normally spent in traffic can be spent differently.
Cost reduction and fewer complaints
A forerunner in this field (Home Retail Group) goes even further and reports that as a direct result of working from home:
The number of complaints has decreased by 15% on an annual basis
More efficient scheduling has led to a 14% saving
The average handling time has decreased by 10%
An overall cost reduction of 14% has been achieved
A customer satisfaction survey conducted kenya telegram number list by the company in question found that 87% of queries could be resolved during the call, with customers rating customer service agents 8.4 (out of 10) for 'ability to listen and understand the problem' and 'takes ownership of the problem'.
Shorter waiting times
Other companies that facilitate working from home report the following benefits:
Shorter waiting times for customers (due to more flexible deployment of staff).
Lower physical infrastructure costs (fewer employees in the office means less bandwidth and fewer disruptions).
Significant planning benefits.
Significantly improved customer experiences – including accessibility outside office hours.
Flex workers can be deployed who are available to provide support during peak hours or emergencies. This allows you to easily and quickly provide your customer service with the right capacity required.
Facilitating working from home also offers opportunities for re-entrants or for people with disabilities who can work in their own (home) environment with the right facilities.
work from home customer service
The process
There are clear benefits to working from home, but sending employees home is only the end of the process. The process of preparing for the virtual environment is not something that companies often find easy. Many companies that have experimented with having customer service agents work from home openly admit that it took them some trial and error to learn what works best for them. Without the right tools and a plan of action, it can be a long and expensive process.
It is clear that working from home has its benefits, but sending employees home is only the end of the process.
New mentality
To be successful, a new mindset is required within the contact center teams. You can't just take people out of the contact center, put them at home and then expect them to do their work there just as well or even better. What do the employees in your organization need to be able to optimally fulfill their work at home? Are they allowed to use their own materials (think of a PC, laptop and/or smartphone) or do they have to meet the security standards of the organization? Is a secure connection (for example a VPN) necessary or does the organization already use cloud services to keep track of customer data (CRM or ERP)? A solution from the cloud, where security is well arranged anyway, is recommended.
It is not suitable for everyone
Despite all the benefits for employees and organizations, working from home is not suitable for everyone. In every area – from recruitment to personnel management, and from business processes to technology and communication – companies must ask themselves how they can optimize their existing resources for a virtual environment. Working from home must also comply with certain legislation. A home worker falls under the Working Conditions Act. Although more flexible occupational health and safety regulations apply to working from home than to the workplace in the company.
Technologies are often not (yet) suitable
There is no contact center technology provider that does not claim that the technology offered is suitable for working from home. But the reality is unfortunately often different.
Many providers do not have complete multichannel systems to send customer contacts to remote employees via various media and to report on them as if they were 'just' part of the customer service team. Other providers, for example, do not offer the instant messaging platforms and online forums that are essential for maintaining close communication between members of virtual teams. Or what about the videoconferencing facilities that will play a greater role in customer contact? For remote workers, it is even more important to know who is available in, for example, the back office and that this is visible in real time. With a good presence display, it really does not matter where you work, at home or in the office.
Can customer service finally work from home?
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