Hybrid Work

8 Hybrid Working Tips Every Contact Center Needs

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, companies across the globe were forced to shut their doors and switch to remote working.

This was a rude awakening for most businesses and their leaders realized the importance of having a hybrid work structure in place, that is, one that supported both in-office and remote working seamlessly.

Now, generally speaking, a hybrid workplace is challenging to operate in, and these challenges can become treacherous for certain businesses.

Contact centers belong to this category of businesses since they deal with customers directly and mismanagement can severely affect brand reputation.

That is why it’s important to have hybrid collaboration strategies in place for a more efficient and productive workforce. In this article, we’ll look into different hybrid working tips that will help you run a highly successful hybrid contact center.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Technology-based hybrid working tips

  1. Migrate to the cloud
  2. Encourage tools that enable asynchronous communication
  3. Use automation to support human agents
  4. Enable growth and upskilling (deploy a learning platform)
  5. Invest in the right technology

2. Hybrid working tips based on process and management

  1. Put a feedback system in place
  2. Address disgruntled agents quickly
  3. Prioritize employee recognition

8 Tips for Hybrid Working Every Contact Center Must Try

Technology Based Hybrid Working Tips

1. Migrate To the Cloud

One major challenge with hybrid teams is maintaining accessibility; to documents, applications, peers, etc.

In fact, ‘Less access to work resources and equipment’ was listed as the number one challenge in Gallup’s report about the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid workplaces.

This challenge can easily be solved by implementing cloud-based solutions making it one of the top tips for hybrid working.

Instead of local excel sheets, use cloud-based Google sheets. Instead of storing data on a local server, migrate all enterprise data to a cloud-based storage solution like Dropbox. You get the picture.

A cloud platform is accessible both from the office as well as remotely, and this allows all agents of your hybrid contact center to have complete accessibility to the platform, whenever they need it.

2. Encourage Tools That Enable Asynchronous Communication

A hybrid team allows agents to work from anywhere in the world, and this means they could be working in different time zones. In such situations, communicating in real time can be difficult.

Conducting an uninterrupted conversation can be difficult even among agents working in the same time zone when they are not physically present in the same room.

A simple way to ensure there is no communication gap between agents is to implement solutions for asynchronous collaboration.

Asynchronous collaboration simply involves the exchange of messages on the agent’s schedule and not in real time, making it one of the preferred tips for hybrid working.

Email is an example of asynchronous collaboration. Agents respond to messages when they’re online and the thread of information is never broken.

Slack is another great solution for asynchronous messaging within an enterprise. When you have a hybrid team, encourage the use of tools that enable hybrid collaboration.

3. Use Automation to Support Human Agents

Using automation to take over repetitive and mundane tasks will free your agents to focus on impactful tasks which are a priority. There are a lot of tasks that may seem small to automate, but these small steps add up.

Call dialing, for example, is a simple enough activity that every agent will do without complaining.

While the time spent on finding a number and dialing might not appear to be significant, but when the process is repeated to encompass several calls and tasks,  the need for automation becomes obvious.

A lot of repetitive call center tasks, like dialing, call routing, sending routine texts, etc can be automated by implementing a robust call center application, like JustCall for example.

Automation will help you create a more efficient and productive hybrid team.

Agents working remotely will especially need an automated system to maintain accountability and drive productivity, which is automation should be one of your desired tips of hybrid working.

4. Enable Growth and Upskilling

One advantage of having all agents working from a single location is that you can conduct training sessions that allow agents to upgrade their skills and generate more results for the enterprise.

Agents also learn from and teach each other leading to an automatic and consistent rise in skill level.

This ease of knowledge-sharing and upskilling is lost when teams split up into remote and in-office workers, and that’s why putting in place a learning platform is a necessity when hybrid contact centers are involved.

Again, it just becomes a matter of finding the right digital tool that will act as a platform for training and upskilling.

You can encourage your agents to consistently learn and improve themselves and generate more results for the enterprise sing mediums like videos and knowledge articles that are delivered as a training program through a platform.

5. Invest In the Right Technology

The four tips mentioned earlier point to one clear fact – technology is going to be vital in maintaining a smoothly operating hybrid contact center.

That being said, there are many different tools and applications available to build your team’s tech stack.

