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!
Creating a Sense of Purpose and Community
When your staff is spread out across the state, country or even the globe, it can be very difficult to foster a sense of community and purpose in your team. While it isn’t difficult to issue information regarding what your expectations are from your team members, maintaining these standards and coaching your team toward them can be difficult in remote settings.
Likewise, a staff that doesn’t work together under a single roof can often feel less like a team than they would if they could physically see one another. The sense of community is vital to a successful team, but how can you foster it when your team can’t be present together for team-building exercises and training?
First, ensure that your entire staff understands your company mission and standards. Working with these in mind helps you keep an eye on the same objective, regardless of where your employees are located and helps you deliver consistent results every time.
Use rewards and incentives to show employees that they are an important part of your team. This can be difficult when you don’t get face-to-face time with your staff, so look for easy ways to reward and recognize employees from their remote locations. You’ll be amazed at what even small gestures of recognition can do for employee morale!
Make Communication a Priority
How do you ensure that your remote call center managers and employees are always on the same page? Maintaining regular, effective communication is key. It is also a challenge faced by today’s call center managers as their staff are increasingly located in other places.
There are so many ways to keep in touch with your staff despite the distance that now separates you. Some of these include:
- Telephone
- Instant message and chat
- Video
- Collaborative software
The last option in this list has gained a lot of popularity as media mentions have gone through the roof in recent months. Everyone from businesses to elementary schools are conducting their operations via software like Zoom, with some people even relying on collaborative software for personal meetings and dates! The important thing is that there are numerous ways to maintain effective, open communication with your staff during this shift toward remote work.
Consider Gamification to Boost Morale
These days, employee morale can be very hard to maintain. The news is full of negative stories regarding job loss, economic insecurity and the lingering pandemic; how can remote call center managers expect their employees to remain positive in this kind of environment?
Gamification, making competitive games out of achievement in the workplace, is a great way to do this. If employees have something to work toward that seems more like play, they are more likely to shoot for better performance and enjoy their work along the way.
Focus on Quality Assurance
Now more than ever, consistent quality in your customer service is a top priority. When your staff is dispersed across a variety of locations, having a consistent standard of quality will help them deliver a great experience for consumers or clients every time.
Having effective quality assurance in place means having standards set for your team to work toward, as well as effective means of communication set up so that your team can work through issues or confront problems right away. Coaching and personalized training are approaches that effective leaders use in in-person contact centers, and using these in remote work environments is just as important. Working with your team in both groups and one-on-one settings to improve performance toward specific goals is the backbone of quality assurance in every type of customer service application, remote or otherwise!
Top-Notch Technology is Key
Technology is always critically important in the contact center industry, but never has it been more so than it is now. Collaboration despite distance means relying on great software to help your employees work as a team to deliver excellent service across the board.
Designated remote contact center software has been available for a long time now, but improvements are being made rapidly as the work from home trend becomes more commonplace in the industry. Technology that allows successful collaboration is necessary in an environment where your employees can be located almost anywhere but still have to perform as if they are seated right beside one another and working as a cohesive unit.
Train Remote Call Center Managers and Employees Correctly
The shift toward remote work means a shift in training is necessary, as well. From training toward consistency despite working from various locations to working with new technology, there are changes happening in the customer service industry that remote call center managers must take into account when planning training exercises for both new hires and seasoned employees.
Whether you’re looking to improve your technology or your training approach, there are always improvements to be made when it comes to running your remote contact center. At ChaseData, we’ve outfitted companies like yours with the tools necessary for success through many shifts in business trends, and we’re here to continue that tradition through the current customer service climate. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your remote call center managers achieve continuing success, no matter what changes in the coming months!
