People have been so focused on whether they are working in the office or at home, that the ‘insource of partner operations’ as an industry concept seems to have gone quiet.

However, if client businesses have adopted a work from home model is there a missed opportunity here to utilise office space? To foster closer working relationships by having staff on-site provided and managed by organisations with specialist skills in the delivery of customer experience?

If both organisations work together to deliver hybrid models from a single site, then there are opportunities to create something really special. We have seen remote working delivered on an unprecedented scale throughout the pandemic and with the right systems and collaboration from IT teams to get the solution onto the agent desktop, then this could be an interesting way forward for some clients.

Savings on labour costs may not be as significant as they were in the past. However, for organisations looking to make a first step in getting support with servicing, whether that be sales or service based, there could be a golden opportunity here. Especially, if there is a lease on a site that means it would otherwise be practically empty, why not use that space as a hub for both an in-house and an insourced team?

What’s more, employees now have an all-around greater awareness of their employer’s responsibilities, as well as their own rights. And with the Great Resignation tipping the balance of power in their favour, employees may feel emboldened to take work issues further than they would have dared to previously.

With this in mind, here are five key policies all businesses should have in order to help them prevent and manage disputes effectively.

1. Grievance policy

All organisations should have a grievance policy and procedure, as this will help employees to understand the correct steps to follow when they have a concern, problem or complaint that they wish to raise with their employer that they feel they have been unable to resolve informally.

 2. Equality and diversity policy

Disputes are commonly raised around bullying and harassment, and issues of equality and fairness, especially in relation to employees with protected characteristics such as race, sex and disability. In order to show that equality and diversity are at the core of your business, it’s essential that you have a policy around it.

3. Pay and performance

Having a pay policy will help to ensure equal pay is given for work of equal value by setting out how you apply certain pay to certain roles. This in turn will reduce the potential for complaints of unfairness and potentially even equal pay claims. A pay policy will also help you to communicate pay principles, such as when you will pay overtime and how certain bonuses are awarded, thereby preventing disputes arising out of misunderstanding.

4. Disciplinary policy

A disciplinary policy is one of an organisation’s tools for managing disputes, and employers must not be afraid to use this policy in the right circumstances – in other words, once all informal problem-solving avenues have been explored, or where the performance or conduct warrants it.

5. COVID-19 policy

A lack of clear post-COVID policies emerged amongst the top three factors that would prompt an employee to raise a complaint or bring legal action, according to our Mind the Gap report. Simply put, people want to know how the organisation will deal with issues such as homeworking, vaccination and self-isolation, and this is best done through a COVID-19 policy. This list is not exhaustive, and it’s extremely valuable to have policies around all aspects of the employment relationship. After all, the number one factor that would prompt employees to bring a complaint according to our research? A lack of communication. The more employees understand the better; if things are communicated to them through policies and other means, the less likely you will be to end up with a dispute.

For advice on creating watertight HR policies or to enquire about fixed-fee support, contact WorkNest at CCP@worknest.com.

That’s a familiar piece of advice which is credited to John T Chambers, the former boss of Cisco. It’s a comforting mantra for your boss to repeat; it combines displaying respect for staff with a degree of humility.

In the old days, most leaders in the ‘customer world’ could not only say they would be ‘willing’ to do what they asked of their contact centre employees, they could do it too. Technically they might have been a bit slow, but when it came to understanding, empathy and the resolution of customer problems or commercial opportunities they would be confident of their ability to effectively engage with consumers.

That was then. What about now?

Last week a client shared with me some analysis they had done which showed that their frontline advisors were having to use 20 different systems, applications and third-party portals. 20.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1659441626817{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Just think about that for a moment. I’ll be honest, I’m not the world’s greatest multitasker – but even if I was, 20 applications would be about four times the number I’d be confident in using. So, in my client’s contact centre I know I couldn’t do an advisor’s job and if I was the boss I wouldn’t pretend that I’d be willing to either!

It’s a truism that contact centre agents’ jobs have steadily become more difficult over the years. The number of contact channels available and the range of activities undertaken have steadily increased. At the same time the emotional state of customers has often become more heightened either due to their frustration at failing to successfully self-serve or external environmental factors. We all know that the ‘cognitive load’ frontline staff work under seems to have steadily grown and the technology and processes they work with just make matters worse.

