REMOTE WORK
BY BRENDAN READ, CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE; Q & A WITH JEREMY HYDE, WFH ALLIANCE
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE IMAGES
IS WFH REALLY DOA?
REMOTE / HYBRID WORK IS ALIVE: INCLUDING IN CONTACT CENTERS.
The headlines over the past 12 months appear to give the impression that remote work / work-from-home( WFH) is dying as employers seek to gain more or regain control over their workforces by compelling them to return-to-office( RTO), raising concerns like security( see BOX 1 on security).
At the same time, there have also been reports of pushback to RTO by employees. WFH freed them from arguably arduous, expensive, and sometimes dangerous commutes, and from struggling to find and access affordable childcare. And such freedoms have made it hard( and costly) to go back.
But contact centers have long been early WFH adopters to provide flexibility, business continuity disaster recovery( BCDR), and to recruit / obtain the services of and retain workers who live outside of daily commuting distance. Business cases that appear to still hold today.
So, what is really happening with WFH, including in the contact center? Is it finished as a practice? Or are organizations realizing that it has a place in the workplace?
36 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
JEREMY HYDE
To find out, we had a virtual conversation( from our home offices, naturally) with Jeremy Hyde, president, WFH Alliance, which serves as a mutual, sharing resource for contact centers seeking information and guidance on remote working.
WHAT IS THE STATE OF REMOTE WORKING / WFH IN THE CONTACT CENTER? ARE YOU SEEING IT INCREASE, DECREASE, OR STAY THE SAME AS LAST YEAR?
A: Despite the headlines, contact centers aren’ t experiencing a mass RTO. Nationally, remote work has dipped slightly in average days per week, but it has largely stabilized.