Making the move to home working in the contact centre industry presents a range of unique challenges. BYC Aqua, a proudly South African market leader in Quality Assurance services, has recently completed a successful transition to a 100% remote working strategy for their colleagues, who are now safely working in the confines of their own homes.
To support other businesses considering such a venture, BYC Aqua now a part of the Woven group, share five of their tried and tested tips to minimise potential disruption to service delivery for employers making the move to remote working.
1) Put safety first
The health and safety of employees and their families should always come first, which is why it is essential to put safeguarding at the top of your list. Monitor all official guidelines in your area and ensure these are communicated with your teams as soon as possible. Create clear lines of communication so that any risks or concerns can be raised and addressed immediately.
2) Communicate as much as possible
It is vital for employers to be agile and flexible in their approach, plan meticulously and communicate with employees as often as possible through the WFH transition. As processes and guidelines change on a regular basis, ensure team communication is always a priority so any new messaging is provided to all relevant parties in a clear and consistent way. As face-to-face communication is lacking, make a conscious effort to check in with team members as often as you can.
3) Provide effective technology
For remote working to be effective in keeping colleagues safe at home, whilst still being able to successfully service clients and customers, ensure employees have access to efficient hardware, software, telephone and internet access in their homes. There will inevitably be teething problems as teams get settled, so be prepared for these. The more advice and support you can offer throughout the process, the smoother the transition will be.
4) Implement at home set ups in a timely manner
By enabling a quick and efficient shift to working from home, this allows colleagues to continue to demonstrate commitment to service delivery for clients and customers. Plan in very specific detail to ensure the WFH transition moves as quickly as possible to ensure minimal disruption to employees, the business and customers.
5) Use technology to communicate with colleagues
To help create a sense of togetherness amongst colleagues, BYC Aqua utilised its technology to ensure morning huddles and coaching sessions still took place, as well as continuing to focus on colleagues’ quality in a self-motivated and empowered way. Routinely checking in with colleagues helps to forge a sense of belonging and may help to improve mental health during a difficult time.
Jackie Naughton, CEO at BYC Aqua said: “In the wake of the outbreak, a swift implementation of our working from home solution was absolutely imperative.
“As with our parent company, Woven, a move to remote working had long been part of our strategy. We are proud to say that our transition to a remote working environment that simultaneously respects the safeguards expected by our colleagues and feels seamless for our clients has been successfully achieved.
“In a matter of days, we now have 100% of our South African colleagues working from home. This is testament to the fact that BYC has once again demonstrated its absolute commitment to our service delivery to clients and customers.”
BYC Aqua was acquired by Woven Solutions, a UK-based leading outsourcing provider in February 2020. The acquisition helped build Woven’s global presence and capabilities in offering clients unique insights and solutions.
To find out more about Woven please visit: https://wearewoven.com/
To find out more about BYC please visit https://www.byc.co.za/
About Woven
Woven is a leading outsourced contact centre, customer management and BPO service provider with global capability delivered through local expertise. We’re on a journey from cost reduction to value creation. Our extensive client-side experience across many industries has informed the Woven Way; close enough to know what’s needed, with enough distance to do it differently. Free to focus on creating value for our clients through people enabled to create seamless experiences, we are enabling our people through technology that is intuitive, yet invisible, so that customer’s needs can be met irrespective of channel. Woven is backed by Aquiline Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in New York and London investing in businesses globally across financial services and technology.