So, what can we do about it?

For one, we can start to acknowledge that our people are increasingly doing technically and emotionally challenging jobs that most of us couldn’t. Recognising this fact won’t change anyone’s reality, but it does show a degree of genuine understanding and empathy.

Secondly, we can ensure that the needs of the frontline are front and centre every time new tech, propositions and channels are being planned. There’s a direct line between employee experience and customer experience, so we need to start to make reinforcing that relationship – and helping our frontline people – a priority.

At the same time, Covid especially has driven significant growth in the demand for multilingual customer service as more and more firms have exploited to shift online to enter new overseas markets.

This is a trend which Contact Centre Panel has been acutely aware of over the past two years, both in the UK and globally. So, if you need to identify and recruit staff who can support customers in languages other than English what are the options available to you?

1. Employ people who are already here

Most multilingual contact centres are supporting European languages, so native language speakers originally from the EU are the most obvious candidates. EU residents who were in the UK by 2021 should have achieved Settled Status so can be employed just like any other resident. However, as nearly all contact centres are reporting massive recruitment and retention challenges, that’s far from easy.

2. Recruit new staff from the EU

This may help, but remember that to do so you will almost certainly have to take advantage of the Skilled Worker Visa Scheme which entails a lot of administration, being approved as an employer by the Home Office and meeting the minimum salary level of £25,600.

3. Recruit Remote Workers in the Country

With the widespread adoption of contact centre homeworking, employing foreign-language speakers to work for you remotely in their own country is now entirely technically feasible. However, the costs and complexity of doing so – especially if you don’t currently employ any staff outside of the EU – can be considerable.

4. Outsource

Outsourcing contact centre customer service isn’t always the right solution for every organisation. But as many of our clients have found, done the right way outsourcing can be a sustainable, affordable solution to the multilingual resourcing challenge.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any of these options.

From vaccination to workplace safety measures, the pandemic has introduced plenty of new potential sources of conflict, and in many cases, employers’ COVID response and their handling of COVID-related issues continue to be a source of resentment, which could lead to disputes in the workplace.

What’s more, employees now have an all-around greater awareness of their employer’s responsibilities, as well as their own rights. And with the Great Resignation tipping the balance of power in their favour, employees may feel emboldened to take work issues further than they would have dared to previously.

With this in mind, here are five key policies all businesses should have in order to help them prevent and manage disputes effectively.

1. Grievance policy

All organisations should have a grievance policy and procedure, as this will help employees to understand the correct steps to follow when they have a concern, problem or complaint that they wish to raise with their employer that they feel they have been unable to resolve informally.

 2. Equality and diversity policy

Disputes are commonly raised around bullying and harassment, and issues of equality and fairness, especially in relation to employees with protected characteristics such as race, sex and disability. In order to show that equality and diversity are at the core of your business, it’s essential that you have a policy around it.

3. Pay and performance

Having a pay policy will help to ensure equal pay is given for work of equal value by setting out how you apply certain pay to certain roles. This in turn will reduce the potential for complaints of unfairness and potentially even equal pay claims. A pay policy will also help you to communicate pay principles, such as when you will pay overtime and how certain bonuses are awarded, thereby preventing disputes arising out of misunderstanding.

4. Disciplinary policy

A disciplinary policy is one of an organisation’s tools for managing disputes, and employers must not be afraid to use this policy in the right circumstances – in other words, once all informal problem-solving avenues have been explored, or where the performance or conduct warrants it.

5. COVID-19 policy

A lack of clear post-COVID policies emerged amongst the top three factors that would prompt an employee to raise a complaint or bring legal action, according to our Mind the Gap report. Simply put, people want to know how the organisation will deal with issues such as homeworking, vaccination and self-isolation, and this is best done through a COVID-19 policy.

This list is not exhaustive, and it’s extremely valuable to have policies around all aspects of the employment relationship.

After all, the number one factor that would prompt employees to bring a complaint according to our research? A lack of communication. The more employees understand the better; if things are communicated to them through policies and other means, the less likely you will be to end up with a dispute.

