With many home-workers taking business calls on remote phones the dilemma for managers is how to track what they are doing and saying. If important details or orders are taken by the remote worker how can they or their company prove ‘who said what’? With no colleagues around to back them up this could lead to costly, time consuming disputes or even litigation.
Whilst working closely with colleagues we pick up information and learn from them without even knowing it-not so for the home worker who is isolated from this.
Where head office colleagues take customer calls and then relay the details
(often recorded on a post it note the ‘Chinese whisper’ syndrome can result in embarrassment when the remote worker calls the customer back with inaccurate or misunderstood information from the original call.
The most accurate and effective way for employers and remote workers to overcome these problems is to record their telephone conversations. This is of course possible at head office where a recording system can be installed and if the remote worker has a VoIP telephone. However as this technology is fairly new the majority of home workers are likely to have analogue handsets. The solution is simple as there are a multitude of single desk recording devices available, including recording direct to the PC.
Recording direct to PC is ideal for the home worker as calls can be saved with the time and date as well as the customer name and notes. Important calls or disputes can be e-mailed or several calls can be saved to a CD to keep head office up to date. Colleagues who have the same software installed at head office can e mail calls to the remote worker to provide
accurate details of the customer requirements.
With rising fuel costs and more flexible attitudes to working the home worker community is set to grow. I simple investment in call recording will make everyone feel a whole lot more comfortable about this.
