{"id":8977,"date":"2020-04-08T13:22:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T12:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=8977"},"modified":"2023-01-16T17:32:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T17:32:15","slug":"how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Manage Contact Centre Agents Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remote working is now a mandatory part of any business continuity plan. Around the world, our personal lives and businesses are impacted, school pupils are doing their lessons online at home and the majority of working employees must do so from home. There are plenty of great tips on managing remote employees, but when it comes to <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/definitions\/call-centre-agent\/\">contact centre agents<\/a> working from home \u2013 especially for emergency services personnel connecting anxious or frustrated customers when stress levels are high \u2013 your agents will need your support now more than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In unfamiliar circumstances, it\u2019s important to follow the guidelines and clear communication of your company\u2019s policies and procedures. Figuring out how to keep your agents on the same page and stay motivated while remaining in control of what is happening can be a lot to handle.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t@media (min-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img {\r\n\t\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\r\n\t\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img img {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta {\r\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #001138;\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 30px;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy {\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 0 30px;\r\n\t\t\t\toverflow: hidden;\r\n\t\t\t\tcolor: #fff;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy .btn-primary {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp IID-cta-69d0c53fc530e\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"cta\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/vs-cc-rw-social-images-design-text-2.png\" alt=\"Call to action banner\">\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">All the latest contact centre industry know-how in one place \u2013 register for CC Expo: Virtually Together.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Register UC Summit CC Expo\" href=\"https:\/\/ucsummit.com\/ringcentral\/\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dl-additional-info=\"All the latest contact centre industry know-how in one place \u2013 register for CC Expo: Virtually Together.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"All the latest contact centre industry know-how in one place \u2013 register for CC Expo: Virtually Together. | Register\">Register<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n<h2><b>Use analytics and reporting to empower agents<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using real-time monitoring can give you the instant feedback you need to be fully responsive to any unforeseen problems that can pop up. Use immediate reporting via dashboards to let you see your agents\u2019 performance, so you can reach out to them if needed. A unified user-friendly interface with real-time dashboards should display full information across agents\u2019 roles, for a fully holistic view.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While overseeing agents on the phone, functions like call whisper or call barge can allow a supervisor to provide support as a call progresses. This kind of immediate responsiveness can save potentially lost customers before that actually happens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an operational leader, it\u2019s important to make sure your team gets access to the same tools and experience, regardless of where they might be working from. Using a web-based platform can offer that mobility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To track the quality of your customer interactions, use call logs, reports, and call and screen recording for a detailed picture of your contact centre\u2019s performance. These tools are also useful for effectively monitoring, evaluating and coaching agents. Conducting analysis and evaluation across all interaction channels allows you as a manager to gain a holistic view of the <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/definitive-guide-customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What about scheduling and quality management?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agent scheduling requires a lot of coordination. You need to have the tools to change schedules at short notice as well as forecast and provision peak call times, factor breaks, and plan for the unexpected. Workforce Management (WFM) allows you to forecast, schedule, monitor and report your contact centre activities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your key staff is unwell, a flexible scheduling function allows agents to change their schedules and swap shifts with other agents when necessary. Schedules may change quickly if your colleagues or their family members fall ill, so giving agents real-time visibility into their schedules, and notifying them of any changes, can help them respond quickly and keep your availability high.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using workforce optimisation software gives you the opportunity to automatically match tasks with agents who have the most appropriate skill-set. A useful feature within WFM is the ability to model the impact of COVID-19 on your contact volumes, which enables you to schedule the correct numbers of frontline staff as needed in preparation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WFM also allows you to immediately identify and address agent behaviour by providing timely feedback. In managing agent performance, it\u2019s important to set personal targets, benchmarks and achievements for each agent to deliver positive customer experiences. Under \u2018business not as usual\u2019 circumstances, it\u2019s challenging for everyone. But we can continue to support our community, employees and organisations to serve customers in times of need and help to be more efficient in the longer term.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ll leave you with some highlights:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure clear communication between managers, supervisors and agents.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agents should follow through interaction engagement and maintain compliance and security.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use an easy-to-use software to schedule and adjust breaks throughout the day to give agents time to care for their families when everyone is at home.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agents should proactively let their supervisor know if any issues arise that require changing the schedule.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cross-train your employees so they have the skills to step in and fill the gap if needed. Coaching and feedback are critical to agent engagement and morale, especially more so when they are at home; they need encouragement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s important to create a sense of team connection across a widely dispersed group of agents.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be available to answer any questions as and when your agents require and be sure to recognise a job well done!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/contact-centre\/products\/collaborative.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cloud-based customer engagement platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is ideal to support remote working in the event of working from home.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When your customers need you to be there for them, do you respond quickly and deliver the CX your customers expect? Use these tools and techniques to help you support your agents and customers and build long-term brand loyalty through this difficult period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For more information about managing a cloud-based contact centre, or\u00a0<a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/cloud-contact-centre-help-remote-working\/\">how cloud contact centre can help remote working<\/a>, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/remote-work-resources\/\">our remote work resource centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uc-expo-cta-2 text-center IId-bottom-banner-144903516 CId-bottom-banner-1098205596\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">How can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/contact-centre\/overview.html\">contact centre technology<\/a> create a better experience for customers and agents?<\/span><span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\" data-dtm-element=\"button\" data-dtm-context=\"bottom-cta\" data-dtm-additional-info=\"Learn more about contact centre tech\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\" title=\"Learn more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/contact-centre\/overview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dtm-name=\"Bottom CTA\">Find out<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Empower your agents, improve remote team communication, monitor productivity and build a work schedule that works for you and your team. Check out our guide to managing home working agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":8978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-content-hub.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[163,126],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Manage Contact Centre Agents Working from Home | RingCentral UK Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Figuring out how to keep your agents on the same page and stay motivated while remaining in control of what is happening can be a lot to handle.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Manage Contact Centre Agents Working from Home | RingCentral UK Blog","description":"Figuring out how to keep your agents on the same page and stay motivated while remaining in control of what is happening can be a lot to handle.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RingCentral Team","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/"},"author":{"name":"RingCentral Team","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc4f043d2b478862a8622c28b0ebd08c"},"headline":"How To Manage Contact Centre Agents Working from Home","datePublished":"2020-04-08T12:22:39+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-16T17:32:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/"},"wordCount":882,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["contact centre remote working","working from home"],"articleSection":["Contact Centre"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":[":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/","url":":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/","name":"How To Manage Contact Centre Agents Working from Home | RingCentral UK Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-04-08T12:22:39+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-16T17:32:15+00:00","description":"Figuring out how to keep your agents on the same page and stay motivated while remaining in control of what is happening can be a lot to handle.","breadcrumb":{"@id":":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":[":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":":\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-manage-contact-centre-agents-working-from-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"RingCentral Blog","item":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Contact Centre"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral UK Blog","description":"RingCentral News and Tips","publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization","name":"RingCentral UK","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","contentUrl":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","width":1921,"height":416,"caption":"RingCentral UK"},"image":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc4f043d2b478862a8622c28b0ebd08c","name":"RingCentral Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/rcbloguk.wpengine.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/rc-profile-photo\/images\/default-avatar.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rcbloguk.wpengine.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/rc-profile-photo\/images\/default-avatar.png","caption":"RingCentral Team"},"url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8977"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}