hybrid working and customer contact
Splitting the week between home and the office can work in a contact centre too, provided you set it up properly.
For a long time a contact centre was the department that was in the office by definition. Everyone together, the supervisor on the floor, the wallboard on the wall. That is no longer necessary, but it does not go well by itself.
what it gives you
- fewer interruptions, so more work finished
- a working day that fits better around the rest of someone's life
- more satisfaction, because there is a choice to make
- lower travel costs and lower emissions
- a bigger pool to hire from, because the distance to the office stops counting
what it asks for
A decent laptop, a connection that holds up, a place to sit for eight hours. And software that does not assume a fixed desk. The moment someone has different functions at home than in the office, it is not hybrid working any more but working at half strength.
five things that make it work
- seeing who is available, wherever they are sitting
- holding on to that pattern, so planning can steer on it
- offering more than one channel, because at home chat is often easier than the phone
- having those channels arrive in one place, with the same rules about who picks up what
- keeping up training and coaching, at a distance too
The four after the first come down to the same thing: if availability, queue and history sit in one place, it does not matter where someone is. If they are scattered, every day at home becomes a gamble. That is what every channel in one place is about, and why calling from Teams is the first thing many organisations switch on.
