Webinar: Addressing Today’s Key Homeworking Challenges

Thursday 30th June 2022, 12:00 – 1.00pm Chair: Jane Thomas, South West Contact Centre Forum and Call North West In this webinar, we’ll discuss the key homeworking issues facing businesses today, including: • How to better manage the consequences of cost of living increases• Dealing with vulnerable customers• Overcoming recruitment challenges with a WFH/hybrid model• Addressing ‘time to competency’ concerns• Employee engagement in a WFH/hybrid setting• Retraining team leaders to better manage/communicate with homeworkers• Bursting the bubble of WFM misconceptionsUsing WFH resources to overcome imbalances in consumer demand Who should attend This online workshop is targeted at Senior Directors and Managers who are currently reflecting and strategising on the current and future challenges for quality service delivery, as well as … Read More

Calling Time on Poor Health in Contact Centres

Call North West and South West Contact Centre Forum are joining forces with Liverpool John Moores University and Lancaster University on a new 3-year research project. The project The project explores how contact centres can improve the health and work conditions of their advisors. “We will work with the sector to explore what centres currently do and find out why some centres are more proactive at helping their advisors than others, and look at the most effective policies and interventions,” explained Dr Lee Graves, a Senior Lecturer in Physical Activity and Health at Liverpool John Moores University’s Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences. The project will create resources and guidance that contact centres can use to implement policies and … Read More

Webinar: Six Quick Fixes to Make Your Homeworkers More Productive

Jane Thomas, Director of SWCCF will chair a contact centre webinar: Six Quick Fixes to Make Your Homeworkers More Productive on Wednesday, 16th March 2022, 12:00 – 1.00pm In this webinar, we’ll discuss how to build team spirit and make your homeworkers more productive: What leadership techniques and activities will help glue together homeworking and hybrid communities? What are the different ways a Team Leader can encourage their team to engage socially? How does a Team Leader motivate their team on a day-to-day basis? How can you have a flexible ‘choose your own hours ‘ approach and still meet inbound demand? What communication methods can you use in a virtual workplace (e.g. for process changes, account engagement or general updates) and how … Read More

Sensée expands senior management team as interest in home-based CX Outsourcing builds momentum

Hammersmith, London. Sensée, the work-from-home (WFH) and hybrid workplace specialist, is pleased to announce several senior appointments in response to a significant growth in demand for WFH Customer Experience (CX) Outsourcing in 2021. Simon Hunter has joined the company as Chief Commercial Officer. Simon is an experienced sales and marketing leader with over 15 years’ experience within the CX industry at multiple CX outsourcing businesses including Woven, Hinduja Global Solutions, Ant Marketing and VOICE Marketing. Sensée is also pleased to announce the appointment of two new Service Delivery Directors (SDDs). Tracy Marks brings a wealth of experience within utilities, insurance and outsourcing from recent roles at iSupply Energy, Ageas and Comdata; while Dan Philp has been internally promoted to the SDD role … Read More

Complaints at an all-time high – here’s what to do about them

Customer satisfaction is intrinsically linked to strong business performance. In today’s world, customers have more power than ever and are able to share their experience with your business in a variety of ways – from online reviews to social media and beyond. This is great, if they’re talking about your organisation in a positive light, but what if you fail to provide a positive customer experience? Your customers will complain. According to a recent survey by the Institute of Customer Service, customer complaints are at their highest level in 12 years. While Google search trends show searches for ‘how to complain’ have been rising steadily since 2010, reaching its peak in March 2021. Jo Causon, chief executive at The Institute of Customer Service, said: … Read More

How to serve vulnerable customers

In a recent survey, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned that 28 million adults in the UK were now deemed “vulnerable”. If you take payments for client businesses, or collect debts, this is a hugely important finding. The FCA recently widened its definition of a vulnerable customer. While it includes more commonly known groups, such as the elderly and those with certain health conditions. It now also includes individuals that are sometimes more difficult to identify, like people with addictions, those who need care from others and those with low financial resilience. In many ways this was a progressive step, and the concept of vulnerability has shed a lot of stigma over the last few years. Today, people are more … Read More

One in five firms admit to using secret spy software

Remote working has presented various challenges over the past 18 months. From adapting to working alone, to trying to create a work life balance when your workspace is suddenly in your living room. For managers, it’s also presented new challenges in terms of how to manage a workforce remotely, keeping staff motivated and morale high. For those in leadership positions, the transition to managing a remote workforce and onboarding staff without ever meeting them face-to-face has been, and continues to be, tough. With these increased challenges, a growing number of managers and businesses have begun ‘spying’ on their staff to ensure they’re working to the same standards as they were when in the office. Remote surveillance So how exactly are … Read More

UK businesses have been slow to move back to the office says new poll

Hammersmith, London. A poll conducted by online contact centre and customer service magazine Call Centre Helper and home and hybrid working specialist Sensée, reveals that UK businesses have been slow to move back to the office post lockdown. It also indicates that a single clear model for optimising hybrid (home/office) working has yet to emerge. 213 business professionals responded to the October 2021 online poll.   43 percent of people responding to the poll said that between 0 and 25 percent of their employees had returned to the office since lockdown ended – with just 20 percent of respondents stating that between 76 and 100 percent of employees had returned. “According to our poll results, the return to the office seems a lot slower … Read More

Contact centre homeworking specialist Sensée launches ‘The Sensée Forest’ with aim of achieving carbon neutrality

Hammersmith, London. Home and hybrid working specialist Sensée has announced a three-year partnership with Treedom, a global web platform for planting trees and forests worldwide. The partnership is part of a broader Sensée programme to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and become the first 100% work-from-home business to achieve certification for carbon neutrality. Sensée, established 17 years ago and with no physical contact centres, already has an estimated 90% lower carbon footprint than a typical office-based contact centre. The Sensée Forest will contain nearly 3000 trees, each gifted to permanent Sensée employees over the next three years – with each person able to select their own tree species, in the territory of their choice, using the Treedom web platform. Initially, these choices will include Tephrosia, … Read More