People in many parts of the world are changing how and where they want to work, and it is nowhere more evident than in the United States. Flexible working is the #1 new benefit being offered by employers, according to a recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management.
Over the past five years, we've worked with 800+ organizations in design, implementation and continuous improvement of work at home programs for contact centers.
Now that home working for contact centers is moving into the mainstream, there are some patterns emerging in terms of failure points. The top three are folllowing, along with proven methods of turning things around, or better, avoiding the failure points all together:
Survey results from 100+ Fortune 1000 companies with home-based employees are in. Not surprisingly, the top challenge for companies is preparing leaders for effective management of telecommuters. The second largest challenge has been reported in
Personality tests can predict on the job behaviors, or they are intended to. And the use of them in customer service jobs is rapidly expanding. 60-70% of prospective workers are tested by US businesses today, doubling its use from a decade ago, according to a September article in the Wall Street Journal.
Two Days of Thought Leadership: November 12-13, Laguna Beach, CA
Nathan Hickman, Director Workforce Management, and Michele Rowan, President Customer Contact Strategies, lead this two-day meeting on all things remote working. Topics are attendee-driven, and will incude the following:
Unversity of Illinois 2014 Telecommuting Study:
Results from a recent study on benefits and limitations of telecommuting was released by the University of Illinois; here's the scope and top line findings:
Meet Nathan Hickman, Director Workforce Management and Technology Planning, BECU Credit Union
Driven by a keen curiousity surrounding physical vs. virtual distance in the workplace, Nathan conducted his graduate thesis at Gonzaga University on remote workers and was published in the 2011 Journal of Business and Leadership.
2014 UK LEGAL "RIGHT TO ASK" FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
Until now, only employees in caregiving positions could request flexible working arrangements from their UK employers. But that all changed last month, when the Government got involved.
The change to the law gives all UK employees the right to request flexible working arrangements, as long as they have a minimum of 26 weeks of service.
So what is the UK Government trying to accomplish? Culture change in tandem with economic benefits. Here's what the UK Department for Business is forecasting:
Stacy Lowman, VP of Talent Development for World Travel Holdings, talks for 15 minutes on this webcast about removing barriers to world class remote working.
