Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

A new directory has been published that could promote the practice of hiring in-home agents within the contact center industry. While some may view it as a way for “Big Corporation” to squeeze more out of its employees, the practice has actually proven to be beneficial for the both the organization and the employee in a variety of areas.


LittleWhiteeBook.com has recently released its first eBook in a series of work from home directories. This Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs is a 212 page guide that profiles 178 businesses that regularly hire work-from-home agents in a variety of capacities. The directory includes introductory chapters on preparing for the virtual job application process.

Homeshoring, or the process of outsourcing call center work to US-based telecommuter, is expected to boom in the next three years. This growth is projected to create more than 330,000 home-based call center agents, according to research from IDC. Gartner recently noted that 10 percent of U.S. call centers expect to hire home-based agents in the near future.

These home-based call center or virtual call center jobs range from highly skilled tech support positions to entry level customer service positions. The pay can be anywhere from minimum wage to $30.00 per hour.

Companies that have deployed homeshoring as part of their organizational process vary as much as the jobs themselves. Home-based workers are often employed by large corporations such as JetBlue and Neilson Media Research to fill the geographic or skills-related void.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms including West Communications and LiveOps assist large corporate clients in finding workers with the specific backgrounds and skills they need. One of the main reasons major businesses have brought their call center jobs back home is due to the value of geographically dispersed, skilled workers.

The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs offers a break down of the specifics of 178 employers that regularly recruit home-based agents.

"Rather than just publish a list of URLs or create a database of home-based jobs, we decided to create a complete guide that answers all of the questions that work-from-home job hunters usually have about the job and company they're pursuing," said Melissa Brewer, author and co-founder of LittleWhiteeBook.com, in a statement.

"The Little White eBook breaks these companies down to typical job openings, schedules, training, employee status, and pay rates." Also included in the eBook are links to BBB Reliability Reports, LinkedIn.com profiles, and chapters on acing the virtual application process.

Michael Adui, co-founder of LittleWhiteEbook.com also noted that legitimate work-from-home employment is highly competitive and employers often automate the initial application process to weed out ill-matched candidates. The directory points readers in the right direction to help them decide which companies and jobs are the right match to their skills.

Not all companies are ready to deploy the at-home agent platform. For those that have, however, many have found customer perception to have increased and their employee churn has decreased, indicating a more satisfying situation for all.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.