18 Mar How We Adapted To Call Centre Work From Home
How We Adapted To Call Centre Work From Home
On the 16th March, Boris told the whole country that “now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact and travel”. Walking out of the office the day before ‘Day 1 of lockdown’ in March 2020 is one we will never forget. No one predicted that call centre work from home would become the new norm.
We’d been ahead of the game in getting our people set up to work from home thanks to our remarkable IT department (who provided phones, screens, PCs and everything else required to work in a safe and secure environment) but when we turned the lights off and locked the door (with a slight wobble of the chin and lump in throat), none of us knew exactly when we’d back and what would happen in between. What we did know, was that we had a strong culture and a great bunch of people who were up for this new challenge!
In this article, we explain how we adapted to call centre working from home.
How Technology Helped Our Call Centre Agents Work From Home
Luckily, as a result of the technology we already had in place we didn’t lose any visibility when we all took to our studies, kitchens, lounges and bedrooms to work from home. We were all able to see and measure how we were doing but it quickly became apparent how we communicated and supported each other needed to change.
Real Time Messaging For Collaboration And Support
Firstly we adapted the way we used some ‘real time messaging’ tools in conjunction with the good old telephone to ensure support could be provided in a timely and efficient manner to those talking to customers. We also used such platforms to help keep us all feeling ‘connected’ and part of a wider team. We’ve had some challenging periods throughout the pandemic and have seen customer patience levels fluctuate throughout but the real time support process we adopted initially is still serving us well today. I don’t think we’ll ever lose the love of sending a smiling/winking/kissing emoji!
Video Calls And Video Meetings
Video calls have now become the norm to talk to our colleagues and clients. I think everyone has been guilty of ‘being on mute’ or not having their camera on but now it’s a medium we all feel very comfortable with.
Remote Call Centre Training
Training in a call centre never stops and during lockdown, it was no different so we had to learn how to deliver effective remote training sessions – which included new system training which is no mean feat! We also fully utilised our online training software which before lockdown had not had much road testing!
There is undoubtedly some training that just works better in a classroom environment, so now we’re able to be in the office, we look at what best suits the training requirement and use a mixture of ‘onsite’ and ‘remote’ training methods. At times we even blend. For example, our induction program is carried out in the office however throughout that, we’ll arrange zoom introductions from the management team, so coaches, supervisors and managers can say hello even if our agents have adopted call centre work from home.
Supporting Our Call Centre Agents That Work From Home
As well as the ‘how’ we communicate, the ‘when’ has also changed. We’ve definitely found that supporting staff emotionally during the past two years has given rise to more regular contact where required. Everyone has had their own challenges and I think part of making the ‘work from home’ (WFH) model work has been personalising our management style more than ever to meet the needs of the individual.
How We Adapted To Call Centre Work From Home
Recruitment
Call Centre Recruitment might not ever look the same again either. All job interviews and accompanying tests have always been conducted in the office however when Covid made that an impossibility, we moved everything online. Conducting interviews via Zoom seemed a little awkward to begin with but now our managers have fine-tuned the whole process to ensure the candidate feels comfortable and we get everything we want out of the session.
We can now interview both onsite and remotely to meet the needs of the business and the candidate – we’ve definitely found people find it far easier to take time out of their day to make the interview, no longer having to take extended lunch breaks or holidays to make interviews when they are also working from home.
Flexible Shift Patterns With Working From Home
The type of shift patterns we recruit for and schedule with existing employees has also changed as a result of the flexibility WFH affords. We’ve always employed part time staff but working from home has allowed us to reach more people by providing greater opportunity for employees to balance their work schedules with personal commitments. We’ve even adopted some ‘split shifts’ where it helps manage workloads and suits the individual (where they log on during the day, log off and then log on again later that afternoon or evening).
Our staff have always gone above and beyond to help out with extra hours when needed but being able to do this from the comfort of your home makes this far easier. We never would have been able to ask someone to come back into the office after clocking off to work an hour or so but WFH enables our employees to do just that without needing to put their shoes on!
The Start Of Hybrid Working
As we came out of lockdown and started to get updated guidance from the government about returning to the office, we spoke to all our call centre staff and asked them if given a choice, what working schedule they would prefer; to be back in the office, to continue working from home or to have a Hybrid. Not all but the majority said they wanted to either continue working from home or to have a hybrid between home and the office. Initially we thought we’d ask everyone to work a few days in the office each week and the rest from home (if they wanted). However after looking at what we’d accomplished and how well everyone had adapted to home working, we changed our minds.
High Productivity From Our Hybrid Teams
Like many businesses, productivity was a concern when we ‘had’ to be at home and it was put to the test but luckily for us, productivity never became a problem because everyone kept our values and culture alive. This coupled with what our staff were clearly telling us, led us to reassess the hybrid format and as a result have now given greater flexibility to our staff in regard to their working life being able to choose where they wish to work.
However, we have seen what a positive impact working from the office has on individual’s well-being so will encourage all staff to come to the office, not just for training and reviews but also to have some of the ‘old normal’ back, where they can socialise in person and see/meet friends and have some of the old style ‘water cooler’ moments.
The Future Of Call Centre Working
We would be foolish to say that we’re finished with our transition from office working to hybrid. We’re still learning and know we’ll will need to make further changes for service improvement but for us, we have adapted to our ‘new normal’ and for us it’s no longer forced, it’s a choice.
Innovative Call Centre That Embraces Call Centre Work From Home
If you need an innovative uk call centre that embraces call centre work from home, why not not speak to Impact? Our hybrid operating model empowers our agents to work wherever they do their best work whilst maintaining the strong values and culture that Impact are renowned for.
Our clients benefit from the very best talent as working for Impact as a call centre agent doesn’t mean having to be in the office everyday. Impact call centre agents can enjoy a better work/life balance so they are happy and in the best position to provide world class customer service.
Impact has helped businesses across all sectors succeed with our empowered hybrid teams that are highly skilled and passionate about everything that they do. Our current client base includes a major London Airport and a world leading memory foam mattress manufacturer.
Contact our team of call centre specialists by calling 01794 230 230 or completing the enquiry form on our contact page.