The ability to earn money, while staying at home, is the dream of millions of people who for one reason or another can’t or won’t take part in the daily corporate grind. In the call center industry, such a possibility for a home business has been available for some time and continues to gain popularity as cost-cutting initiatives become more prevalent.
The use of work at home virtual call centers illustrates a clear win-win situation for both call center management and reps interested in a stay at home job. By allowing people from all over the country to login to a virtual call distribution system, the work at a home virtual call center is able to handle significant fluctuations in call volume without being constrained by the boundaries of a physical call center. As a result, virtual call centers can be much more flexible regarding staffing than their mortar and brick counterparts.
Currently, several companies use work from home agents as a way to supplement traditional call center operations. In this arrangement, call centers keep a roster of active work at home virtual call center agents who can be put on the phones only as needed. The advantages of keeping hundreds or even thousands of trained home-based agents available many.
According to CallCriteria, work at home virtual call center agents does not need to travel to the call center to take calls, so attendance and punctuality is not an issue. If people want to work, they simply log in to the virtual ACD and take calls. Second, a widely dispersed workforce minimizes the possibility of draining the labor pool in the area near the call center.
Customer care operations are infamous for their obnoxiously high attrition rates. When the labor pool is made of millions of people instead of several thousand, employers can be more selective about their agents, while not worrying about running out of candidates.
Finally, home-based agents allow fast ramp up and ramp down, while keeping operating costs at reasonable levels. For companies that do not wish to outsource overseas, but must keep competitive, home-based agents may be an option.