Work At Home: Will this hot trend work for our operations? Bill Price President Driva Solutions Co-Founder LimeBridge Global Alliance, Chair Global Operations Council HDNW Seattle 17 January 2007 My work at home experience • MCI ’90s – studied attempts to move agents at home • Amazon ’99-01 – built Seattle telecommuters to 125; WTO • Driva Solutions ’01- – supported numerous clients moving agents to homes; authored articles (e.g. “A Double-Win”), addressed conferences like HDP 2006 San Antonio • Global Operations Council (GOC) ’02 - – chairing 29 leading US-based companies sharing “best practices and worst experiences”, many with agents at home • Driva Automation ’06- -- building industry’s 1st database of contact center tech vendors + 3rd-party outsourcing firms, 5 of which specialize with their agents at home • Today, I work from home, finally! 17 Jan 07 2 Agenda this afternoon Work At Home – Will this hot trend work for our operations? 1. 2. 3. 17 Jan 07 Work at home costs and other advantages Risks with mitigation How to pitch work at home in your company 3 What are your desired takeaways? __ Answers for my CEO who keeps talking about work at home __ I do work from home now __ I want to work from home __ Had to get out of the office/home after all of this crazy weather OR . . . 17 Jan 07 4 What are your desired takeaways? __ It’s getting too expensive to add more space __ My techs don’t want to commute as much anymore __ We need to cover more time zones 17 Jan 07 5 Work at home factoids • Jet Blue = “poster child” with all ~1200 reservation agents at home • Many others moving part of workforce at home including IT help desks, roadside assistance, nursing assistance • Yankee Group, 8/05: 350 U.S. and Canadian call centers found that 24% of agents (672,000 workers) now based in their homes • IDC: growth of home agents to increase 24% each year from 2006 through 2010 • Gartner: 70 to 80% of home-based agents have college degrees, compared with 30 to 40% of workers in call centers; mostly older than the average call center employee, often with management experience • Booz Allen Hamilton: 10% annual attrition vs. 50% call center agents • ITAC: $25K real estate savings for each work at home agent • Herman Trend Alert: Americans average 100 hours/year commuting, > vacations’ 80 hours/year 6 17 Jan 07 1. Contact center cost index North American brick & mortar operations 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10% amortized ACD, IP servers, desktop PCs; licenses 10% buildings and buildout 10% telco access/egress, IP, routing/re-routing 70% agents, supervisors, management, support staff, executives, dedicated/virtual teams in IT/legal/other functions; base, benefits, bonuses; hiring, training, replacement hiring & training brick & mortar labor 17 Jan 07 telecom space systems 7 1. Contact center cost index North American brick & mortar vs. work at home 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 = -90% +20% -26% brick & mortar labor 17 Jan 07 80 10%, flat – same systems 1% vs. 10% -- space only for core management 12% vs. 10% -- telecom will come down with VoIP 52% vs. 70% -- reduced attrition, higher ratios team leaders/techs, more quality efforts work at home telecom space systems 8 1. Other advantages for work at home • Greater focus, fewer distractions from cube-mates or classroom training sessions • Deliver solutions "through rain, snow, sleet, or hail, and the gloom of night“ • Higher levels of productivity (proven +10%) • Reduced absenteeism (but not zero!) • Greater coverage by team leaders (typically 24-30:1 vs. 15-18:1) • Greater satisfaction, translated (often) into higher quality • Access (re)new(ed) work force, e.g. Moms or Dads at home, handicapped, displaced call center agents • Reduced turnover or attrition (some cases -80%) 9 17 Jan 07 2. Risks and mitigations Risks Mitigations 1. knowledge access, like from savvy cube mate 1. solid KB (Wikis, even?), online training 2. can’t see affected units or systems 2. provide clear graphics, online access to details 3. news and break room chats 3. streaming news, 1 day/week in the office, traveling team leads 4. distractions from kids, dogs, doorbells, TV 4. firm schedules, defined spaces and rules 5. drop off after “1st blush” over, reduced productivity 5. increased rewards & recognition, monitoring & help 17 Jan 07 10 3. How to pitch work at home in your company • Create 3-phase plan (see next pages) • Harness IT, Finance, HR • Emphasize “fit” with trends, employee preferences, flexibility and other benefits • Check the plan • Test with “best agents” (as reward, to seed early wins) 11 17 Jan 07 3. Phase I: Assessment Define objectives and conduct needs analysis Prepare winning business case Perform detailed process mapping, systems review and costing Identify and implement improvement opportunities Determine outsourcing feasibility and approach Create requirements document in preparation for RFX, if appropriate 17 Jan 07 12 3. Phase II: Implement work at home program Assign full-time PM (project manager), and possible outside consulting assistance Complete outsourcing RFP if appropriate OR Profile 1st wave of agents for home (3rd-party tools/advice), new team leader and training roles, real time metrics/reporting Prepare online training, remote monitoring, KB, streaming news, alerts, etc Conduct home office inspections Start the program 17 Jan 07 13 3. Phase III: Adjust work at home program Coordinate implementation of detailed transition plan across all departments (esp. HR, IT/telecom) After 30 days and 90 days, conduct performance satisfaction review with agents + via c-sat surveys Assess progress real-time, daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly with tight metrics Effect needed changes including bring-backs, growing, changing scope/deal/roles Celebrate early successes! 17 Jan 07 14 Agenda this morning Work At Home – Will this hot trend work for my operations? 1. 2. 3. 17 Jan 07 Work at home costs (-20%, maybe better) and other advantages (increased quality, agent satisfaction) Risks with mitigation (re distraction, knowledge access) How to pitch work at home in your company (3-phase plan + close cooperation) 15 Thank you! Bill Price, Founder/President Driva Solutions Co-founder LimeBridge Global Alliance Chair Global Operations Council Bellevue, Washington USA 1-206-321-0841 bill@drivasolutions.com 17 Jan 07 16