When it comes to keeping your staff happy, one of the most important areas of consideration is the workspace you provide.
The customer service staff need to be given the right working conditions. With that in mind, the COVID pandemic has opened the eyes of many staff who do not need to work from an office. While customer service tends to feel more suited to working within an office, there is a considerable rise in the number of staff working from home or remotely.
Is working remotely possible in customer service?
With the rise in the use of laptops and tablets that can carry out customer service operations, it really is. Customer service staff no longer require the extensive IT systems they once did. Most of the time, accessing databases, records, and troubleshooting solutions can be done as easily on a laptop or tablet as on a PC.
So long as your IT team can fit staff with the right security protocols and ensure they are followed at home/outside of the office, working remotely is easy. This allows your staff to save money on office costs, as you could hire a smaller office or do away with an office entirely. You can also hire staff from a broader catchment area, allowing for a better overall standard of hire and a wider variety in the diversity of your workforce.
For many customer service companies, this can create a more comfortable work-life balance for staff and executives alike.
What about working outdoors?
When in the right conditions, some customer service companies have their staff work outdoors. If your office has a large outdoor area or a space around the office that people can work within, it might be wise to have your staff work outdoors, even during the mornings or early afternoons. Your staff will appreciate working in the sunshine and the springtime/summertime breeze.
Of course, if you are going to do that, you would need to have internet access and remote computers. Most VoIP systems can be run today using tablets and laptops, so you should be able to have your staff work remotely outside the office without much issue. Once your IT staff can validate security protocols, try this out for at least one day per week in the warmest months.
Another investment you should make if you do allow this, though, is in an anti-glare screen protector like those offered by ViaScreens. Fitting these to your staff’s devices means they can see the screen even in the sunshine. It also means that anyone passing by cannot see their screen, which adds to the privacy side of things.
In terms of security, focus on ensuring your staff is only carrying out voice communications in secure places. For example, having your team sitting in a busy public street talking about account credentials would be a huge mistake. Keep outdoor working to a garden area within your premises or where there is no public foot traffic.
Overall, getting your staff to work remotely and/or outdoors is different from the behemoth it once was. It is worth testing out, at least for a trial period.
