The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has been unlike anything people in today’s working world have experienced in their lifetimes. Every part of modern life, from schools to medical facilities, to public and private office spaces and beyond has been impacted by the global scale of this horrible virus. Millions of people have been personally impacted as well, as cases continue to spread through much of the world and more and more people have friends and loved ones who fall victim to the illness. It has been a very scary time for people in every line of work.

However, the world cannot remain shuttered forever. People need the goods and services that businesses provide - and to provide them, someone needs to be staffing those businesses. If your company is continuing operations during this time, you’ll need to provide extra protection and support for your employees in the workplace, but also beyond. Here is your guide to offering the kind of environment that helps bolster your employees’ health and well-being while they’re on the clock, as well as at home.

In years past, the overwhelming majority of call center employees hailed from large cities. It only made sense; these large employers needed plenty of employees who could quickly and easily make it to their center for work every day. It was almost a necessity for these employees to live in major metropolitan areas to work for these companies.

Times have changed. This is especially apparent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020. With the very idea of the workplace changing rapidly, it is clear that life for call center employees and managers will change along with it.

A growing number of business owners and managers are moving toward a blended or entirely remote work model. Since the spread of COVID-19 throughout the world in early 2020, remote work has gone from a small part of the formula many businesses use for success to a major backbone of modern society.

If you are like many other call center managers, your workforce is increasingly remote. This means a major change has happened in how call centers are operating and how you train and oversee your staff. Here’s your guide to helping your staff through the transition to working primarily from home and maintaining your productivity and profitability!

Most businesses with a large number of employees are experiencing a shift in their workforce to a work-from-home model. This is largely due to the complications brought on by health and safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are plenty of other reasons why your call center or customer service department may be moving toward a remote work model.

As people from more rural or remote areas take up jobs in customer service or sales, there is a growing need for a solution to working from home. Likewise, more people who might have previously not been able to work in office settings, those with children at home or disabilities, for example, are entering these jobs and need a solution that enables them to do so. There are so many reasons why today’s workforce is changing, but what do those changes mean for call center managers?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe, companies from numerous industries have taken on new responsibilities. Much in the way that many companies put their resources and workforce toward new causes during major wars in the past, today’s efforts by everything from car companies to clothing manufacturers to meet worldwide virus-fighting needs are geared toward the common good.

If you are managing a call center or business process outsourcing operation, you can be part of this effort as well. Of course, you won’t be asked to manufacturer face masks or ventilators, but there is still something very important that your company may be able to do to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. You may be asked to participate in telephone contact tracing, a very important measure being taken toward public health.

With the COVID-19 outbreak well under way, many call centers are dealing with much higher call volume than normal, as customers and citizens call into businesses and organizations to inquire about how they are handling the outbreak at their physical locations (think retailers, medical facilities, banks, etc.). Questions about safety measures, protective equipment rules, etc. are often the source of the increased volume, while at the same time, call centers are struggling to transition staff to WFH, implementing social distancing in the call center, and a host of other COVID-19  “new normals.”

During this time, you might be wondering how exactly to maintain or even increase the productivity of your call center agents, especially as many employees are now working remotely for the first time. 

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to unfold, many health insurance organizations are receiving much higher call volume than normal, with patients calling to ask how the organization is handling the COVID-19 outbreak. If you’re a health insurance organization dealing with COVID-19, you are likely receiving thousands or even tens of thousands of calls from patients inquiring about specific benefits and coverage policies as they pertain to telehealth services or home health visits during the outbreak.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, many call centers have gone remote. This is the perfect time to add more remote contract call center agents to your team. Virtually everyone is at home social distancing and this has caused a spike in call center volume worldwide. Callers are now calling instead of visiting physical locations due to COVID-19 shutdowns and more sales calls are being answered.

If your business or organization is in the midst of a global pandemic like COVID-19, most of your call center employees will likely be working from home as result of government quarantining and other attempts at flatten the rate of infection curve. 

We are all in the middle of a global pandemic outbreak right now, and if you are using ChaseData CCaaS, more and more of your call center agents are working from home. It is imperative that you know how to best manage remote agents while dealing with potentially higher than expected call volumes.

The more the number of COVID-19 cases grows across the world, states, counties and cities are even issuing emergency orders to shut down any facility where people are likely to gather and spread the virus. In recent weeks, we have all witnessed school closures, suspensions of sporting events, closure of non-essential business and yes, order to close call centers.