Author: Michael Gray

Sensée has created a Strategic Framework to assist organisations in migrating employees to homeworking, and optimising their strategies.

Delivered by Sensée’s experienced operational consultants, the Strategic Framework has six Core Pillars:

1. Selection Of Model Homeworkers
2. Workforce Flexibility and Planning
3. Data Security and Compliance
4. Employee Contracts and Policies
5. Virtual Management
and Training
6. Employee Engagement and Support

“According to a recent poll*, 47 per cent of UK contact centres that implemented homeworking (for the first time) in response to the Covid-19 crisis now see it as a long term strategy” said Mark Walton, CEO of Sensée.

“However, they shouldn’t underestimate the size of the task. When asked about their biggest homeworking challenge, 23 per cent of poll respondents said Pastoral Care (i.e. isolation/mental health), 22 per cent Motivation/Productivity, 17 per cent Telephony/Technology Services, 14 per cent Communication with Remote Workers, and 12 per cent Staff Management.”

“The current crisis has opened the eyes of the world to homeworking” said Rob Smale, Director, Sensée. “However, organisations are quickly discovering that the real challenge of setting up effective operations is a lot more complex than just getting people connected.  The more difficult job is to optimise homeworking – not just from a technology perspective but also from a recruitment, on-boarding, management, training, scheduling and communications perspective.  Our 16 years’ experience of operating contact centre homeworking has shown that all six points within the Strategic Framework need to be considered in order to manage a successful transition”.

Details of the Sensée Framework, and how Sensée’s Operational Consultants can assist your organisation create and implement a long-term homeworking strategy, can be found at https://bit.ly/2zip4Oi

* The online poll was conducted amongst 156 UK contact centres in April/May 2020

Pic: Rob Smale, Director of Professional Services

 

Finding it difficult to support your remote teams?

Unsure how to motivate and boost work-at-home productivity?

Struggling with information security and compliance?

 

 

 

Read our new eBook and learn how to get on top of these and many other remote management issues.

View here (no need to register)

(This feature, written by Sensée’s Group CEO Steve Mosser, was originally published on contact-centres.com and is republished with permission)

So, amidst the chaos and panic launched by the Covid-19 crisis, you’ve managed to get your staff to continue working by enabling them to do their duties from home? Good.

As a fervent advocate of homeworking for the last 20 years, we feel the first part of our mission is finally hitting home (pun intended): homeworking is not a nice to have, it’s a must have for any business serious about Continuity.

However, as most businesses are now realising, the challenge wasn’t really in getting someone able to login and work remotely. The real business challenge is how to you resolve visibility, control and security, and critically, how do you keep your people engaged and thriving.

How do you know what’s expected of your management in this new world of work? A simplistic and improvised “9 to 5” approach won’t cut it.

Homeworking can certainly be virtuous on many fronts: studies show people are generally more productive when working temporarily from home. Homeworking also often leads @home workers to lose sense of boundaries between private (home) and work life. In time, this leads to staff over-working, and eventually putting themselves under too much pressure and spells dangers of burnout. I mean: how do you know what’s expected of your management in this new world of work? A simplistic and improvised “9 to 5” approach won’t cut it. Particularly, in households with children, the need for their care and the opportunities for disruption are now at an all-time high at all times of the day.

This raises the challenge of sustainability of working from home. A sustainable homeworking system has to take all the realities of making home the workplace into account and have solutions at the ready.

A Scheduling Service Fit for Homeworking

As a 100% virtual enterprise with over 800 employees working entirely from home – whatever their function – Sensée has had to create solutions to ensure that people are productive, secure and most importantly, happy. At the heart of our ecosystem is TeamTonic, a scheduling service which enables our 800+ employees to self-roster (aka self-schedule) their work time against their private lives. This means that they are empowered to decide when they are working and manage their household accordingly. In essence, it enables our people to build work around their lives, rather than vice versa. Not only does this create stability, it is essential to @home employee well-being, and their own sustainability of working from home.

Without staff in line of sight, you need a systematic solution that is “cheat-proof” and drives positive behaviours without establishing a Big Brother state.

For our enterprise clients, it means they are clear when work starts and stops for each employee, and the TeamTonic tracking system means that if/when there are interruptions in work, this is automagically updated into their performance management and payroll systems. Kids streaming 4k content on YouTube chokes and kills the VPN used for work? TeamTonic automatically updates downtime and productivity loss. Trying to do so manually may work for a handful of individuals, but anything beyond will create management and HR chaos. If ignored by (over) trusting, it could lead to abuse. We all know that in contact centres, the opportunities for work avoidance are high, and unfortunately, are often attempted and successful. Without staff in line of sight, you need a systematic solution that is “cheat-proof” and drives positive behaviours without establishing a Big Brother state. TeamTonic strikes a balance between privacy and work monitoring through automation.

