" OUR SITE-SEEKING CONTACT CENTER CLIENTS ARE REQUIRING LESS REAL ESTATE AND OFFICE SPACE AS THE HYBRID AND WFH MODELS INCREASINGLY BECOME THE NORM ."
We expect the move to EVs to generate additional contact center volumes as billions of dollars are being spent to build out North America ’ s EV charging infrastructure and there will be a new demand for information and servicing from the driving public .
DO YOU BELIEVE AUTOMATION , AND AI IN PARTICULAR , WILL SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WORKING IN THE CONTACT CENTER INDUSTRY ?
A : Few industries will be immune to the job-cutting impacts of automation and AI . The contact center industry is no exception .
AI is expected to have a growing impact on customer service , and we anticipate more complex applications being utilized in contact centers as the technology further develops .
For instance , speech recognition technology will allow customers to communicate with contact centers in new ways . Meanwhile AI-powered chatbots are expected to become increasingly reliable at addressing complex customer inquiries .
Keep in mind that AI will in no way completely replace human agents . The human connection will always be required for a number of reasons , not the least being demonstrating empathy and emotional support . The end result will be that human agents will be enhanced by AI , freeing them up to concentrate on higher-value functions in the contact center .
" OUR SITE-SEEKING CONTACT CENTER CLIENTS ARE REQUIRING LESS REAL ESTATE AND OFFICE SPACE AS THE HYBRID AND WFH MODELS INCREASINGLY BECOME THE NORM ."
RTO AND WFH
LET ’ S DISCUSS RETURN-TO-OFFICE ( RTO ). ARE YOU SEEING CENTERS RTOING THEIR WFH WORK- FORCES AND HIRING AGENTS ON-PREMISE ?
A : Our site-seeking contact center clients are requiring less real estate and office space as the hybrid and WFH models increasingly become the norm . Frankly , we don ’ t see these models retreating at all .
Contact centers are generally the laggards in any RTO initiative that a company may decide to roll out . Their functions , whether sales , customer service , or tech support , are well-equipped to stand alone in a remote environment . They don ’ t require the level of oversight and interactions with staff and management that other administrative functions of the company do , like HR , Legal , Planning , Accounting , etc .
Our firm ’ s BizCosts ® data bank shows that some 2.1 million U . S . workers are employed in the contact center industry . ( This is roughly 70 % of the U . S . Bureau of Labor Statistics figure for the number of workers employed as customer service representatives ).
During the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 , WFH percentages in the contact center industry were as high as 90 %. In late 2023 , that percentage has moderated to the 60 % -70 % range and with expectations it will begin to rise again and flat line with long term percentages peaking in the 70 % to 80 % range .
LET ’ S DEEP DIVE INTO WFH . WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING THERE ?
A : First , WFH is on the upswing as clients are not at all experiencing declines in productivity but they are definitely seeing cost savings , primarily in office leases .
Currently , wage parity is pretty much the norm between WFH and in-house on-premise due to current labor shortages . But we expect companies will eventually see savings in WFH labor costs as we put the COVID-19 pandemic further behind us and as management gains more of the upper hand in the hiring and retention tug-of-war .
To that last point , we also expect to see the C-suite positioning WFH as a perk underscoring WFH advantages like greater personal flexibility , saving money on commuting , dining out , and office attire . As well as staying healthy by avoiding contagions from fellow workers .
Contact centers in the U . K . are out of the starting blocks first in instituting a WFH pay differential in the 5 % to 7 % range . This kind of differential is in addition to savings in labor costs companies can also achieve by tapping less expensive remote labor market pools .
-- JACK BOYD
CHILDCARE COSTS AND SHORTAGES
There have been reports of childcare shortages and skyrocketing rates . So if true is this issue impacting hiring and retaining contact center agents ?
“ Few cost of living items have risen faster than childcare whose costs have soared over 30 % over the past three years alone ,” says Jack Boyd . “ So yes , it is impacting greatly the hiring and retaining of contact center agents both on-premises and also WFH agents as they too have to mesh childcare with their daily at home and work schedules .
“ Childcare costs and scarcity are expected to go from bad to worse as states are facing deep cuts in federal childcare support due to the expiration of pandemic-era funding from Washington , D . C ., and mixed political signals on how to fund moving forward . Currently , more than three-quarters of all licensed providers in the U . S . receive childcare grants to help
APRIL 2024 7 pay bills and raise wages for staff .”