Annual turnover: 1.86 billion
Group customer services director: Andy Webb
Why has the much-promised teleworking boom never really happened? Not for a lack of demand from employees wanting to work from home. But employers have struggled to make the dream a reality. Either the technology hasnt been up to it, or staff have found themselves neglected and forgotten a long way from HQ. It isnt called remote working for nothing.
Bromley-based insurer Churchill has a happier story to tell. Since the end of 1999 Churchill has set up 100 customer service staff at home, with a target of 200 by the end of next year. The company has registered a 20% increase in productivity, a 50% reduction in sickness absence, and staff turnover of just 1% (one employee only leaving) among its new team of homeworkers.
Cementing the bond between customer service and HR
Founded 13 years ago by chairman Martin Long, Churchill has always worked at being a flexible employer. Long describes himself not merely as CEO but de facto HR chief as well he attends induction for every new member of staff and HR director Marie-Ange Bouchard and customer services director Andy Webb report directly to him. The homeworking project has cemented the bond between customer service and HR.
The customer is getting more demanding all the time, says Webb. We are a 24/7 business. If we were going to make our virtual call centres work it had to be through a commitment to providing a quality service.
But that presented a serious HR challenge. We have a lot of part-time workers students and parents for example, say Webb. Ours is just one of the jobs they have. And getting the work-life balance right is a responsibility of the employer as well as the employee.
Churchill embarked on a sixth-month long benchmarking project, which was led jointly by HR and customer services. A pilot team of four staff was set up in late 1999. Their experiences were instructive. Informal internal communication didnt happen in remote workers homes. People could be left off emails. Team leaders might forget to speak to their staff.
Keeping in touch is a major factor in the success of homeworking
Since then the technological capability has increased threefold, says Webb. And Churchills management of homeworking has become more sophisticated. Team leaders contact staff at home once a day regardless of any other contact they may have had. Homeworkers come into the office once every three weeks, and get a visit at home from their manager once every two months. Their technology is entirely compatible with that of office-based staff.
No one works overnight shifts at home 9am to 2pm is a common pattern but employees have the flexibility to go back online for a couple of hours when it suits them, perhaps when children have gone to bed. They enjoy the flexibility you get so much more discretionary effort out of people, says Webb.
When a customer services director starts talking about discretionary effort, you know there must be some seriously good HR management going on.