Security and BYOD

Which leads us to the final, and perhaps most critical piece: Security. In this time of business improvisation in mass deploying staff at home, the opportunities for data leaks, loss and theft are at an all-time high. It’s a hacker feast right now. Whether it’s equipment you’ve provided or not, the risks to your customer data are real.

We’ve long promoted a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) architecture as it removes the burden of supplying and supporting equipment (as well as the liability of it failing and having to continue paying your staff until it’s fixed).

Our solutions add up a complete technology ecosystem …….  that today not only manages complex operations for over 800 Sensée HomeAgents but also thousands of client staff in well-known UK organisations.

However any Infosec person will tell you it’s not for the fainthearted and it creates a realm of IS nightmares: how do you ensure the machine is clean, free of viruses, spyware, malware etc? Our SafeOS solution enables you to turn any Windows machine into a secure thin client with 2 Factor Authentication, Schedule Access and encrypted connections. It’s not only the best security money can buy, it’s actually more secure (and scalable) than providing your own equipment to your staff.

Together, our solutions add up a complete technology ecosystem that’s purpose built for homeworking. An ecosystem that today not only manages complex operations for over 800 Sensée HomeAgents but also thousands of client staff in well-known UK organisations.

So, the dawn of homeworking is finally here. Perhaps forcibly so, but we should now take this opportunity to identify and address its implications on management, security and employee-wellbeing. A world-class homeworking solution is one that raises the bar across these three areas so that everybody but the hackers thrive. We call this Homeworking 2.0.

In a recent LinkedIn post, CX specialist Peter Massey looks forward to What’s After Covid?

He asks what lessons organisations have learnt during lockdown, and what the ‘new normal’ will be when everything returns to business-as-usual.

“Now is the time to redesign your future state with the best of your breakthroughs” he advises “and don’t just take it for granted you’ll go straight back. Ask your staff what they think of homeworking – you might be missing a trick if you don’t!”

Bill Price, a US-based colleague of Peter, also offered his thoughts on home working within the post. They include:

“More than 50% of contact centres will not re-appear (after lockdown) but be replaced by work-from-home and better digital self service.”

“Work-from-home will remain a much bigger part of contact centre operating models.”

“(Organisations) will break free from workforce management (WFM) tools with standard time shifts…. the new normal will have far more options that suit agent needs.”

“Knowledge bases and communities need to be properly resourced in real time to provide up-to-date information or be replaced by simple tools for knowledge sharing.”

“The shift to cloud technology was well underway… but will accelerate even more.”

If Bill’s prediction that over 50% of US contact centres are shortly to be replaced by work-from-home and digital self-service is correct, then the industry is in for its biggest transformation since the first call centres appeared on the scene back in the 1970s.

The reality for the UK industry may be somewhat less dramatic.  In an April 2020 poll conducted as part of a homeworking webinar, we asked ‘have you introduced contact centre home working in response to Coronavirus?’. The responses were:

No. We already had work-at-home agents -10%
No. We are planning to, but not started yet – 1%
No. We have no plans – 2%
Yes. As a short term measure – 46%
Yes. As a longer term strategy – 41%

112 contact centre professionals responded to the poll.

While, many poll respondents saw work-at-home as a short term crisis measure, over 40% saw it as a longer term strategy. That is clearly a huge step forward for home working advocates, as well as for pioneers such as Sensée that has been operating a 100% home-based model for over 15 years.

With 97% of contact centres in the poll operating work-at-home agents during the Covid-19 crisis, few can question its suitability as an emergency response mechanism. But what about for business-as-usual?

In this regard, Bill’s points about organisations urgently needing to adapt operating models and technologies for WFM, communications, and real-time knowledge sharing are spot on – and mirror our own experiences. You can’t just take a contact centre team out of a bricks and mortar set-up, send people home with a phone and a computer and expect the team to operate the same way as it did in the office.

To successfully operate a home working operation calls for a different mindset. A ‘virtual mindset’ that extends from how your centre recruits the right people to how you onboard, train, communicate, monitor, manage and schedule them. Sometimes in-house tools and methodologies can be adapted for remote working, sometimes new solutions will be required. And that’s particularly true when it comes to creating flexible/split shifts for home agents, and enabling support and communications in a live ‘real time’ environment.

But be in no doubt, contact centre home working is here to stay.

Over our last three weeks we’ve brought you a selection of work-from-home tips and advice from the Sensée frontline.  We hope you’ve found them useful.  In this final post of the series, we’re pleased to bring you a selection of management tips from our Team Managers.

How do you:

Ensure your team thinks and acts like a team (when people are sometimes living hundreds of miles apart?)……

“Create friendly competition between teams by comparing KPIs and QA scores.  Encourage a team orientation rather than concentrating on individual performance”.

