The Customer experience is the next competitive battleground.
Remote work has been with us long before the start of the pandemic. While the pandemic may have caused more businesses to consider remote work, it has always been an option for some businesses. Despite any challenge, a business needs to forge ahead. That's why businesses either have a complete or partial remote work system today.
Before the lockdown became a trend in the United States, Angela loved the morning drive to her workplace. When told that she'll be working from home, it took her a while to adjust. She had to build a workspace at home—desk, table, her gadgets, and a vision board.
For freelance writers, the idea of remote work is already a culture. An advantage of their trade is the ability to work anywhere and anytime. Whether you're on a train, a bus, or a plane, you can whip up your laptop and write a new blog post.
We still live in the days of the pandemic. Remote work has grown into a tradition of all businesses. So, what does remote work mean for customer experience (CX)? Come rain, come shine, your customers expect top-quality service.
Having more than half your staff at home working should be a chance to grow your company’s good CX score. In this article, you'll learn how remote work has impacted the customer experience terrain.
A Brief Introduction to Remote Work
Sure, Julio enjoys working from home as a project manager. It keeps him safe and has made him devise newer ways to increase productivity. But what is remote work?
We understand remote work to mean a kind of method that involves working outside of the office. Project managers belong behind a desk in a skyscraper, yes? Today, project managers and more professionals work from home or any place that's not an office.
The rationale for remote work is that you don't need an office space to perform tasks. You can develop business strategies from home or a downtown café. What matters is that the work gets done. Remote work also saves costs for both the business and the worker.
Three Reasons Why Employees Love Remote Work
Three months after many cities entered the lockdown phase, Global Workplace Analytics conducted a survey. According to the survey, 70% of business bigwigs noticed a slight increase in employee productivity.
Below are three reasons why employees fancy a remote work lifestyle.
1) It Allows Employees to Devote Attention Towards Other Responsibility
Life in the traditional workplace can be quite monotonous. Chris, for example, is a single parent of two kids. While he loves his job, he wished he could spend more time with his kids and share in their happy or sad experiences.
Ever since his boss announced a new work-from-home directive, he's been able to work and be more of a parent. How? Well, for starters, he can pick his work hours and choose to resume work earlier to finish tasks too.
2) It Promotes Healthy Living
Work comes with several health risks and stress sits at the top. Working remotely offers employees the chance to reduce the need for bus or train rides to work. Instead, they can wake up, have a cup of coffee or tea and begin working in their study or desired workspace.
Remote work reduces the risk of stress by far. Remote workers often feel eager to attain their set goals and finish set tasks early.
3) Employees are Eager to Work
We know of dissatisfied workers and the risk their state of mind poses to customer satisfaction. Imagine an unhappy worker on duty as a customer service agent.
They would most likely fail to address customers’ concerns. You may end up losing your company’s hard-earned CX clout score. Working remotely improves employees’ attitude to work since they can work on their terms.
Imagine a workspace with a view of trees, shrubs, and birds. Now, that's a great work environment!
What Employers Think of Remote Work
While we've had a look at what employees think of remote work, let's see what employers are saying. We've drawn comments from top company chief executive officers (CEOs). Below is a compilation of their honest thoughts.
- Reed Hastings, the co-CEO of Netflix, prefers a traditional office lifestyle. According to him, he sees no positive side to remote work.
- Larry Fink, BlackRock’s boss, asserts that remote work has come to stay. Even if most workers return to the office, a handful will still work from home.
- Head of Chef Robotics, Rajat Bhageria, feels that working remotely doesn't just measure up to a typical day at the office.
- When asked, Dana Canedy, publisher of Simon and Schuster’s pioneer imprint in ViacomCBS Inc’s book publishing wing, believes that adaptability is an asset of any business. To her, remote work has no side effects on her productivity.
Three Ways by Which Remote Work Can Improve Your Company’s CX
Today, remote work dominates the workplace. As you strive to improve your customer experience, below are three solid ways to start with.
- Now’s the time to hire employees outside your normal area. There are millions of qualified individuals that would make fine additions to your team. Since remote work is in full force, their services are even more relevant.
- By allowing employees to work from home, they see you as a kind boss. Their work rate will increase, thereby allowing better interactions with customers.
- A remote work lifestyle allows you to build a customer support crew with members living in different time zones. It promotes a healthy rotation of workers, ensuring that customers get attended to always.
One key here though, make sure you are always engaged with each of your employees. Do not let them feel ignored or under-appreciated.
Join the Remote Work Train Now
Like any strategy, remote work comes with some downsides. Some employees working from areas with a poor internet connection will have hard time meeting targets.
However, the opportunities that remote work presents business should not be passed on. It's up to you to find a workable strategy. Go remote today!
