home working / apr 2013
Home Working
Lessons
Learned: Yahoo
and Best Buy
Home working continues to
grow and deliver high value
in organizations that provide
well-defined expectations, job
matching and strong cultures.
By Michele Rowan, At Home Customer Contacts
Pipeline Articles
www.contactcenterpipeline.com
Home Working Lessons Learned: Yahoo and Best Buy
Y
Michele Rowan
At Home Customer
Contacts
ahoo and Best Buy recently announced that they were pulling back on their homeworking programs. Like many others around the world, I have taken a keen interest in
understanding their reversed positions and the impact their decisions may have on the
customer contact environment.
Neither company has had much to say publicly—only small bits of information have been
released. What we have seen is an outpouring of opinions and deductions from researchers,
analysts, reporters and specialists who have either worked in, or have closely followed the
explosion of U.S. work-at-home initiatives during the last decade.
To frame the growth of telecommuting, a quick look at the facts:
 U.S. Census Bureau data released in March reports that some 13.4 million people were
telecommuting in 2010, a rise of nearly 25% since 2000.
 When we include employees, contractors and business owners who work from home a
minimum of once a month, the estimate expands to 33.7 million, per the Telework Coalition.
 Gartner estimates that, by 2016, 63 million Americans will telecommute.
The service sector, particularly customer contacts, has experienced unprecedented growth
and returns from home working, as evidenced in recent research by At Home Customer Contacts.
In a 2013 benchmarking survey, participants reported that an average of 20% of their current
customer contact populations were home based, and the plans were to double the mix of
home-based representatives by year-end 2014 (see Figure 1).
High Returns in Customer Care, Mid- and Back-Office Processing
The survey participants were asked about the high-value results that they are experiencing from
home working. And they are, indeed, reaching far beyond relief from unnecessary investments
in real estate, as businesses recover from the recession and continue to expand their services:
●●
74% of participants reporting improved attendance of home workers vs. brick-andmortar staff
●●
64% reported improved employee retention
●●
58% reported productivity improvements
●●
45% reported seasonal staffing improvements
●●
38% reported intraday staffing improvements (see Figure 2)
Marissa Mayer of Yahoo indicated that speed and quality were sacrificed when people worked
from home. Best Buy stated in February that their ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) was
fundamentally flawed from a leadership perspective.
It’s no secret that both companies have struggled with their market positions of late, and
are taking various steps to revive their standings.
So that much, we know. At Home Customer Contacts has partnered with 500-plus companies
in the past three years that have experienced tremendous returns in employee satisfaction, talent
acquisition and retention, as well as the host of additional benefits listed above—specifically
in the functions of customer care, mid- and back-office processing.
Three consistent, affirmed factors for home-working success are as follows:
1. Job Match
Highly transactional jobs including voice, non-voice, mid- and back-office processing are
among the largest populations of home workers, and deliver the most compelling, incremental
performance gains over any other work category. Well-defined expectations, metrics-driven
performance checks, and desktop technology that furnishes clear visibility of production to
both employees and to the business take the guesswork out of speed and quality deliverables.
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Home Working Lessons Learned: Yahoo and Best Buy
2013 % of CC Team at Home
2014 % of CC Team at Home
80% —
40% —
60% —
30% —
40% —
20% —
20% —
10% —
0% —
0% —
0-20%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
81% +
0-20%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
81% +
U.S. Utilization Doubles in Contact Centers: 2013-2014 — Figure 1, Above
2. Employee Match
Hiring the right people for home-based positions is essential to a program’s success. Self-starters
who have full understanding of and/or experience working in a more isolated environment are
top candidates. The business responsibility is to thoroughly assess for competencies required
to fulfill job requirements, including those distinctive to home working. Evaluations tools include
psychometric testing balanced with behavioral interviewing, complete background screenings
and job skills assessments. Companies with consistently high yields in home-working programs
make careful investments in the matching process on the front end.
3. Company Culture
Both in house and at home, organizations are charged with establishing intense employee
connections to their businesses—that’s what makes it all go. This includes processes, practices
and leadership that furnish clear on-the-job support, creating a work experience that promotes
well-being, and designing a landscape that inspires achievement of both work goals and
personal best through a level of discretionary effort.
Organizations that have to count on sustained productivity from a lean work force may experience problems with employee engagement. And when engagement starts to decline, companies
become susceptible to measurable drops in productivity, customer service, absenteeism and
turnover.
What impact have the Yahoo and Best Buy actions had on decision makers in the customer
contact arena? At Home Customer Contacts surveyed 200-plus leaders in mid-March 2013
with questions aimed directly at the vulnerabilities that Yahoo and Best Buy may have been
experiencing with home working:
●●
96% of respondents reported that their home-working programs include well-defined
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Home Working Lessons Learned: Yahoo and Best Buy
Cost Improvement Realization
Real estate and related
Attendance
Employee retention
Productivity
improvements
Peak or seasonal
staffing improvements
Intraday staffing
improvements
Equipment
Performance management
efficiencies
Training efficiencies
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
High-Value Results Experienced from Home Working — Figure 2, Above
performance expectations and highly visible results.
●●
●●
91% of respondents indicated that their organizations have strong company cultures
and sustainable employee engagement.
96% of respondents reported that the Yahoo and Best Buy reversals hold little, if any,
influence on their current or future state of home working.
In conclusion, there is strong evidence to support that customer contact leaders are taking
the lessons learned seriously, and rightfully so. But they are not headed back to cubicles any
time soon.
Michele Rowan is President of At Home Customer Contacts and former VP of Performance
Management for Hilton Hotels. She has worked with over 500 companies across sectors in
homeworking implementations.
mrowan@customercontactstrategies.com
www.athomecustomercontacts.com
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Home Working Lessons Learned: Yahoo and Best Buy
About Contact Center Pipeline
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This issue is available online at: April 2013, Contact Center Pipeline
Online Resource
http://www.contactcenterpipeline.com/CcpViewIndex.aspx?PubType=2
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