More and more UK contact centres are turning to homeworking as they discover the huge financial and productivity benefits it can deliver according to a new survey from the UK Contact Centre Forum.
58 per cent of contact centre operators responding to the 2016 UK HomeAgent survey now employ homeworkers (or HomeAgents). 69 per cent of these organisations say that it creates happier and more productive employees, while 74 per cent say that it enables them to schedule staff more flexibly to meet expected customer contact volumes.
On the flip slide, homeworking is also delivering huge benefits to contact centre agents. 65 per cent of HomeAgents say that they have a better work-life-balance. 73 per cent say they they have no travel-to-work costs, while 68 per cent say that they have removed the time wasted travelling to work.
402 people took part in the 2016 UK HomeAgent study by completing online questionnaire surveys - making it the largest UK survey ever conducted into the state of the contact centre homeworking market from both Employer and HomeAgent perspectives. The study was sponsored by Argos, Content Guru and Plantronics.
Other key findings from the survey include:
- 78 per cent of organisations employing HomeAgents expect to increase numbers in the next 12 months
- 74 per cent of HomeAgents are aged 35 or over; 66% have over 10 years experience in customer contact roles
- 92 per cent of HomeAgents say that they are happy (at least some of the time); 72 per cent are proud to tell people where they work
- 84 per cent of organisations allow HomeAgents to work multiple shifts on a single day; 33 per cent of HomeAgents are able to work shifts of ‘up to an hour’
- 86 per cent of HomeAgents experience virtual training; 54 per cent of these think it is just as effective as office-based training
- 54 per cent of HomeAgents buy their own computing equipment; 55 per cent supply their own internet
- 77 per cent of HomeAgents meet colleagues once a month or less
"Interest in contact centre homeworking has never been higher* and our survey clearly shows why" said Trevor Butterworth, CEO of the UK Contact Centre Forum. "It is a win-win for Employers and Contact Centre Agents. Employers responding to our survey pointed to huge benefits in terms of cost savings, productivity and enhanced Employee Engagement; while the vast majority of HomeAgents are clearly happy swapping the advantages of office working for the work-life-balance benefits of homeworking".
Published: Wednesday, July 13, 2016
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