Are Home Based Agents the Future of Call Centers

Are Home Based Agents the Future of Call Centers?

KellyConnect ® combines its wealth of experience in the staffing industry with new technologies to develop a new outsourcing solution

by J.D. Booth

G

ood help is hard to find.

Like so many clichés, this one has a ring

of truth to it, especially in an economy that is

turning around. In today’s market, many companies are faced

with one of the most daunting limits to growth — finding people ready, willing and able to meet the demands of customers.

At Kelly Services®, a 66-year-old company that essentially

invented the staffing industry, helping customers do just that

has become something of a science, albeit one that involves Photo courtesy of KellyConnect®

managing people — with all their unpredictability.

Through its comprehensive customer contact center prod-

uct group called KellyConnect®, Kelly Services® offers a home based agent (HBA) program that today has as many as 1,000

employees delivering home-based customer care services, seamlessly and in a highly flexible and customized environ-

David Haas is able to work at home as part of KellyConnect®’s home based agent (HBA) program

ment, from some 39 states in the United States as well as Canada.

But make no mistake: this is no easy feat. Rather than

havoc with day-to-day operations. “When bad weather hit,

energy on what it does extraordinarily well, which is access and

between agents who couldn’t make the commute to the local

manage brick and mortar facilities, Kelly® is able to focus its manage talent.

“We’re able to create an environment where we capitalize

on 15 to 20 years of providing staff to customer care centers,” explains Kimberly Sokol, a strategic development manager with KellyConnect . “Just last year we had nearly 25,000 tem®

porary employees working about 11 million hours for call centers, and more than 13,000 KellyConnect employees were

like Hurricane Ike, we were able to step up and bridge the gap center and our home-based team by providing a robust busi-

ness continuity solution and handling the extra call volume,” notes Sokol.

Today, the HBA program remains a dedicated solution,

meaning a KellyConnect® HBA is focused on a single client at a time.

®

directly hired by our clients to work in their centers. We know

Successfully managing home based agents

environments.”

hasn’t happened by accident. According to Vicki Brackett, her-

call center operations within various customer facilities for

successful implementation for some of the world’s most

how to access the talent our customers seek for their unique KellyConnect® has also earned its stripes managing entire

It was four years ago, however, that KellyConnect® launched

the HBA program for an energy sector client based in Houston, an area of the country where weather has been known to wreak

www.customercarenews.com

self a work-at-home KellyConnect director based in Denver, recognizable companies takes a very focused approach and a

Fall 2012

more than 10 years, a solution it refers to as “Rightsourcing.”

Successfully managing teams under the HBA umbrella

keen understanding for what working at home can be like at a practical level.

“We call it ‘virtual shock,’” says Brackett, talking about

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what happens to someone — anyone — who begins work-

organization successful. “People gravitate to the kind of social

environment. “They don’t know what’s happening to them, but

available. But so is online chat or group chat. It’s really up to

ing at home, especially if they’ve previously been in an office

media they like,” says Brackett. “If they want to talk, that’s

they know something’s wrong. So what do they do? They think

them and what they’re comfortable with.

a change in schedule will fix it, but that generally isn’t getting

“How much ‘virtual face time’ an HBA is going to require

to the heart of it.”

will also depend on an individual’s personality and preferences,”

Brackett. “We see it immediately,” she notes, adding that it

and that’s always a work in progress.”

That’s where the leaders at KellyConnect® come in, says

she adds. “Our job is to make sure it works best for everyone,

might take as long as eight to 12 weeks for a new “virtual”

Jeff Christofis, a senior director with KellyConnect® who

worker to get through the transition.

oversees day-to-day program operations, says the method of

Brackett. “One of the keys is recognizing what is going on and

company apart from the competition. “What we don’t use is

“It takes a leader to get them through that period,” says

training that KellyConnect® provides to its agents sets the

investing in the social tools we have available.”

the traditional ‘spoke and hub’ model,” says Christofis. “In

Eventually, she says, HBAs do “find their stride.”

fact, the only physical interaction we have with agents is when

they complete their I9 at a local Kelly® branch located in every

Creating a virtual community

major city. All other hiring paperwork is completed virtually.