For advice on creating watertight HR policies or to enquire about fixed-fee support, contact WorkNest at CCP@worknest.com.

The recruitment crisis has made headline news in recent times, with businesses being affected by labour shortages brought on by changes to both local and global economic conditions caused by the post-pandemic recovery and for UK based organisations, the aftereffects of Brexit.

In one sense it’s great that economies are experiencing a period of rapid growth after such a difficult 16 months but this has its challenges for many business owners, with recruitment and wage inflation becoming two of the biggest hurdles to expansion or in some cases survival.

According to figures recently released by Reed Recruitment, customer service has seen the highest overall salary increase of any sector (in the UK) with employee wages in 2021 up 32% compared with 2019. This wage inflation is adding huge pressure to both the ability to recruit and retain existing staff, within customer service and sales operations.

Add to this the increase in customer demand for query resolution and a return to business as usual from the consumer’s point of view, then the reality for many contact centres is that staffing is going to be difficult just as a period of peak demand, for many businesses, begins.

Challenges faced include:

What can you do to cope with staff shortages?

There are two alternatives to recruitment, which may work better for your business helping to save time and money, whilst improving your customer experience as well as increasing sales conversion and revenues.

These alternatives can both help to fix your short and longer-term resourcing issues and enable you to build a more sustainable business in the future, that can handle both foreseen and unforeseen demand fluctuations.

Outsource to cope with peak demand and recruitment transition periods

There is a wide choice of outsource contact centres, who provide a highly professional service, which presents itself to your customers as a seamless extension of your business. Choosing an outsourced partner to cope with your peak periods or to handle your less complex frequently dealt with enquiries, will free up your core teams to focus on areas that require higher levels of expertise such as complaint resolution and more complex sales conversion. This will enable your business to focus on the development of its higher skilled advisors and salespeople, resulting in greater loyalty, increased retention rates, higher customer satisfaction and increased revenues.

Outsourcing can also be used to meet customer contact requirements whilst your business is in recruitment mode. Measuring your recruitment needs can be difficult, as consumer demands fluctuate, and finding the ‘right’ people for your business can take time when the labour market has become so limited. Working with a partner while you rebuild your teams can help you to maintain customer satisfaction, reduce customer churn and protect revenues.

Identifying the right outsourcer for your business can be difficult if you do not have full visibility of the market or the skills to vet each outsourcer against your requirements. Working with the Contact Centre Panel team takes the pain away, making the process much simpler and ensuring you find the right match for your business.

Implement new technology to reduce demand on your teams

Implementing the ‘right’ technology solution can help your business to cope with demand fluctuations and improve how you handle enquiries in a more consistent and controlled way. Improvements in technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Bots are enabling contact centres to massively reduce the demand on agents by channelling low level enquiries away from expert advisors and resolving them. The cost of implementing new technologies is covered by a reduction in resourcing expenditure, improvements to working and process efficiency and increased sales revenues.

The key to implementing technologies successfully is to identify a solution that fits your current and future business requirements. With such a large choice of potential systems and providers, it can be difficult to make the right choice, particularly if you do not have full visibility of what is available and the appropriate level of technology expertise needed to accurately assess each solution.

Many businesses have, so far, chosen to wait in fear of making the wrong choice, either retaining dated legacy systems or delaying the adoption of new. When adopting new technologies mistakes can indeed be costly in terms of wasted time and expense, but if done correctly this can be the reverse. Successful businesses are now embracing the opportunity to streamline their operations and improve customer service delivery by implementing the latest contact centre technologies, guided by the right level of expertise.

Working alongside a trusted partner, such as Contact Centre Panel, to help you narrow down your options will help your business to adopt a measured, managed process to selecting the right technical solutions to improve and future-proof your operations.

Who can you talk to about the options?

Contact Centre Panel has built a network of over 140 contact centres and 50 technology providers. We’ve done this to find solutions to the greatest challenges facing the customer contact sector. Whether it’s staff resourcing to meet fluctuations in demand or to cover recruitment periods, or it’s choosing and implementing tools to improve customer interaction/experience and agent reliance, we can help.

