If you’re like most businesses, especially those with traditional office jobs, then you probably experienced downtime in the workplace last year during the coronavirus pandemic. With constant health concerns and lockdown restrictions in place, many businesses adapted to online working models when they could, or they at least went with hybrid models for certain employees. As the vaccines continue to roll out and restrictions lift, however, you may find yourself looking for ways to bring employees back into the office.
Unfortunately, they won’t necessarily be eager to return. Many workers experienced a better work-life balance during the pandemic and even found themselves becoming more productive when working from home. This generally means that workers don’t want to return to “business as normal” before the pandemic. In fact, 81% of surveyed employees stated that they either don’t want to go back to the office or that they’d prefer a hybrid model from now on.
Of course, as a business leader, you may not be able to accommodate a work-from-home model indefinitely, and there are some undeniable benefits of working in an office, such as more efficient meetings, a focused environment, and collaborative communication. If you need to get your contact center team back in the office, here are some ways to make the transition as painless as possible.
Ensure your agents have a comfortable environment
Homeowners generally take great care to make sure their homes are comfortable, and each of your call center agents has been in control of their own comfort for some time now. You need to make sure your office can rival these home setups. This could involve things like replacing all the chairs or improving the lighting, but these changes will be difficult to appreciate if your HVAC system isn’t up to par. Make sure you’re on the lookout for signs your air conditioner is due for a replacement.
It’s hard to encourage agent performance if you can’t even keep your air conditioner running during the summer. If you notice any strange odors or loud noises when the air conditioning turns on, warm air or little air is blowing out, or if you’re having difficulty keeping humidity down in the office, these are all signs that you need a repair service of a new AC system altogether. If you do need a technician to install a new air conditioner, you might consider a ductless system. You can connect multiple indoor units to a single outdoor unit, and cool air won’t be lost in the ducts.
Let your teamwork with the best tools
If you run a call center, then you already know that they suffer from notoriously high turnover. Whether it’s an inbound call center, an outbound call center or a hybrid, one of the most common employee complaints is working with outdated technology that makes their jobs harder. If you want to boost agent productivity and provide a better customer experience while you’re at it, then you need a solution that can integrate with CRM and take your service to the next level.
With the right outbound call center software, you can save agents from manually dialing outbound calls, thanks to predictive dialers. Call center software will also help ensure that you’re following all TCPA guidelines and other regulations. With a true omnichannel solution, it’s easy to automate and optimize outbound call campaigns with call scripting, screen-pop, web callback, and more options.
It’s also easy for call center supervisors to set up automatic call recordings to ensure each interaction meets high-quality standards. Predictive dialers can even dial dozens of numbers at once and immediately connect answered calls to the right agent to boost productivity.
Employees may not be thrilled about returning full time at first, but if you can mimic home comfort levels and provide your sales team agents with the best tools for the job, you’ll see employee satisfaction rise.