David, Sensée Team Leader

Support team members with stressful situations……

“We use weekly coaching sessions to identify stressful issues that team members may face and put the necessary support in place. That could range from catching up more often, through to reaching out to HR.”

Sarah, Sensée Team Leader

Support team members struggling with complex customer questions…..

“The use of breakouts within Team Rooms is very helpful as you can screen share and talk through issues to give a better understanding.”

Kelly, Sensée Team Leader

Bring a sense of fun and togetherness to the working day….

“Regularly send out emails to your team to update them on performance. Call out any special achievements and give praise where people are excelling. Mirror this in the Team Room with regular praise and encourage new advisors to lean on more experienced advisors for support”

Kelly, Sensée Team Leader

Make virtual training sessions more fun and engaging…..

“When designing group coaching/ training sessions use lots of open questions so that everyone has the chance to speak. Use microphones so that everyone can talk rather than type. Some team members are naturally quieter than others so make sure you have a good mix for each session.”

Steph, Sensée Team Leader

Maintain effective communications with team members….

“Always acknowledge receipt of a request. While I always aim to respond to emails the same day, it is still important for remote team members to know that I’ve received their question and am working on a response.”

Sarah, Sensée Team Leader

Show trust to people working remotely….

“Ask different team members to deliver training sessions. It’s not always easy to give extra responsibility in the homeworking environment so anything where that is possible is really useful in creating mutual trust and respect.”

Kelly, Sensée Team Leader

Support people through the (sometimes difficult) first few months of their homeworking journeys….

“Put together a library of short training videos to deliver refreshers for new starters on systems, procedures and processes.”

David, Sensée Team Leader

Enhance job satisfaction……

“Ensure there are plenty of opportunities for progression from providing support on the Sensée live desk, to call listening, providing feedback to other advisers, to become a deputy team leader with increased responsibility.”

Sarah, Sensée Team Leader

Run activities designed to help stem potential isolation….

“At this time of uncertainty, I’m running more group coaching sessions. A recent one focussed on wellbeing. Every team member was able to share their thoughts and feelings and many team members sent feedback that it was really useful to hear that other members on the team were having the same concerns.”

Steph, Sensée Team Leader

Thanks for the excellent feedback to last week’s work-from-home tips and advice from our Team Managers and Advisors.  Here’s some additional tips.  Hope you find them useful.

How do you:

Separate your home and work life……

“My office (the spare bedroom) is my work life. When I leave it, I treat it as if I’m leaving work.”

Petra, Sensée HomeAgent

………. organise your workspace?

“Workspace is very important to me. It has to be clear of clutter and in the right place in the office. I move my desk to suit the seasons: Summer I sit facing the window, Winter I sit next to the radiator under the window.”

Ginny, Sensée Co-ordinator

………. maintain your health and fitness?

“In nice weather I sit in the garden or have a potter around the block. I live in the Lake District so am lucky because I get to enjoy a wilderness walk within 5 mins of my house. In the Spring I can watch the lambs being born at the bottom of my garden.”

Janet, Sensée Services Adviser

………. not end up snacking all day!?

“Get fruit and vegetables. Cut apples, oranges, carrots etc. into small pieces so that you can snack healthily during the day” 😄

Izabela, Sensée Services Adviser

………. motivate yourself?

“Finish work at 2, in the garden by 10 past 2 (usually asleep in the sun by 2.15), no time wasted on commuting, now that’s motivation for you 🙂.”

Zoe, Sensée Services Adviser

………. optimise your working environment (chair/desk/lighting etc.)?

“Eliminate desk clutter, arrange screens at prime viewing angles, and have relevant equipment handy on hooks within easy reach. Preferably use 100 watt equivalent lightbulbs.”

Jacob, Sensée Services Adviser

………. improve your work-life-balance?

“I use to commute two hours to London each day, and back again, so my work day could be as much as 12 hours. Working from home, I’m working 8 hours, zero travel….. can’t be bad 🙂”

Bev, Sensée Services Adviser

………. manage distractions?

“Working at home has always been easy for me but a lot has changed in the last few weeks with my husband now working from home, and my daughter needing to do her school work.  It has reinforced the importance of having a separate office area and not working in your living space. It’s also important to plan a schedule for the day/week to provide structure and get dressed so you can tell yourself you mean business!”

Amanda, Sensée Team Leader

………. decide what to wear?

“Getting properly dressed for work – even into baggy and comfy stuff – helps headspace.” 

Kimberley, Sensée home-based Adviser

………. and what do you do during your breaks, and at lunch?

“During lunch and breaks I catch up on housework, eat meals and relax. I minimise screen time to give my eyes a rest.”

Jade, Sensée Services Adviser

MORE TIPS TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK!