By: PJ Weyforth Senior Vice President, TeleTech@Home 

Customer experience can make or break a company, and today’s service failures are often publicly played out online for the world – and competitors – to see. At the same time, the pressure to manage costs has never been greater, but it’s a fatal mistake to view customer service channels as a cost center. The solution? An at-home workforce that delivers excellent results:

• 10% higher customer satisfaction
• 30% more flexibility or even greater
• 20% lower cost to serve customers
• Highly educated employees with significant work experience
• Geographic distribution of workforce, minimizes disruption
• Greater business continuity

Why are at-home employees more productive and effective? The mere premise is confounding to some, who assume less hands-on control over staff can lead only to lower performance and wasted resources. In fact, some organizations have made this a self-fulfilling prophesy by attempting to shift their current customer representatives – along with existing management, training and communications practices into an at-home setting – only to see performance metrics plummet across the board.

An at-home workforce is much more than a shift in location. It’s a customer interaction strategy that redefines the way companies recruit, hire, train and manage customer-facing employees. This strategy should include a detailed sourcing plan, and a first layout of the annual sourcing budget, which takes the cost per hire times the estimated number of employees to be hired. Once the annual spend is determined, you can identify resources that will net the right number of qualified applicants.

For large hiring needs, it is critical to build an applicant pipeline. Position requisitions can be created to allow applicants to express interest in future openings. The goal is to build a sufficient applicant pool so, as customer demand rises, the recruitment process can begin immediately instead of waiting several weeks for job advertisements to kick in. The benefits of having a healthy applicant pipeline include:
 

• Reduced time to hire by one-two weeks
• Better applicant selection, which drives better hires and better retention
• More refined screening for specific skill sets, languages and specific shift availability

As qualified home-based employees come on board companies should turn their attention to managing for success. Here are seven key advantages that, when done well, generate excellent results in an affordable, sustainable model:
 

• Best-in-class security with high-speed connectivity and protocols. At-home workforces have been successful in the financial services industry for years, which reinforces a critical point: at-home employees can deliver the same security and industry certifications as employees working in traditional locations. With today's advanced security protocols, information is protected in compliance with industry and regulatory requirements across financial services, including the Payment Card Industry (PCI), healthcare and other industries. In fact, the computer is locked down, so the employee is not able to print, copy or paste except within his or her work application.
• Flexible staffing with quick ramp-up or ramp-down time to meet fluctuating volumes. At-home workforces offer solutions using employees with unique skill sets, scalability and efficiency. The ability to be ready to work with no commute allows for quick ramp-up or down to meet fluctuating volumes and minimize costs. And, the "set up and stand by" model allows employees to meet unexpectedly high demand.
• Scalability and fluency in languages, skill sets, flexibility and cultural settings. With recruiting boundaries largely eliminated, companies can handpick the best talent with fluency in whatever languages and cultural settings are needed, no matter where they live. Companies can also tap into targeted skill sets -- such as specialized expertise in healthcare, financial services or gaming, for example, as well as have access to employees with greater flexibility and speed.
• Seamless integration with virtual management tools. Because they're equally secure and productive, virtual workplaces blend easily with existing brick-and-mortar centers. Virtual management tools allow managers the same level of interaction and supervision, whether in person or at home. Clients can be confident that they have the same level of control as with their office-based teams.
• Expanded labor pool anytime, anywhere. Traditional contact centers and corporate offices are often limited by their geography when recruiting and selecting staff. Unfortunately, this eliminates many high quality candidates who live in more rural areas, or move frequently (such as veterans’ spouses).
• Higher quality of service. With the advancements in technology, security and employee management, at-home workforces are helping businesses solve customer management challenges with proven results. Because at-home providers can recruit across a broader geographic area, and can accommodate a diverse array of employee needs, such as mobility issues, these providers attract a more diverse, often higher-quality selection of applicants.
• Return on investment with the elimination in facilities costs and higher employee utilization. Down-time, and “offline” time is a natural by-product of a full-time workforce, but at-home solutions easily reduce this by a minimum of 20 percent, making this staffing solution one of the most efficient options available.

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About the Author: PJ Weyforth, TeleTech@Home senior vice president, is an expert on trends in at-home hiring and the unique advantages of an at-home workforce. With more than 20 years of experience, she is responsible for the in-house operations, product development, marketing and technology efforts for TeleTech@Home.