If implemented correctly, a hybrid work schedule can improve employee satisfaction, productivity, and work-life balance. This is why more companies than ever before are offering remote and hybrid positions. A hybrid work schedule can give employees the flexibility they need to balance their work and personal lives, which can lead to increased job satisfaction. We have found that in DiRAD’s workplace, employees who work from home can be just as productive, if not more productive, than those who work in the office. This is because they are often able to focus better and avoid distractions.
Can this apply to Customer Experience (CX) teams? Absolutely, but you need to focus on the right things to make that team successful.
Keep Them Connected
Ensure they deliver their best work by providing them with the technology they need to succeed. One of the biggest roadblocks that go along with hybrid work are inconsistent technology and broadband issues. It’s up to you as an employer to make sure that employees can connect to your technology anytime, anywhere, and with any device.
There are two different approaches to the actual equipment needed to do the job (laptop, headsets, phones, etc). Some provide computer setups in office for employees to use, as well as, providing equipment to bring home with them. Others take the “BYOD” approach (Bring Your Own Device), but this can offer its own risks. You don’t want employees so busy wrangling technology that they can’t focus on the actual tasks at hand.
Train & Release
Investing time into customer service training is key to any hybrid or remote role. Sending them home without the proper training is asking for problems. For the time-crunched, we’ve found that a Learning Management System (LMS) is the new “tool we can’t live without”, like TalentLMS. The cloud-based solution allows you to easily assemble training materials and videos into a curriculum that new staff can access online.
Once they’re trained, you can also help them in real time! There are now “smart advisor” bots that can “listen” to conversations and offer suggestions for relevant responses, as well as provide the most consistent, accurate, and up-to-date information. All at your employees fingertips while they help customers whether they’re in-office or at home.
Analyze Outcomes
One of the biggest concerns of remote work is productivity. Increasing employees’ focus on team collaboration, prioritizing their effectiveness at meeting specific outcomes and entirely rethinking success measures are some recommendations to combat this concern. Ultimately, the best way to keep track of employee effectiveness is to track their outcomes.
Having the right technology is essential to accomplishing this. “Findings from the “Future of Work” report echo this: 73% of CX leaders say they plan to implement a single screen and single platform in the next two years.” Implementing systems that create a single view of agents can make this happen.
Look at Your Metrics
Josh Goldlust, VP of Product Management at Genesys asked the question, “How do we think about the number of conversations agents are having over a day or week — and how effective they are in delivering on this?” He pointed out that as CX evolves, so do success metrics. That’s why it’s important to combine several measures (surveys, sentiment, satisfaction scores) to determine success. Your employees are doing more, so productivity analysis should reflect that.