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Customers Win When At-Home Centers and U.S. Veterans Join Forces
President John F. Kennedy once said “the best road to progress is freedom's road.” It is the pursuit of freedom that created our great country and the value Americans still place on it that drives our actions personally, professionally and as a united nation.
Veteran’s Day is a time to appreciate the freedoms provided by those who are serving or have served in the United States Armed Forces. Military personnel and their families make great sacrifices and overcome tremendous challenges while serving our country, including sometimes struggling financially to make ends meet. Fortunately, work-from-home positions offer a win-win solution for military employees, their spouses and employers.
Companies like Alpine Access proudly report that current or retired military personnel, in addition to hundreds of military spouses, comprise 20 percent of their home-based workforce. While veterans are not often actively recruited by virtual call centers, their qualifications and circumstances tend to match closely the stringent requirements of at-home employment situations.
Reasons Work from Home Positions Offer Good Employment Solutions for Veterans
1. Cultural and Skills Fit. Working from home is not for everyone. It takes discipline, focus and commitment to be effective in an at-home position, which is why military veterans and their family members often are an ideal fit. “Alpine Access is run with rules, regulations, order and discipline, similar to the Air Force,” said Bill Callahan, a military veteran who served in both Vietnam and Iraq. “It’s an environment that I understand.”
Recruiters often advise veterans to think “outside the box” when applying for home-based positions. This is because veterans have often acquired relevant soft skills during their tours of duty that are applicable to customer service or other home-based positions. Also, veterans are more mature with real-life experience, which makes it easier for them to connect personally to customers and achieve high customer satisfaction scores.
2. Scheduling Flexibility. For military personnel and their family members, home-based positions offer important flexibility. Although call centers that hire agents as employees usually require set hours and full-time schedules, these schedules can be set around outside commitments. This is especially important for veterans who may have returned to the states with injuries requiring medical attention. For example, one customer service agent schedules his nurse to visit during his lunch break. This wouldn’t be possible in an on-site office position.
3. Portability. Another benefit of at-home jobs is they can be performed from any approved home office regardless of location. For military veterans and their spouses, this is very valuable because it allows for long-term employment despite relocations frequently associated with reassignments. On the client side, retaining highly experienced and satisfied agents translates to high quality service delivery and loyal customers.
4. Long-term, Professional Workforce. When veterans re-enter the workforce, many of them say they feel like outsiders and have a hard time connecting with colleagues. However, in a virtual work environment, everyone is accepted and evaluated strictly on his or her job performance and team communication. Work-at-home positions give them the freedom they need to adjust back to civilian life combined with a supportive and professional community of peers. Often, employees in virtual environments feel more connected to their team members than they had ever been in a bricks-and-mortar center.
The “virtual @home” business model was originally conceived to give employees freedom to enjoy a better work/life balance. Over the years, this freedom has helped attract and employ thousands of highly qualified Americans from across the country, including hundreds of current and retired military employees. Looking forward, the forecasted growth of the @home call center market will help virtual companies employ even more qualified military men, women and spouses. It is the least we can do for those who do so much for all of us.
Robert Brillhart is the SVP of Operations for Alpine Access. Rated the number one contact center and CRM outsourcer for client satisfaction by the Black Book of Outsourcing, Alpine Access provides customerservice and technicalsupportto Fortune 1000 companies in the financial services, communications, technology, healthcare, retail, travel and hospitality sectors. For more information, visit the Alpine Access website at www.alpinieaccess.com.
Edited by Rich Steeves
