what happens to someone — anyone — who begins work-
organization successful. “People gravitate to the kind of social
environment. “They don’t know what’s happening to them, but
available. But so is online chat or group chat. It’s really up to
ing at home, especially if they’ve previously been in an office
media they like,” says Brackett. “If they want to talk, that’s
they know something’s wrong. So what do they do? They think
them and what they’re comfortable with.
a change in schedule will fix it, but that generally isn’t getting
“How much ‘virtual face time’ an HBA is going to require
to the heart of it.”
will also depend on an individual’s personality and preferences,”
Brackett. “We see it immediately,” she notes, adding that it
and that’s always a work in progress.”
That’s where the leaders at KellyConnect® come in, says
she adds. “Our job is to make sure it works best for everyone,
might take as long as eight to 12 weeks for a new “virtual”
Jeff Christofis, a senior director with KellyConnect® who
worker to get through the transition.
oversees day-to-day program operations, says the method of
Brackett. “One of the keys is recognizing what is going on and
company apart from the competition. “What we don’t use is
“It takes a leader to get them through that period,” says
training that KellyConnect® provides to its agents sets the
investing in the social tools we have available.”
the traditional ‘spoke and hub’ model,” says Christofis. “In
Eventually, she says, HBAs do “find their stride.”
fact, the only physical interaction we have with agents is when
they complete their I9 at a local Kelly® branch located in every
Creating a virtual community
major city. All other hiring paperwork is completed virtually.
But creating an environment where there’s a sense of
Training is also done virtually, through instructor-led training
community among team members who may be hundreds or
that uses a tag team approach with two instructors alternating
even thousands of miles away involves a new set of strategies
at no more than 90 second intervals. What that does is keep
that have been made possible with the kind of technology
the interaction lively and the level of interest higher than ever
KellyConnect® continues to bring to the table. “What we’ve
before.”
been able to do, very successfully in fact, is build and maintain
Being able to work as a team goes well beyond creating a
an environment where our teams feel they’re connected with
virtual community, says Christofis. “Most of the subject matter
Whether it’s through video or other forms of electronic
they all work from home, so they know what it’s like for the
their leaders and other members of their team,” says Brackett.
experts and coaches were agents themselves at one point, and
chat, including virtual “water cooler” type technologies that
people they’re working with.”
create a sense of community, KellyConnect’s managers work
In addition, having a team that provides “real time coordi-
®
hard to create the same kind of energy that would normally
nation” means being able to keep ahead of challenges an agent
you don’t do it, your attrition is way too high,” notes Brackett.
coach for help.
flow in and through a team that is based in a single location. “If
may be facing, often before they end up reaching out to their
Delivering flexibility in the type of tools people use to
maintain a sense of community is also part of what makes the
Finding the right people
The size of the teams in place at KellyConnect® will largely
depend on the complexity of the service being provided to the
client. “It’s definitely not a ‘one size fits all’ type of environment,” says Brackett.
It’s also a continuously changing environment — one where
KellyConnect® is actively growing new leaders in-house.
“It’s because we’re growing so fast,” says Brackett. “It’s
Fall 2012
Photo courtesy of KellyConnect®
hard to find people who have experience in a virtual call center
Phillip Kapela in front of his home-based desk
8
management environment, which means we put a very high emphasis on growing leadership internally.”
Based on the number of people who stay with KellyConnect®
once they’re selected for leadership, the approach is working.
“Our attrition at the leadership level is almost nil,” notes
Brackett. “We have some people who’ve been promoted three times in one year. In a performance-based organization like
ours, if they’re able to absorb the training we provide, if they
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