Some are designed to work better for teams working in an office, while others are designed specifically for remote teams. Some will deliver a single, focused feature, while others will deliver a wide range of features.

You will need a combination of these tools to run a frictionless ecosystem of agents. Understand your team and business’s requirements and implement tools that will help agents achieve their goals when working in a hybrid environment.

Investing in a platform that can deliver most of the features you need for your hybrid contact center from one tool is definitely the smart way forward and one of the top tips for hybrid working.

A full-scale virtual call center solution, like JustCall, can deliver functionalities like automatic call distribution, IVR, live call activity, etc and help enhance the efficiency and productivity of your hybrid contact center.

Hybrid Working Tips Based on Process and Management

1. Put A Feedback System in Place

With hybrid teams, the problem of a communication gap does not just occur between peers, but also between managers and team members.

Your leaders could become unreachable and this could lead to problems faced by team members going unheard.

Implementing a feedback system that is triggered automatically and regularly is a great way to ensure the concerns and challenges faced by the team are reaching team leaders.

This could be something as simple as a scheduled weekly feedback meeting, or a portal (or form) that allows team members to register their grievances. This will ensure every cluster of agents is connected with their respective leads.

2 Address The Concerns of Disgruntled Agents Quickly

Act on employee concerns immediately. An employee who is going through a negative experience can turn ‘toxic’ fast and spread the negativity. It’s important to identify disgruntled agents and address their concerns quickly.

With hybrid teams, there are a lot of factors that can lead to discontentment, so don’t be alarmed. Being isolated from team members, communication gaps, etc could lead to frustrations, and these are a part and parcel of hybrid work environments.

What’s important is mitigating these negative situations fast. Make sure your leaders have the tools to connect with employees one-on-one and also give your employees multiple portals to reach the organization – through a feedback system, via the HR portal, etc.

8. Prioritize Employee Recognition

Rewarding positive situations is as important as mitigating negative ones. Recognition and rewards become more important when hybrid teams are involved as morale can decrease really fast.

As an enterprise, you will already have some processes in place for rewards and recognition. Awarding the top performers, top ticket closers, etc will already be a part of your contact center.

What’s important (when hybrid teams are involved), is involving all agents (both in-office and remote workers) when conducting these events.

You should broadcast these ceremonies over video calls and also put in place digital recognition systems, like badges and points.

Digital recognition systems will allow employees to flaunt their achievements even if they’re not present physically in the office, and that is a great motivator.

Conclusion

Successfully running a hybrid contact center will require a shift in thinking and processes. Times are different, and so are people, and leaders will need to accept and embrace this fact.

With the right strategies, and with our tips for hybrid working, your contact center will not just survive, it will thrive.

FAQs

What Is a Hybrid Work Strategy?

A hybrid workplace is one that allows employees to work from the office as well as remotely. It brings together the best of both worlds.

How Do You Motivate Hybrid Employees?

You can motivate hybrid employees by:

  1. Recognizing the effort and make employees feel valued
  2. Setting clear goals and objectives
  3. Conducting regular meetings and feedback sessions
  4. Ensuring your employees’ growth (with respect to their skill as well as their career path).
What  Are Some Challenges of the Hybrid Workplace?

Some of the challenges of a hybrid workplace are:

  1. Employees feel isolated and less connected to the organization (as well as peers).
  2. Less access to work resources and tools.
  3. A gap in collaboration and coordination.
  4. Accountability and responsibility get diluted.
  5. Inefficient use of time.
What Are the Common Hybrid Work Models?

Some of the common hybrid work models are:

  1. Flexible hybrid work model – employees can choose their location of work.
  2. Fixed hybrid work model – The organization decides who works remotely/in-office and when.
  3. Office-first hybrid work model – Employees work primarily from the office with exceptional remote work days.
  4. Remote-first hybrid work model – Employees primarily work remotely with exceptional in-office work days.
Does The Hybrid Work Model Work for Contact Centers?

The hybrid model will work as long as you put in place strategies and hybrid working tips made specifically for a hybrid team.

Taran, as the Support Manager at JustCall, spearheads efforts to enhance customer satisfaction by strategically collaborating with client-facing teams. He upholds rigorous standards, ensuring JustCall's support services consistently excel. Passionate about superior customer experiences, Taran champions a company-wide dedication to a customer-first mindset.

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