| The growing availability of homeshoring jobs | | | | saying. Simple queries were frustrating |
| is an outward sign of a mini "industrial | | | | enough but, people seeking specialised |
| revolution" which is taking place in the | | | | advice, (eg things such as technical help |
| customer service industry of the United | | | | with a computer issue) were outraged at the |
| States and Canada. | | | | level of assistance the companies in question |
| | | | were providing. |
| Homeshoring companies are looking for people | | | | |
| to fill home based customer service agent | | | | Of course, dissatisfied customers did not |
| positions all over the USA and Canada. Being | | | | return to companies where they had |
| able to find home-based employment will help | | | | experienced such low levels of customer |
| many people caught in the poverty trap of low | | | | service, and the companies' profits showed |
| fixed incomes because of difficult | | | | something was seriously wrong. Shareholders |
| circumstances. These people include many | | | | in the companies were not at all happy, so |
| stay-at-home parents who can't go out to work | | | | something had to be done to achieve improved |
| because the cost of childcare is prohibitive. | | | | levels of customer satisfaction. |
| Work at home jobs will also help disabled | | | | |
| persons, students and senior citizens who | | | | Homeshoring Virtual Careers |
| need extra income to eke out their pensions. | | | | |
| | | | Customers scored a resounding victory over |
| What Is Homeshoring? | | | | the industries with poor customer service |
| | | | records, but companies did not want to go |
| Homeshoring describes the practice of using | | | | back to the former system of staffing call |
| home-based telecommuting staff to handle call | | | | centers. After all, the outsourcing |
| center work. Jobs which were previously | | | | experiment started partly because of the high |
| outsourced to overseas centers and filled by | | | | overheads involved in employing staff to work |
| foreign workers are now being kept onshore. | | | | in physical call centers. Fortunately (for |
| | | | people who want to work at home as well as |
| Outsourcing was a huge trend in the 1990's | | | | for the companies who want to save money) the |
| because foreign labour was much cheaper and | | | | Internet offers a solution in the form of |
| companies could also save a lot of money on | | | | virtual assistance work at home. |
| overheads incurred in buying and maintaining | | | | |
| buildings to accommodate staff. Customer | | | | Instead of companies having actual call |
| service workers in the United States were hit | | | | centers, people who want to work at home set |
| hard by job losses, but the balance has | | | | up their own "virtual call centers" in their |
| altered and home-based customer service | | | | home and offer their services for virtual |
| agents are once again needed. | | | | assistance jobs. The only equipment needed to |
| | | | set up a basic home call center is a |
| Homeshoring and Customer Satisfaction | | | | dedicated phone line and a personal computer |
| | | | with high speed Internet connection. |
| Homeshoring is a great example of how | | | | |
| customer opinion can make a dramatic change | | | | This mini industrial revolution is quietly |
| to the way big businesses work. Customers got | | | | changing the lives of many people who are |
| totally fed up with being forced to deal with | | | | finding employment at home through |
| agents at foreign call centers because of the | | | | homeshoring companies. |
| difficulty in understanding what they were | | | | |