During Washington, D.C.’s recent “Snowmaggeddon” blizzard, I (like many of my colleagues) found myself working from home.  It was great for a day or two, and I felt very productive. But by day five, I felt, well…isolated.  I think this was different than your run-of-the-mill cabin fever…the isolation I felt was connected to my workplace engagement.

This naturally led me to think about contact center reps who work from home full-time.  Whenever I speak with companies who are considering a work-from-home program, people are aware that it is tricky to keep remote staff engaged, but no one knows how to get over that hurdle effectively.

One idea I really like is the concept of a “remote rep advocate” position within the brick and mortar operation.  This role is designed to give reps assurance that there is a single person who is available—at least as a liaison—for any number of issues (expenses, technical difficulties, adjusting to work at home).  Knowing that there is a person who is “looking out” for them—other than a direct supervisor—is a comfort.

Some of the quick-win engagement ideas that I’ve come across while researching remote rep engagement include:

• Make an e-mail distribution list for remote reps.  It’s cheap and easy to do, plus it gives the reps a sense of community.  This is particularly effective if the reps are on different teams. 
• Give remote reps “space” in your communication portals.  For example, create a spot for announcements or materials specific to remote reps on your intranet—and keep it up to date.  Also, designate a column or article about remote reps in the contact center newsletter (if one exists).
• Send signal value.  Remote rep supervisors should be communicating just as frequently as they would with brick and mortar reps.  While coaching time should certainly be equal, other communications are essential, but can be very informal—a quick call, an online chat, or a short e-mail to “just check in”.

Although it is probably inevitable that your remote reps will feel isolated from time to time, you can avoid disengagement by simply creating multiple ways for remote reps to communicate with you and with each other.  Just make sure that you do not leave it up to the rep to get in touch with you.

Let’s keep this list of engagement ideas going.  I’ve listed four tips here, but how to do you engage your remote reps?

CCC members should check out CCC’s latest advice on remote reps, and don’t forget to use our tool for evaluating remote rep programs when you launch or revisit your strategy.

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