We work closely with clients to understand their specific requirements before helping them to source the appropriate contact centre outsourcer or technology provider. We are entirely independent, so you know our recommendations are not driven by self-interest. Our selection process is managed by industry experts, so you will always be in safe hands.

Are there any major pitfalls of switching to a permanent hybrid working model?

With many businesses now accepting that a full-time office workforce isn’t always necessary, more flexible ways of working are being kept in place after more than a year of homeworking arrangements. At first, working from home was viewed as a temporary emergency situation, but time and technology have proved that goals can still be achieved if things are done correctly. Alexandra explained some of the issues businesses are facing, after the period of change we’ve all experienced:

Alexandra responded: “Many businesses have decided that working from home has a place in their operational model moving forwards. They are looking to make the once temporary emergency situations, permanent solutions and there are many benefits of this. First and foremost, businesses need to consider what version of hybrid working their organisation is adopting. If they’ll be offering a fully flexible working environment where staff can choose whether to work from home or not on a day-to-day basis? Or will there be a more structured hybrid working model with a mix of pre-agreed time in and out of the office. Businesses have needed to find ways to keep operations running through the pandemic, but now they need to consider how to optimise work. This means that having people in the office for meetings and training might be preferable to working via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Also, spending time in the office as a team or department can be hugely beneficial and is a way of maintaining bonds within your workforce.”

Alexandra explained: “Technology and equipment will be a big issue for some businesses. In March last year, many people simply had to take equipment home to allow work to continue. So now, businesses need to think about what their team members need to make flexibility possible. Certain roles might use specialist technology that can only be provided in one place. Heavy data processing might need to be supported by high-specification computers or multiple screen set-ups, for example.”

She questioned: “Do your people have the right communications technology at home, supported by reliable software at the office or in the cloud? Do they need one laptop or separate workstation setups for the home and the office? Are home connections, such as broadband, suitable for the systems in place?”

Alexandra concluded: “Once the physical equipment is taken care of, the reality of managing teams remotely needs to be addressed. Your managers and team leaders may be doing a fantastic job, but it‘ll be beneficial to make sure that they’re given opportunities to obtain and hone the skills required to manage teams remotely.”

How will organisations be able to bring new starters on board in hybrid working set-ups?”

Alexandra provided her thoughts: “Onboarding new starters is something which has definitely needed to change. However, the changes might not be as difficult to achieve as you might think. It is a good idea to base new starters from the office for a short time for several reasons. First, making sure that equipment and technology is available and set up correctly is usually easier to do on-site. Then giving your new starters the best chance of fitting into their teams and getting used to the systems is important. While not everyone will be in the office, making sure that guidance is available from people in the workplace is essential if you’re going to get the most out of your new hires.

She continued: “Some time spent in the office is the ideal opportunity to see how new starters are fitting in. Early issues can be dealt with more quickly and questions or concerns can be addressed before your workers are expected to work from home. It’s also a good opportunity to set expectations about how the hybrid working arrangements work in your organisation, as every workplace will be slightly different.”

Alexandra finished by saying: “Finally, make sure time is set aside to check in with new starters after their first few weeks or month. It’s not only a great opportunity to make sure that their new role is going ok for them, but new starters can be a useful source of new ideas and suggestions, especially in relation to their onboarding experience.

Alexandra not only advises her clients about their HR and Employment Law issues but also manages her own teams remotely.

She offered us some practical advice: “For many people, managing teams remotely is a skill set that requires learning and practising. Businesses should check whether their managers and team leaders are trained and experienced, putting training in place where it’s needed.”

Alexandra added: “Consider how you will perform your regular management tasks in future. How will assessments be done? How often will you have team meetings and individual feedback sessions? Will you have these in the office or via Zoom/Teams/phone calls? Also consider your data reporting routines, to keep the right people in the loop about performance statistics: it’s a well-known fact that allowing your people to own their performance can help them to deliver better results. Do your reporting systems allow this to happen?”

She concluded: “When it comes to managing people in any situation, it’s too easy to overlook the quiet and focus on easily identifiable issues. When remote and hybrid workers make up your team, it’s even more important to make sure that you are devoting enough time to everyone, not just those with obvious needs.”

How can you bring about a positive change in your business as you implement hybrid working?

