Puzzel has penned some top tips and advice on hybrid working following 45% of the global workforce will adopt the model post-COVID.
Puzzel CMO Jonathan Allan penned a blog in which he reflected on the opportunities hybrid working can give contact centres and their hard-working staff, while also acknowledging some challenges some businesses may face moving forward.
He said: “For nearly 100 years, people have been commuting to workplaces and working eight hours a day, five days a week, without much objection. But in that time, the entire working world has changed.
“Today we use different tools, communicate in different ways, and live completely different lifestyles. Women have entered the workforce, meaning parents must now juggle schooling and childcare around work commitments. Businesses can now operate and trade around the world, requiring new ways to share ideas and work collaboratively. And we’ve also learned much more about human behaviour and the diverse ways in which we think and perform. Now Covid-19 has given us a chance to reflect.”
According to Gartner, 45% of the global knowledge workforce will be working from home two to three days per week by 2022. Added to this, nearly one in five will work remotely on a permanent basis.
This aligns with Puzzel’s findings from their Evolution of the Contact Centre research campaign with the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA), which revealed even more contact centres are moving to hybrid working models after the pandemic.
Allan says: “Gartner defines hybrid working as a strategic working model where employees and managers can ‘flow through’ locations.
“In the contact centre, this means enabling agents to serve customers from home or in the office, where it makes the most sense to provide maximum flexibility for employees and deliver maximum satisfaction for customers.”
He then offers up ways contact centres can really benefit from the hybrid working model.
- Improved customer experience: Happier agents make happier customers. Giving agents more control over their schedules and work-life balance leads to higher engagement and better customer service
- Increased availability: Agents are able to work a wider variety of shifts – including micro shifts – making it easier for managers to fill absences and late shifts, use specialist agents more strategically, and scale up and down to meet seasonal demand
- Expanded talent pool: Managers can look further afield and attract more diverse talent, as physical location becomes less critical
- Reduced sick leave: Many contact centres saw a drop in absence during the pandemic when agents were able to work from home
- More inclusive: Some people are more comfortable and productive working from home than in the office, while others prefer the social environment of the office
He also, however explains some of the hybrid working challenges:
- Onboarding: It is harder to onboard, train and build relationships with new agents when they work remotely
- Management: Managing a team, keeping agents motivated, and maintaining a strong company culture can be difficult, increasing the risk of disengagement and attrition
- Equipment & environment: Agents need to be equipped with certain tools and technology, as well as have reliable access to the internet and a quiet space to work
- Office design: Offices may need to be redesigned to meet the needs of a more dynamic workforce, for example adding more collaboration spaces and booths with branded backgrounds for video calls
- Compliance: It is difficult to ensure company policies are being adhered to, and correct procedures are being followed, when agents work remotely
The trick, Allan adds, is to test and re-test, remembering contact centres are agile and able to adapt as they did initially with the COVID-19 pandemic.
He concludes: “When the pandemic hit, contact centres had to transition to remote working in just a few days and refine policies and procedures on the fly. Now hybrid working can (and should) be treated in the same way.”
