Remote workers want to stay remote – What does it mean for contact centers?
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The way people prefer to work has shifted dramatically in the past few years, in response to the alternative work models and work from home brought about by COVID.
More than half (61%) of people working from home don’t want to return to the workplace, citing better work-life balance and productivity as some of the reasons. Most (78%) want to make it permanent.
“In one of our recent customer service employee surveys, we found that 80% of our team wanted to continue working at home or wanted some type of a hybrid model. They wanted to be able to come in for team meetings and be with their team, but didn’t want the daily commute of two hours a day. It’s a big deal to them, and we’ve fully embraced this. What remote working has allowed us to do is actually expand our workforce from a regional perspective. We can access a broader population of workers in order to meet our growth targets.”
In a survey McKinsey conducted earlier this year of more than 5,000 corporate and government workers, they discovered that more than half of respondents said that they would prefer a more flexible working model post pandemic.
This shift is evident across many industries, including the contact center industry.
The challenge for contact centers
When we surveyed CX leaders as part of our annual GigCX Report, we found that nearly a quarter (24%) said the demand for flexible working was one of their greatest challenges around staffing contact centers. Other top challenges included a reluctance by employees to return to the office, preferring a work from home working model.
This desire for more flexibility has made it difficult for CX leaders to find, hire and retain qualified contact center agents. Our research showed that 44% of CX leaders felt finding qualified contact center talent is harder now than before the pandemic.
Related: Is GigCX the remedy to contact center hiring challenges?
GigCX solves today’s contact center challenges
Here’s the good news: GigCX can relieve these hiring pressures.
GigCX engages your most passionate customers and advocates, who have deep product knowledge and diverse backgrounds and skills, on a gig model to handle customer inquiries on-demand, 24/7.
These advocates, or GigCX Experts, are rewarded for providing exceptional customer support and are paid per successful inquiry resolution.
The on-demand nature of GigCX creates greater agility in your CX operation, allowing you to grow or shrink at a moment’s notice in-line with demand.
Additionally, because Experts have existing product knowledge, they require no formal training – Experts are assessed on their brand knowledge and are ready to respond to customer inquiries in a matter of days, not weeks or months.
Among the GigCX Experts we surveyed in our research, 91% said they started doing gig because of the flexibility it offers. This flexibility has paid off, with 96% of experts saying they would continue doing GigCX for at least the next 12 months.
GigCX aligns with people’s working preferences and offers the flexibility people are looking for, allowing them to complete tasks whenever and wherever they want. This flexibility results in high Expert satisfaction and better customer experiences.
Related: 72% of Customer Service Managers Have Added or Plan to Add Gig Talent in the Next 2 Years
Interested in learning more about GigCX? Download our annual GigCX Report.
Want to see if GigCX is right for your business? Contact our team today.