Alexandra explained: “Hybrid working is not an emergency response to the pandemic any longer. To make this a permanent option for staff there are some things that all businesses need to consider:

  1. Your staff may need contractual amendments to suit their new working arrangements. Their place of work will be changing so contracts of employment will need to take account of this. There are also a number of other clauses advised for those hybrid working such as confidentiality and security.
  2. Have a ‘hybrid working policy’ in place. Not only will this make it easier for your teams to understand their new working situation, it will provide a consistent set of guidelines across the organisation. Writing this policy will also force your management team to consider the important issues and develop a common understanding of how they are being addressed in your company.
  3. Set acceptable professional and personal standards. These will vary from business to business, making it important to communicate clearly what is expected of your people. The realities of working from home, whether some or all of the time, mean that making it clear how much privacy is needed for calls, whether interruptions from the household are ok, the level of acceptable background noise and other factors are important to set expectations for your team members. In some cases, this might make it impossible for individuals to work from home, which enables a constructive conversation to happen before problems occur.
  4. Prepare for formal Flexible Working Requests. With over a year of working from home being a reality for many people, it may be difficult to refuse a new request, but each case should be taken on its own merits. Not all roles in your company may be genuinely possible to work flexibly in the long term.”

Alexandra summarised: “Hybrid working, hot-desking and working from home are not new. In some businesses, they have been used successfully for years already. What’s new is the volume of flexible and hybrid working arrangements, and they are new in some environments. With the right help, changes to some arrangements and focused new policies, hybrid working can bring about successful change for a better workplace.”

What final thoughts do you have as we enter this exciting phase of contact centre and customer service working?

Alexandra replied: “Recent surveys have shown us that the impact on work output has not been severe. There have been some minimal reductions in performance in some businesses, but in many cases performance has positively improved.

 She added: “If your business is going to implement permanent hybrid working policies, there are long term considerations beyond getting your set up legally and organisationally correct.”

 Alexandra continued: “Think about the long-term welfare of your staff. How is your organisation going to ensure that your team members are not over or underworked? This might be down to your managers and team leaders but should be supported by your reporting regimes.”

 She said: “How are you going to keep a successful team ethos going? This applies equally to new starters and old hands. With less social interaction inside the workplace, how will you maintain strong bonds in your business? You might need to think about more structured team events, days together inside or outside the office, team social lunches or other ideas to forge relationships and encourage idea sharing. Don’t restrict your team building to just your senior teams.”

 Alexandra concluded: “We’re already seeing that it’s possible to have a successful business using hybrid working. With a few steps taken carefully while you’re reforming your business after the Covid impact, a strong foundation can be used to build high performing teams with a common understanding and shared goals. The coming years are likely to be exciting for customer service operations who embrace the change.”

We’d like to thank Alexandra for her time and her insights. If your business is facing the challenges of making hybrid working successful, contact us.

In this joint webinar with The UK Contact Centre Forum, we will be asking leading contact centre experts how can businesses create a secure, productive, flexible, low risk working environment for their teams to flourish and achieve wherever they work. Jonathan Billing, Marketing Director, Contact Centre Panel, will chair an ‘around the coffee table’ style debate to hear the views of our expert panelists.

The panel will include Thomas Doran, Head of Remote Working at Bupa, Alexandra Farmer, Head of Team & Solicitor at Ellis Whittam, John Greenwood, Head of Technology & Payments at Contact Centre Panel, Eileen Donnelly,  Director at Ripple & Co and former Head of Values & Ethics at The Co-operative Bank Plc and Julie Goddard, Expert Resilience and Business Continuity Specialist at Humanex Resilience.

At the end of the webinar, we’ll hold an in-depth Q&A to help you with any questions or queries you may have on the content and guide you on specific outsourcing challenge.

Topic overview

With Covid restrictions relaxing and employees pushing for greater working flexibility – businesses are under increased pressure to run a hybrid working model. Although there are benefits to operating a hybrid operation, it opens organisations up to new risks and employee management challenges. These include:

Expert panel

Thomas Doran: Head of Remote Working, Bupa

As the head of remote working at Bupa, Thomas has extensive knowledge of homeworking having been involved in managing homeworking teams since 2014. He has led the implementation of a hybrid working model for Bupa’s frontline customer contact centre operation before homeworking became the new normal. Currently leads and a number of customer contact teams and manages partnership with 100% homebased outsourcer Sensee.

