ICMI's Customer Management Insight - December 2007 - (Page 16) PEOPLE “As IT becomes woven into the fabric of people’s lives and traditional work-home boundaries are rendered obsolete, ‘digital free agency’ will emerge. CIOs need to prepare for the arrival of this new work phenomenon, which is being driven by political, social and technology changes.” Whether it be Generation Xers and Yers and their “what’s in it for me” mindset or working parents seeking more quality time with children, or baby boomers who would like to ease into retirement, contact centers are faced with highly skilled and valued workers demanding changes to traditional work roles. Why? Because they can. “When people in these demographics have marketable skills, employers will find it difficult to ignore their requests for more flexibility,” says Prentice. “The additional pressures of an aging population and skills shortages will lead to the adoption of digital free-agency and flexible work structures…” This is not to suggest that contact managers will become slaves to their top agents’ every staffing and scheduling demand; however, managers must accept that technology, the workplace and the employee demographic has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades — resulting in both the need and the opportunity for more progressive work arrangements. HOW TO LAND TOP “FREE AGENTS” Allow Work-At home Arrangements Letting agents work from home is perhaps the best way to attract, engage and retain high-caliber agents while effectively tackling the unique scheduling and performance challenges of the contact center. In a recent study on telework conducted by ICMI, 2006 Contact Center Telework Report, three in five centers reported that turnover among home agents was lower than that of inhouse agents — with 33 percent of them indicating substantially so. And according to research by the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC), 25 percent of employees with a telework program in place reported that home agents are more productive than their inhouse colleagues — 37.5 percent of respondents indicated that home agents are “somewhat” more productive than inhouse agents, while 14.1 percent reported that home agents are “substantially” more productive. Most of the remaining centers (39.1 percent) reported no notable difference in productivity between home-based and inhouse staff, which is fine considering the fact that the home agent is happier and more likely to stick around. The ICMI study also found that, for many centers, home agents often exceed inhouse staff in terms of quality (fewer errors, better monitoring scores, higher first-call resolution rates). Of course, happier, more effective and efficient agents There are several alternative staffing and scheduling approaches that contact centers can take advantage of to help attract and, importantly, hold on to agents who have high levels of skill and experience, but low tolerance for traditional work rules and roles. would change companies if the new company offered a telework option — some would even accept a lower wage for no commute. In other words, many qualified people in today’s workforce who might otherwise not entertain the notion of contact center work, would gladly don a headset if it meant being able to work from home in their PJs. Not only does telework vastly extend the contact center‘s recruiting reach and help to retain happier employees; it helps to retain higherperforming employees, as well. According to the ICMI study, more than half of centers (51.6 percent) result in happier, more loyal customers. According to a recent study by Aberdeen, 35 percent of best-inclass centers have seen a greater | DECEMBER 2007 icmi’s insight www.icmi.com 16 http://www.icmi.com
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