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Special Report: THE STATE OF HOME AGENT STAFFINGThe home agent model is no longer viewed as a risky staffing approach; it’s fast becoming a preferred one. Rapid advances in virtual technology have mitigated the major security risks and operational concerns. Trial and error via countless pilots and full-fledged programs over the years have revealed a number of best practices with regard to home agent implementation and management.
Off Center recently surveyed dozens of U.S. customer care professionals whose organizations use home agents to handle inbound contacts. The collective responses of the study participants helped to shed ample light on the state of home agent staffing in the U.S. call center industry – revealing several very promising trends as well as some missed opportunities. For a detailed look at – and commentary on – the study results, be sure to download the complete 19-page report. For more information, read the Executive Summary below. |
INTRODUCTION & EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
After years of tentative attempts and dipping toes into virtual waters, call centers are starting to fully embrace the home agent model. A decade ago only about one in 10 customer contact organizations employed home agents to some extent; these days roughly one in four do, according to research I conducted with ICMI in 2010.
The home agent model is no longer viewed as a risky staffing approach; it’s fast becoming a preferred one. Rapid advances in virtual technology have mitigated the major security risks and operational concerns. Trial and error via countless pilots and full-fledged programs over the years have revealed a number of best practices with regard to home agent implementation and management.
Thus, the fear-factor has lessened considerably. The focus now is much less on “what could go wrong”, and much more on “what could go right.” There is plenty that falls into that latter category. Proponents and experts continuously tout the following potential benefits of the home agent model:
One glance at such potential perks and it’s easy to see why so many call centers are starting to pay attention to and explore the home agent model. But more interesting and compelling than mere “potential” are actual results. Ambitious managers want to know:
These are the kinds of questions – along with numerous others – that Off Center recently posed to dozens of U.S. customer care professionals whose organizations use home agents to handle inbound contacts. A wide range of industries and call center sizes were represented in the study. The number of home agents in place at these organizations also varied considerably – there were some small programs, some medium ones and some large as well as very large ones.
The collective responses of the study participants helped to shed ample light on the state of home agent staffing in the U.S. call center industry – revealing some promising trends as well as some missed opportunities.
Following is a summary of the key findings from the study.
For a more detailed look at – and commentary on – the study results, be sure to download the report…
After years of tentative attempts and dipping toes into virtual waters, call centers are starting to fully embrace the home agent model. A decade ago only about one in 10 customer contact organizations employed home agents to some extent; these days roughly one in four do, according to research I conducted with ICMI in 2010.
The home agent model is no longer viewed as a risky staffing approach; it’s fast becoming a preferred one. Rapid advances in virtual technology have mitigated the major security risks and operational concerns. Trial and error via countless pilots and full-fledged programs over the years have revealed a number of best practices with regard to home agent implementation and management.
Thus, the fear-factor has lessened considerably. The focus now is much less on “what could go wrong”, and much more on “what could go right.” There is plenty that falls into that latter category. Proponents and experts continuously tout the following potential benefits of the home agent model:
- Increased retention of agent talent
- Improved scheduling flexibility
- Decreased facility/operations costs
- Expanded recruiting reach
- Higher attendance rates
- Higher productivity and quality
One glance at such potential perks and it’s easy to see why so many call centers are starting to pay attention to and explore the home agent model. But more interesting and compelling than mere “potential” are actual results. Ambitious managers want to know:
- What specific impact have real-life home agent programs and initiatives have had on the organizations that have implemented them?
- What industries are these organizations in?
- How many home agents do these companies have in place?
- How is training conducted?
- How much growth do they expect with regard to their home agent program?
These are the kinds of questions – along with numerous others – that Off Center recently posed to dozens of U.S. customer care professionals whose organizations use home agents to handle inbound contacts. A wide range of industries and call center sizes were represented in the study. The number of home agents in place at these organizations also varied considerably – there were some small programs, some medium ones and some large as well as very large ones.
The collective responses of the study participants helped to shed ample light on the state of home agent staffing in the U.S. call center industry – revealing some promising trends as well as some missed opportunities.
Following is a summary of the key findings from the study.
- More than half of the study participants reported that their company currently has 50 or fewer home agents in place. Nearly a third of participants reported much larger programs, ranging from 100 to over 500 home agents.
- The vast majority of participants plan to continue steadily growing their home agent programs. Two in five expect to add 50 or fewer home agents within the next two years, with most of the remaining participants expecting to add between 51 and 200 virtual agents over that time.
- One in five participants work at companies that are “virtual outsourcers” – third-party service providers that employ home agents to handle customer contacts for a variety of client companies.
- Nearly half of the participants said that their company hires at least some of its new agents to work from home immediately. While many of these centers require those agents to be “tethered” – i.e., they must live within driving distance of or at least in the same state as the “brick and mortar” call center – a number of centers allow new home agents to live anywhere in the U.S.
- When seeking new home agents, many companies actively target such “alternative” labor pools as older workers, working mothers and individuals with physical disabilities.
- Nearly two in three centers that hire agents to work from home provide 100% virtual training via tools like e-learning modules, chat, email and phone. (In other words, new-hires needn’t attend any on-site training.) Most of the remaining centers provide a combination of remote and on-site training.
- To avoid losing an experienced/talented agent who must move out of the geographic area, four in five participants indicated that they will consider a “long-distance” work-at-home option.
- Nearly every participant reported that their use of home agents has had a “very positive” or “positive” impact on agent retention. The large majority also reported home agents’ notable impact on scheduling flexibility, productivity and attendance, as well as on operations costs and performance quality.
For a more detailed look at – and commentary on – the study results, be sure to download the report…