Alexandra Farmer: Head of Team & Solicitor, Ellis Whittam

Qualified solicitor and employment law expert. Prior to joining Ellis Whittam in 2013, Alexandra worked as head of employment law for a legal practice – gaining a wealth of experience supporting clients over a range of sectors including retail, beauty, pharmaceutical and charities. She heads up the Partnerships team at Ellis Whittam and her team support over 30,000 employers across 14 partnerships with employment law and HR issues.

John Greenwood: Head of Technology & Payments, Contact Centre Panel

A payments specialist and leading authority in PCI DSS compliance and how this applies to customer contact centres and 3rd party service providers. John was the driver and lead content contributor to the official PCI SSC Information Supplement, published in late 2018. John is a technology subject matter expert with over 30 years’ experience working with and within the industry, he has a deep understanding of the technology vendor landscape.

Eileen Donnelly: Director, Ripple & Co and former Head of Values & Ethics, The Co-operative Bank Plc

Senior leader with experience at Director level within FTSE 250 businesses. Eileen’s career has focused on supporting companies to build purpose-driven business strategies and workplace cultures. She is a Mental Health First Aid England Licensed Trainer and set up Ripple & Co to help organisations to recognise their responsibility to maintain and improve wellbeing in the workplace.

Julie Goddard: Expert Resilience and Business Continuity Specialist,
Humanex Resilience

A business continuity expert with over 15 years experience. Julie is a professional member of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI). She has operated within a multi-agency response environment, including arranging counter-terrorism training and trauma training for hundreds of staff and management. She is currently an ‘industry Sector Leader’ on the ‘Cross-Sector Safety and Security Communications’ (CSSC) hub, which is a NaCTSO initiative.

Topics for discussion

Charles was a panelist on our recent Homeworking webinar and was the ideal person to speak to about the risks facing customer service and contact businesses as they embrace hybrid working models as we ease out of the pandemic.

As we are emerging from the pandemic. What has Covid meant to Health & Safety professionals?

Charles recalls the past year: “Covid was a surprise to most health & safety professionals. The pandemic fell upon us and many people thought that it would be a temporary situation, with working from home as a short-term fix but as the pandemic became a fact of working life, Health & Safety professionals have had to consider some more permanent solutions: can people realistically do their jobs at home? And from the professional standpoint, can they do it safely?”

He continues: “In over a year since the first lockdown, we’ve all become very familiar with the ways that home and hybrid working have been made possible. Most people think of the software solutions like Teams, Zoom and so on, but from a Health & Safety perspective we have to think much more widely.”

Charles concludes: “From a health & safety perspective, working in a home environment is very different to an office.”

So as people have got used to working from home and are now returning to more flexible, hybrid ways of working, what are the big Health & Safety considerations?

Charles explains: “The workplaces we are used to will have had Health & Safety Risk Assessments in place, which recognise hazards and provide ways to mitigate and control the risk. These are generally standardised and can be made available to managers and workers relatively easily and centrally. Workstations in offices, especially contact centre environments, tend to be similar and provide a good level of safety to team members. Allowances can be made for individuals on a case-by-case basis depending on their needs, which can be easily talked about during the working day.”

He states: “It’s completely different when people find themselves relocated to working from home at short notice. We have experienced enormous variations in the suitability of workspaces, equipment and challenges which we had very little time to prepare for or adapt to.”

Charles points out: “Under Health & Safety laws, employers have an obligation to ensure that their staff are kept safe. This applies to wherever the workers are fulfilling their roles.”

He continues: “Bad workplaces can result in serious problems for workers. Lighting, ergonomics and comfort, as well as the immediate physical safety of appliances or tools, are more difficult to control away from the office but are equally important wherever your team members are working and using them.”

How can customer service businesses deal with the new risks?

Charles states: “If you have team members who are spending any time working from home, your obligations as an employer cover both the office and the home workspace, or anywhere your staff regularly work. In practical terms, this means completing a risk assessment for hybrid and homeworkers in their homes. These risk assessments should be used to establish what our workers have in place, versus what they should expect.

