In part 1 and part 2 of this three part series, we discussed common objections to deploying an at-home workforce and some benefits to having such a workforce either as a supplement to or substitution for a brick-and-mortar workforce. Now for the ‘what’s next’...
If you are saying to yourself, “I’m sold, now how do I get started?” – take some advice from Michele Rowan, at-home workforce advocate and expert who would tell you when preparing to move employee home (see www.gohome.us.com):
Set clear expectations with agents
- Ergonomics
- Connectivity
- Access and response time
- Uptime
Take agents through a group training and Q & A
- Technology
- All other expectations
Prepare & train your supervisors & support staff
- Competencies for managing at-home agents
- Technology expertise
- Webcam & webcast
- Adobe connect
Source your at-home workforce by looking for the following kinds of employees in the following places:
- Stay at home parents – Parenting web sites
- Disabled individuals – NTI, Virtual Training Systems
- Baby Boomers – Boomernet.com
- Retirees and seniors – Suddenlysenior.com
- Military Spouses – Military web sites
Once you have your staff in place, use some proven best practices to retain them, including:
- Set clear expectations
- Communicate and make them feel part of a community, sharing company culture and events
- Have a solid support structure in place
- Enable strong social connectivity opportunities using technology such as webcams and virtual team meetings (WebEx and Skype are helpful here)
- Offer flexible schedules
Hopefully this series has given you some insight into ways and reasons to consider an at-home workforce. Many materials and experts exist around the subject and certainly the NICE CXone suite of contact center solutions will enable such a workforce regardless of size, industry or location. We have many customers who have both brick-and-mortar and at-home agents in North America and abroad. The NICE CXone platform and business analytics give a consistent view, set of best practices and tools for agents regardless of geography.
