How the Work At Home Agent (WAHA) Model Benefits Mothers Is the work at home agent model a good option for the work from home mom? The “bricks and mortar” call center business is being monopolized by goliaths in the industry and cheaper offshore options. Moving our contact center business to the cloud was a conscious decision for a number of benefits. One key benefit is the access to a highly skilled, qualified talent pool: mothers. A middle-class, two-parent family will pay an average of 14% of their income for childcare. Today’s mother has an impossible choice to make: sacrifice her career, or continue to work, but barely make enough to cover childcare, gas, lunch, and clothing costs for that job. CNN recently published an article about the many mothers who say, “I can’t afford to work.” The whole country is recognizing this problem, but what solution is there? Contact centers can be a wonderful opportunity for stay at home mothers, fathers, or caregivers caring for aging parents or relatives to participate in the work-at-home agent model. Fewer Expenses We don’t have realty costs, energy bills, or any other expenses accrued by a physical call center. Do you know who feels the impact of those bottom-line savings? Our clients. Our clients aren’t the only ones who save; Work-at-home agents are experiencing the benefits too. Agents who work from home avoid transportation costs, the “eating out temptation” cost, and the cost of business clothes. Parents can also save money on childcare by eliminating their commute time, thus shortening the time needed for childcare. For parents of school children, this could remove the need for childcare altogether. More Time Efficient Our agents are not experiencing the mundane life of commuting, sitting in our center, wishing they were home. Instead, our agents have so much more time at home, that their time working is spent doing exactly that: working. They are giving their best for the amount of time they’re scheduled, without the draining commute. How does this help the agent? The average commute time for a Los Angeles resident is 29.5 minutes (Chicago is 34.1 minutes, and New York is 39.4 minutes). That means the average Los Angeles mother could save at least 1 hour a day in commute time. That’s 7 hours a week, and 354 hours a year. What does that add up to? A lot more time for family, for friends, for themselves, and a lot more energy for life. Better Agent Productivity We’re getting more for our money. That’s always a good thing. Any employee who has the flexibility to spend more time with their family will be a happier employee. The extra money, the extra time, the extra flexibility all adds to an individual’s overall happiness. Happier agents are a more productive extension of your brand. According to the Telework Research Network, work-at-home employees are 35% to 40% more productive. The employee wins, the employer wins, the customer wins. Most importantly, our clients win. Saving the World with the Work-At-Home Agent Well, that may be an exaggeration. Studies have shown that 1/3 of women chose to stay at home with their children instead of continuing their career by the age of 30. America’s labor force is losing hundreds of thousands of laborers every year. Some chose to become stay-at-home parents, but many feel that they don’t have a choice. We’re here, giving them a choice. We’re here, presenting the opportunities that they had to miss. We may not be saving the world, but we’re doing what we can. What’s most important to us is that our clients benefit from this model. The WAHA model lowers our cost, thus lowering our rates, and creates a better customer service experience for our client’s customers. Interested to hear more about how the work-at-home agent model benefits our clients? Click on the link or contact us! Are you a parent or caregiver looking for a work-at-home opportunity? We’d love to talk!