He continues: “In short: If your workers’ spaces cannot be made safe, then those workers should not be working from home.”

Charles adds: “There are more detailed requirements too. PAT (Portable Appliance) Testing is a well-known control measure in the workplace. Equipment used elsewhere must be kept safe, one of the more easy-to-understand difficulties with basing people away from any centralised location.”

He concludes: “Businesses can use standardised tests to identify many risks in non-standard workplaces, though. A DSE Workstation Assessment can be completed by employees with minimal easy to understand,  training and support. An electronic assessment sent to the HR department or an independent Health & Safety consultancy can be used to collate a company-wide view of the main risks. This view can be analysed for the organisation as a whole and used to prioritise actions and mitigate risks, as well as demonstrating a commitment to looking after your teams.”

What about individual needs?

Charles starts: “A company’s obligations extend to all employees, not just the workforce as a whole. Where an individual team member has an issue, it’s up to the employer to decide what action should be taken.”

He explains: “Some people find homeworking difficult, so an extra effort should be made to make communication regular and as easy as possible for your teams. One good example of this which we’ve seen clients enjoying during the pandemic is a weekly online social lunch, where teams spend time together, from home, without a business agenda. Events like this can maintain a sense of togetherness during difficult times and might help hybrid workers long into the future.”

Charles says: “Stress is an adverse reaction to pressure. Pressure can improve performance in some people but too much pressure can have a seriously adverse effect on not only results, but the health of your people.”

He continues: “If we think of stress as water, everyone has a different-sized jug for their ability to deal with the flow of it. Employers bear a responsibility to alleviate and manage the pressure, to reduce or control the flow of that water. It’s important to be aware that pressure not only flows from work, but from everywhere else in an individual’s life too.”

Charles states: “Hybrid working is a good example of the flexibility now available to employers. Remember that the same flexibility can be used to offer employees a less stressful way of working, something that suits their own life and challenges more effectively.”

 He explains: “With less organic interaction between your teams, try to encourage more mentorship and informal training to allow your employees to develop their skills as well as their social interactions. Support knowledge-sharing, wherever possible, to replace those conversations which many of us used to have in the office every day. Mentoring can be a vastly underrated and highly effective method of informal training for the whole business.”

 Charles concludes: “It costs around £10,000 on average to replace an employee, so businesses should be aiming to retain their team members, not least for simple economic reasons.”

With many offices now opening, what should businesses be thinking about in terms of Health & Safety?

Charles states: “If there’s one thing to take away, it’s that a person’s workplace is everywhere they work. That means that employers have a duty of care to take account of working conditions in more than just the office. If you can’t do that for everyone, then you might have to enable some of your team members to come back permanently to the office.”

 He concludes: “Outside the legal point of view, forward-thinking employers will also be communicating with their team members much more frequently than they used to. There are more factors at play now than ever before, with the lines blurring between home and working lives, so as employers we need to be more mindful of the health of our teams. We can help to keep the business healthy by working hard to keep our people healthy too.”

If you’d like to discuss how your organisation can be more effective in implementing hybrid working successfully, our expert team can help, this includes providing guidance on how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness, and productivity.

What will be the main changes for businesses in 2021 and beyond?

Sam states: “Businesses need to think of every work environment as an extension of the workplace. This means that for employees who will continue to work from home, either permanently or part-time, the employer needs to be fully engaged to ensure mitigation of the major areas of risk, particularly employee health, wellbeing, ensuring fair employment practices, cyber and information security.”

Sam continues: “Ideally, individual home-based risk assessment documents should be issued to home workers to complete for their working space at home. Employees should be supported in completing these documents, so businesses might need to be adaptable in how this support is provided. Cost-effectively, video overviews could be used to assist individuals or remote meetings along with home visits reserved for the most complex cases. Every employee must be treated individually with consideration of their specific needs.”

Sam concludes: “Following individual risk assessments, action must be taken to mitigate the risks identified. This might mean supplying equipment to provide a safe and comfortable working space for your team members. Failure to address known risks will not be viewed positively should a claim arise.”

How can employers manage disruption and costs from the necessary changes?

