Homesourcing Grows!

USA Today notes the following trends…

The use of independent contractors to handle customer service calls from their homes is soaring as companies look to cut costs — and more employees seek jobs that allow them to work remotely.
The number of home-based agents will nearly triple over the next few years, says research group IDC, as major employers and independent call-center providers step up their hiring of contractors to do telephone work from home — dubbed homesourcing.

Work as a home-based agent appeals to non-traditional labor sources such as college students, stay-at-home parents, the disabled, retirees and those who are caring for adults or children with special needs.

The cost of operating a traditional call center is $31 an hour per employee, including overhead and training, compared with $21 an hour per employee for homesourcing, says Stephen Loynd, an IDC analyst. Employees and agents can earn $8 to $13 or more an hour.

“The employees, with traffic and gas, there are a lot of things that challenge them in getting to work,” says Garth Howard, CEO of Alpine Access. “A lot of people can work from home and be very productive. They commute in bunny slippers instead of traffic. Who wouldn’t want to do that?”