The Work-From-Home Pioneers

The WorkFrom-Home Pioneers

Sensée, the UK work-from-home contact specialists, set a trend to work from home long before the pandemic. But there’s a difference in just working remotely and working remotely optimally, its Chief Executive Mark Walton tells Emma Deighan as the company prepares to engage with NI businesses.

Chief Executive, Mark Walton.

Just weeks before the very first Northern Ireland COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, Sensée, which provides customer support for insurance and financial firms around the UK, announced 300 new call centre roles in Northern Ireland, which would allow staff to work from home.

Its move into NI was a first for the Londonbased firm and its work-from-home concept was beyond forward thinking among the working demographic here, but fast forward more than a year and the infrastructure that is Sensée’s USP has become the norm.

“We’ve been the only specialist in this workfrom-home space in the UK and Ireland,” Mark begins. “Up until now we’ve been trying to persuade companies to make the move to work from home and talk about how beneficial that is, that was our role.”

Indeed, the service Sensée offers its clients reaps rewards. Mark says recruiting a workforce that works from home can save a business up to 30%. It can boost customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) by 18%, increase sales by 16% and reduce a business’ carbon footprint by 90%.

The figures and the model speak volumes for the company, so much so, it counts firms like Bupa, Allianz Partners and Ageas, as well as several government departments, as clients.

“Since the pandemic began, around 85-90% of businesses have taken their customer-facing staff home and that’s made the sell easier for us. It’s moved our conversation forward by five years,” adds Mark.

Sensée is now in prime position to support other businesses here that are seeking to make the switch from office based to homeworking and/or a more flexible setup.

“We want to create as many jobs as possible in Northern Ireland,” Mark continues. “We would also like to work with NI businesses to see what we can create with them and how we can solve the challenges they’re facing whether that’s about engagement, the practicalities around home or hybrid working. We’d like to open up those conversations because we think it’s the best way to operate and that flexible work offering is here to stay.

“I don’t see the big call centres going back to the way they were and we see that through our consultancy division who help and advise clients as well as look at future trends. And we know that many of those large bricksand-mortar businesses are having challenges and struggles and we are here to help. We can build teams for Northern Ireland clients, not replacing their current set up, but supporting it.”

Mark says having a client base that is 65% financial services is testament to the value it brings to those with whom it works.

“It speaks volumes,” he continues. “Financial services is focused on security and we are able to work in those traditional spaces you thought you could never work in, from home.

“Most organisations are seeing that place in their future.”

A recent online poll, conducted among almost 150 UK call centres showed that 47% of UK contact centres that implemented homeworking (for the first time) in response to the COVID-19 crisis now see it as a long-term strategy.

“However, they shouldn’t underestimate the size of the task,” Mark said. “When asked about their biggest homeworking challenge, 23% of poll respondents said pastoral care, 22% motivation/productivity, 17% telephony/ technology services, 14% communication with remote workers, and 12 per cent staff management.

“There is a clear difference between working from home and working from home optimally, and that includes how to treat staff and people. There is a massive focus around mental health, about how you communicate with people.”

Sensée is big on staff engagement and ensuring the positive mental health of its workers. Through technology it has created a “virtual contact centre collaboration tool which enables all our employees to talk to managers and colleagues through text and web cam, but we also enable them to do so much more and go over and beyond and work incredibly hard to have as much social interaction as possible.”

Movie nights, Christmas parties, “all the stuff you do in a physical environment,” have always been on the staff menu at Sensée.

As well as leading the ranks in the homeworking revolution, Sensée has beckoned awards for its equal opportunities.

Here in NI, the roles the firm offers include agent, manager and support levels with an average salary of around £19,000 a year, representing £5.8m in additional salaries in the economy.

Among those postholders is a diverse demographic, Mark says. Out of 300 proposed posts in Northern Ireland, the company has filled 100.

“Working from home unlocks a huge workforce that wasn’t available before. 20% of our workforce is registered disabled, a lot have psychological challenges, while the average age is around 40. If you compare that to a traditional call centre that age demographic is much lower. What we find is that our employees have had work and life experience and they tend to have more engaged conversations,” he explains.

“About 65-70% are female, which sits well with many because it offers childcare solutions. For us it’s about aptitude and attitude.”

Growing its NI workforce is a drive that Mark considers a relatively smooth one, thanks to the impact COVID-19 has had on the perception of working from home.

He adds: “We’re obviously specialists at recruiting anyway, remotely, and we’re trying to pick up the pace.”

“Since the pandemic began around 85-90% of businesses have taken their customer-facing staff home and that’s made the sell easier for us. It’s moved our conversation forward by five years.”