Sam answers: “Make sure that your business has a Homeworking Policy and adheres to it. Consult with your employees on the policy and review it regularly. Following a structured approach will maximise consistency and highlight opportunities to foresee repeatable tactics to address your employees’ issues in the home workplace.”

Sam points out: “Your policies will help your business to adopt managed procurement strategies. This means that you can purchase equipment in an effective way, helping your colleagues whilst enjoying the economies of scale and consistency that good purchasing behaviours deliver. It also means that everyone is treated fairly, with equal treatment of similar situations for your workers. Being able to evidence a reasonable and consistent approach will be key to the defence of any claim that may arise as a result of increasing volumes of home working. ”

What about looking after staff wellbeing and development?

Sam voiced: “Increase the amount of communication you have with your staff. By ramping up the interaction, people can feel more connected to the workplace and enhance your corporate culture. At Lockton, we have teams who work with video calls switched on even when they’re not in meetings: that ability to interact whilst working mimics the social aspects of working together.”

Sam goes onto illustrate: “Regular virtual training sessions using the wealth of online material is easy to set up and offers great opportunities to learn in a relaxed environment. Why not watch webinars together as a team from home then follow with a Q&A to share what you’ve all learned? Simple techniques like these can encourage a culture of shared learning and recognise your team members for their engagement.”

Sam adds: “Mentoring is another winning strategy for remote teams. Putting structures in place where more experienced colleagues are tasked with helping others and being available to answer questions not only gives the more senior team members a position of responsibility and recognition, it gives your less experienced staff permission to ask for the help they need.”

Sam was keen to point out that working from home is not for everyone, though. As we move through 2021 and offices can reopen, there is pressure on businesses to find the right mix of working styles for their people.

Sam explains: “Before planning your office layouts for the return back to work, check that your people are happy with the new arrangements. If you can be flexible, then adapting to the ways your teams prefer to work might deliver great productivity results. Put simply, some people work better from home, others are at their optimum in the office, and still, others may love a mixture of the two. The key is to offer flexibility and engage to the greatest extent possible, ensuring that all staff members are given the same opportunities wherever they choose to work.”

Sam concludes: “The businesses that share in the benefits of hybrid working will perform better and reduce their exposure to claims from employees.”

What are the other business benefits of getting hybrid working right?

Sam explains: “Employers who move now to identify how much office space they need can take the opportunity to reduce office costs. By reducing space, they can seek reduced rents. Use some of those savings to make working from home better for your employees and protect your business from future claims risks.”

Sam continues: “By building a supportive and flexible hybrid working model backed by mentoring and team building your business can feed a positive culture and your employees will feel supported. This will be reflected in low dissatisfaction, increased productivity and a comparatively lower risk of claims from your staff. Research of course also confirms that where employees are happy then this benefit is passed on to the client by way of enhanced customer service.”  

 Sam adds “An extra benefit for the medium to long term is that a good, flexible hybrid working structure makes it easier to recruit. Your team will no longer have to be based exclusively in the towns where you have offices nor will they need to stay nearby – people who leave the area can stay with you where before 2020 they might have had to find a job in a new location. This simply makes it easier to retain and recruit the best talent as your business grows.”

So finally, what are the main takeaway messages for businesses adapting to hybrid working?

Sam summarised his thoughts very succinctly: “The businesses that put employees at the centre of their hybrid working plans will do well, making the most of opportunities to decrease overhead, widen recruitment, lower staff turnover and absence, enhance productivity and reduce claims exposures. The key will be to ensuring that engagement and investment in culture is at the centre of the strategy; all employees must be brought on the corporate journey to ensure fairness and success. Those who cling on to a jackets-on-chairs mentality may face the negative side effects as staff demand flexibility and look to competitors who can offer it to them. They could also fail to make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity to improve their competitiveness.”

“‘By building a business which rewards people for results and supports staff development in a responsible way, companies now have a chance to deliver excellent service, attract and keep the best people, and reduce cost. For most this will be an opportunity that is too good to refuse.”

If you’re unsure how to assess your claims risk exposure and how to equip your business to handle new working conditions, the expert team at Contact Centre Panel can help. We can also help you to learn how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness and productivity.