Customer Service Rep Flexibility Needs: They Want to Work from Home By Hire Dynamics CATEGORY: Blog POSTED: December 16, 2021 What do your contact center CSRs want? They want to work from home! And if you can’t or won’t accommodate their wishes? You may lose them to competitors who will Such is another of the significant takeaways from our September 23 Contact Center Executive Forum. Contact centers lent themselves relatively easily to moving from an on-site center to having CSRs solve customer issues and answer their questions remotely via their home technology or their employers’. (Most contact centers provide their team members with the necessary technology). The three contact center executives who made up our forum panelists all agree that their CSRs, for the most part, found that they loved the work-from-home arrangement: It kept them – and their families – much safer from Covid19 virus infection. It allowed them the chance to take care of children’s schooling at home. It helped them care for elderly or ill family members. They found they were more productive. They enjoyed a greater work-life balance. They also say remote work will help their employers lower operating costs. They wish to continue to work remotely to avoid distractions (78 percent say this.} Employers also tend to agree with them regarding employee productivity, with 27 percent saying (at the link above) that they’ve noticed “increased company productivity.” These benefits have proven challenging to give up for many work-from-home professionals. 65 percent of survey respondents (link above) want to work remotely full time after the pandemic. 31 percent of current employees want a hybrid remote work environment. 81 percent of employees said they’d be more loyal to their employer if they had flexible work choices. They’re also more likely to say they’re satisfied with their jobs (57 percent) if they work at home than do their on-site colleagues (50 percent). Good news for contact center CSRs… …If our panelists are any indication of the contact center sector overall, it appears most companies WILL provide at least a hybrid work situation moving forward Two of our three panelists said they would offer hybrid (remote and on-site) work arrangements for their CSRs. In contrast, the other panelist said her company would remain fully remote for the foreseeable future. Or as LuAna Boykins, COO for GuideWell Connect put it: “We realized that if you’re comfy at home in your pajamas and you’re selling and contributing and having a purpose in the workplace while balancing your children and caring for families, I’m totally good with that.” Issues that could keep CSRs returning to the contact center Our panelists acknowledged that there are some excellent benefits to having CSRs work together on site. Not every CSR (or human, for that matter) is capable of the self-discipline needed to work remotely full-time. Training newcomers and continual improvement training for current team members can be more problematic when done remotely. (Some trainers who are great at training in person aren’t as great at training virtually.) Building and maintaining team cohesion/corporate culture is more challenging in a remote situation. (Although the panelists offered strategies they found were successful in creating a robust company culture with remote workers.) Bottom line? You, the contact center manager, has the final say regarding remote, hybrid, or fully in-house Your CSRs may really, really, REALLY want to stay fully remote forever, but it’s not their decision. If you move back to on-site or even hybrid, you may lose team members, but that’s a choice you no doubt will make based on how well you think you’ll be able to replace them with great CSR talent. Whether you move back to the contact center, go hybrid, or fully remote, Hire Dynamics can help you source, vet, and hire CSRs. Learn more about our contact center workforce staffing services.
