Working from home became the rule rather than the exception for customer service agents in 2020. However, it has moved from a necessity to ensure workers’ protection in the pandemic to a new option that can enhance efficiency, aid job satisfaction and improve the work-life balances of employees.
There are several benefits to allowing greater flexibility for employees. According to the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA), staff turnover is around 26% annually. Considering the national average in the UK is 15%, there’s clearly something particularly challenging about the role. In addition, hiring and training new staff is expensive, so reducing turnover can help save money on recruitment.
Unhappy employees are also unproductive employees. Managing workplace stress levels is therefore vital for staff retention and helping employees maintain high productivity. However, 52% of call centre staff believe that their company isn’t doing enough to prevent burnout. Consultancy McKinsey & Company notes that happy and engaged employees are less likely to look for new jobs. In fact, they’re more likely to excel at their jobs – they’re 3.3 times more likely to feel extremely empowered to resolve customer issues.
Equipping agents to work from home on a more permanent basis with the technology, tools and infrastructure they need therefore looks like a means for organisations to enhance both workers’ experiences and their own productivity. However, remote working results in fragmented teams and this creates supervisor and management challenges with everything from training to support impacted by not sharing the same site.