Just when we think that the new world of hybrid and remote work could make life easier for employees, several experts point out that it has perhaps created new complexities.<\/p>\n
Although agents are directly related to being able to meet growing customer expectations, they are now also divided according to where they want to work. This puts some pressure on managers by adding an additional layer of complexity to the already complicated business of managing a contact center.<\/p>\n
Finding people with the right training and then retaining them is an age-old challenge for call centers. This has been further complicated by the drive for people to return to offices in conflict with the desire of many of them to continue telecommuting<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In fact, many employees \u201cthreaten\u201d to quit their jobs rather than stop working from home, citing \u201cno commuting\u201d (84%) and \u201ccost savings\u201d (75%) as the top two reasons for continuing<\/strong> with remote work. So now is the perfect time for companies to step up their staff engagement program and consider simplification from a human point of view<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here are five tactics for tackling these new complexities from an agent’s perspective:<\/p>\n The opportunity to benchmark personal performance is a critical part of agent empowerment and shouldn’t stop just because most of them are working from home. How can organizations gamify day-to-day metrics from afar?<\/strong> Control panels<\/a><\/strong> in the cloud allow you to measure compliance with the KPIs of remote workers.<\/p>\n Contact centers must focus on the metrics that matter<\/strong>, since it must be considered that having access to unlimited information in the call center can be overwhelming, so \u201cnoise\u201d (unnecessary information) must be filtered by creating personalized panels<\/strong> in the agents can see the metrics that matter to them as soon as they sign in.<\/p>\n Teleworkers typically combine activities during the day that would have traditionally been eliminated in the workplace. Allowing agents flexibility, through self-programming, makes it easier to increase morale and reduce emotional exhaustion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Dynamic scheduling tools<\/strong> can instantly optimize agent time to better align with shifts and call volume changes, while allowing supervisors to provide the opportunity for overtime or voluntary time off.<\/p>\n It is important to strengthen the bond of the call center team<\/strong>, including the agents who work in the call center and those who telecommute. For this, the development of virtual communities<\/strong> is very useful, since they can share concerns, hobbies, knowledge, etc. In addition, strengthening the emotional connection with Voice of the Employee (VoE) analysis captures and analyzes how front-line personnel are feeling and identifies agents who need additional support<\/strong>. Any challenges as a result of working remotely are alleviated if employees feel better understood, valued, and cared for.<\/p>\n5 Ways to Simplify the Agent Experience<\/strong><\/h5>\n
1) Use Control Panels<\/strong><\/h5>\n
2) Keep Information Understandable and Accessible<\/strong><\/h5>\n
3) Establish Flexible Break Times for the New Lifestyles of Teleworkers<\/strong><\/h5>\n
4) Develop Virtual Communities<\/strong><\/h5>\n
5) Aim for the Easiest<\/strong><\/h5>\n