But creating an environment where there’s a sense of

Training is also done virtually, through instructor-led training

community among team members who may be hundreds or

that uses a tag team approach with two instructors alternating

even thousands of miles away involves a new set of strategies

at no more than 90 second intervals. What that does is keep

that have been made possible with the kind of technology

the interaction lively and the level of interest higher than ever

KellyConnect® continues to bring to the table. “What we’ve

before.”

been able to do, very successfully in fact, is build and maintain

Being able to work as a team goes well beyond creating a

an environment where our teams feel they’re connected with

virtual community, says Christofis. “Most of the subject matter

Whether it’s through video or other forms of electronic

they all work from home, so they know what it’s like for the

their leaders and other members of their team,” says Brackett.

experts and coaches were agents themselves at one point, and

chat, including virtual “water cooler” type technologies that

people they’re working with.”

create a sense of community, KellyConnect’s managers work

In addition, having a team that provides “real time coordi-

®

hard to create the same kind of energy that would normally

nation” means being able to keep ahead of challenges an agent

you don’t do it, your attrition is way too high,” notes Brackett.

coach for help.

flow in and through a team that is based in a single location. “If

may be facing, often before they end up reaching out to their

Delivering flexibility in the type of tools people use to

maintain a sense of community is also part of what makes the

Finding the right people

The size of the teams in place at KellyConnect® will largely

depend on the complexity of the service being provided to the

client. “It’s definitely not a ‘one size fits all’ type of environment,” says Brackett.

It’s also a continuously changing environment — one where

KellyConnect® is actively growing new leaders in-house.

“It’s because we’re growing so fast,” says Brackett. “It’s

Fall 2012

Photo courtesy of KellyConnect®

hard to find people who have experience in a virtual call center

Phillip Kapela in front of his home-based desk

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management environment, which means we put a very high emphasis on growing leadership internally.”

Based on the number of people who stay with KellyConnect®

once they’re selected for leadership, the approach is working.

“Our attrition at the leadership level is almost nil,” notes

Brackett. “We have some people who’ve been promoted three times in one year. In a performance-based organization like

ours, if they’re able to absorb the training we provide, if they

Customer Care News

demonstrate they can become a great leader, they’ll stay.”

Finding those people in the first place is also key to the

success of KellyConnect®. One of the tools the organization has been able to utilize comes from Furst Person, a Chicago-based

consulting firm that delivers customized talent acquisition software as a service system to Kelly®.

“Our software gives KellyConnect® a very powerful tool

for improving the measurability of the competencies a virtual

worker is going to need to be successful,” says Jeff Furst, CEO and founder of Furst Person. “What we’re able to do is help

Kelly® better define on a competency basis what the client needs and then feed them the people who are most likely to succeed.”

The result, says Furst, is KellyConnect® being able to raise

the bar for its clients. “The software we provide gives Kelly® an additional set of screening, specifically with what the cli-

ent’s needs are for a given project. And because we’ve built the software specifically for the kind of environment that

Photos courtesy of KellyConnect®

KellyConnect® has created, they’re more likely to hire the best person no matter where they are.”

Since it is continually being updated with real-time data,

the software keeps getting better, according to Furst. “We’re

becoming more and more precise in our ability to screen candidates,” he says.

Flexibility on the part of KellyConnect® has also led to a

wider net being cast for its call center employees. “We don’t have any predisposition on the type of employee that’s going

Velada Walker and Scarlett Cook work from home

to succeed in our Home Based Agent program,” says Brian

for a sense of community can oftentimes be overlooked.”

Excellence. “We have every type of staff person imaginable,

industry and companies with a need for a flexible workforce to

kind of flexibility that comes with the work. It really runs the

Additionally, being able to keep jobs in North America

Poelman, senior director for the KellyConnect® Center of

from stay-at-home moms, to students to seniors who want the

Still, Poelman says the time is right for the call center

embrace the virtual call center world.

gamut.

is something that’s increasingly attractive to KellyConnect®

what’s going to work for them within the environment that is

solution and higher quality than what might be available over-

“Whether they’re full time or part time, the key is knowing

going to deliver the best possible solution for our clients,” adds

Poelman. “Taking that approach, where people can pursue their

clients. “They’re able to take advantage of a cost-competitive seas,” says Poelman.

“What we offer is a true outsourcing solution, not just

individual passions while making a key contribution in their

labor,” says Jim Bradley, senior vice president overseeing

And delivering the kind of environment that’s sensitive to

“Yes, we can find that labor, but because we focus on managing

work life, is always the best way to manage an organization.”

an individual’s need for flexibility is also generating long-term benefits, he says. “The loyalty tends to be higher when people understand they have a unique opportunity.”

Poelman agrees that the isolation factor people face is a

Kelly’s® global outsourcing and consulting group’s operations. people in a highly effective manner, we’re able to provide our

clients with an unmatched level of flexibility and productivity.

Our competition simply can’t do that as efficiently as Kelly®.”

According to Bradley, its focus on creating a virtual com-

challenge, albeit one that KellyConnect both understands and

munity is one of the key reasons KellyConnect® continues to

good, but people coming in need to be prepared to take advan-

Based Agent program, but we’re successful because we know

®

tage of the tools we offer,” he says. “Certainly we’re looking for people who are self-sufficient and self-motivated, but the need

www.customercarenews.com

succeed. “It’s one of the biggest challenges we face in the Home

Fall 2012

is able to manage effectively. “Working from home sounds

and understand what those challenges are and we have the tools and strategies in place to manage those effectively.” CCN

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