Contact centre workers in the north of Scotland are set to work from their homes in a HIE-sponsored trial which could create new jobs and revolutionise the way call centres are run in the UK.
Staff will operate from their own homes in a virtual contact centre, as BT pilots a new style of working known as home-shoring.
The first part of the pilot will involve advisers at the well-established BT contact centre on the outskirts of Thurso testing equipment that replicates working from home.
Fifteen volunteers will then be selected to operate online from their homes, using high-speed broadband links to carry out exactly the same work as they were doing in the contact centre.
Home-shoring, a new entry in the Macmillan English dictionary at the end of last year, literally brings the contact centre home. But it is a much more complex and different proposition to traditional teleworking.
It also supports companies committed to corporate responsibility, by offering employment to social groups that might once have been excluded by such circumstances as age, disability and location.
Brendan Dick, director, BT Scotland, said: “The Caithness pilot could herald major changes in work practices for BT and the wider contact centre industry. Home-shoring is poised to become the next big trend in the industry and Scotland, as a fertile recruiting ground for contact centre operations, is well placed to create new jobs from it.
“A skilled and flexible workforce, low staff turnover and even the Scottish accent have been cited as factors in the sector’s Scottish success story. Home-shoring will be an additional plus factor because the skill pool will not be confined to people who live within commuting distances of the contact centre or want to work traditional hours.
“It’s also an ideal vehicle for bringing employment back to socially excluded sections of the community. It enables people who have difficulty finding jobs – parents with childcare issues, mothers returning to work after having a baby, disabled people, the over-50s and people who care for sick or elderly relatives – to work from home at times which suit themselves and their employers.”
Mr Dick added that one of the deciding factors for running the pilot in Caithness had been the excellent performance of BT’s Thurso contact centre operation, its calibre of workforce and low staff turnover.
The Caithness pilot is being supported with a £100,000 grant from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
Roy Kirk, HIE’s area manager for Caithness and Sutherland said: “We are very pleased to have collaborated with BT to bring this scheme to Caithness. This pilot is at the forefront of a new generation of working practices and illustrates our region’s appetite for innovation, and eagerness to embrace new ideas which I hope BT, and companies in other sectors, will want to further explore.”
Annemarie Monteforte, HIE’s Thurso-based head of business development, said: "This is an excellent example of how the Caithness economy is diversifying and we look forward to working with BT to ensure that the pilot is a success and that the county can reap the benefits of this opportunity. We will continue to work with BT to ensure that the benefits of their innovation are shared throughout the community."
For the Caithness pilot, systems and processes are being carefully designed to allow managing at a distance. Ways of measuring and monitoring home-based agents range from reports and webcams to call and keystroke recording and real-time agent monitoring.
The systems will allow managers to supervise their teams, enhance security measures and manage resource allocation as easily as if the agents were working in an office.
The concept of home-shoring is predicted to grow considerably over the next few years. Despite around 7.5 per cent of the UK’s workforce working from home at least one day a week – according to the Office of National Statistics – very few “traditional” contact centre advisers are afforded this option.
However, according to a report from Exony1, a homeshored strategy could save the UK contact centre industry up to £5 per hour which equates to approx £6000 per agent per year, along with the benefits of job creation, reduced carbon footprint and improvement in customer experience.
1 Exony (2007) Virtual Contact Centres and Homeshoring: Driving the Benefits Home. Exony is the leading provider for interaction management software. Exony produces a number of Business White Papers which are renowned in the Contact Centre industry for their thought leadership and insightful analysis.
