To Stay WFH or Move the Call Center Back Brick and Mortar

This week we are talking about how we are jumping into our next plan of action post-Covid19. Should you go back to brick-and-Mortar, or is the At Home work plan even more successful? This is what Expivia is doing and how we are going to be coming out of this tunnel.

Before the pandemic shutdown, Expivia was 100% brick and mortar, and now about 99% of our workforces have moved to at-home. Here in Pennsylvania, we have been following a “red-yellow-green” shutdown to reopening plan. We are currently in “Yellow” meaning only necessary employees can return to work in-office, we have very stringent protocols when it comes to social distancing, taking temperatures, etc.

Dividing our Workforce

Some of you have been pleasantly surprised by how well your at-home workforce has been mobilizing, while some of you I am sure cannot wait to get everyone back into the office again. At Expivia, we have decided upon moving into the “green stage” we are going to continue to stay hybrid, which means we are going to keep about 60% of our workforce at home. We are deeming who can continue to work at home in a couple of different ways:

1. Security: Any of our programs that work with credit card information, banking information, healthcare information dealing with HIPPA compliancy must return to the office as soon as possible.
2. Permissions: With the rest of our clients, we will need their permission to continue using a work at home system. It has worked really well for us, QA scored have been high, our turnover has been almost nothing, and our call out and call-offs have been great.  I do not want to upset a system that has been working well for us by relocating people again!
3. Training: All training is still done on-site here. While at-home trainings work, it is always better to train within a culture of listening to people, focusing on the business aspect, and training is always easier when you have other people around to ask questions.

Rearranging

We are removing about 15% of our call center stations from our floors into storage- this way we can space out our workstations to maintain social distancing and to keep the health of our employees at the forefront. We will be totally dedicating one of our smaller floors to be a Mission control for our at-home supervisors. We want to make sure they have all the tools they need to be able to efficiently manage a workforce that is not physically with them. It will be like an extension of our QA area.

Earned Not Given

The privilege to be able to work at home is something we have decided is going to be earned. If a client decides they need 25 more associates, we are going to hire and train the new reps in-office, and after a period of time (undetermined: we have been deliberating anywhere between two weeks to six months), reps will be able to have the option to work at home if they have shown they are proficient and reliable. At that point, we give you the technology and tools you need to take your work home.

Before the shutdown, I was looking to expand! I was so close to closing in on 20,000 more square feet of space solely for the call center, but now that I am comfortable with having reps work at home, I can reallocate that money to upgrade the building we are in now. I have plans to put in some more unique breakrooms, TVs, Playstations.. and really grow the friendly culture this company has spend so long building.  Always work to improve!