Responding to changes in the labor market brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric hired their first virtual call center representatives for their teams of customer care representatives earlier this year, the next step in the companies’ plan to further reduce call center wait times.
The groundwork for hiring the virtual workers was laid in the fourth quarter of 2022, when the companies started offering customer service representatives in-office, hybrid or remote work options.
Though the new employees are required to live within an hour of an office, the fact that the companies have locations in the Buffalo area, northern New York and the New York City area allows applicants from a significantly larger geographic area to be considered for employment.
“The pandemic had a great impact on the labor market, so it definitely played into our decision to expand work options, as we needed to be responsive to those changes,” Terri VanBrooker, vice president of customer service for NYSEG and RG&E, told American Gas. “It also provided us the opportunity to perform some level of work remotely, essentially testing out our capabilities.”
Changes made during the pandemic included using Microsoft Teams in the building for health and safety reasons, which made the progression to remote training easier. Remote training needs also included acquiring equipment loaded with all the required systems and software and getting the equipment delivered to candidates in advance of their onboarding.
According to VanBrooker, the remote option has helped the companies by opening a larger, more diverse candidate pool that allows them to fill vacant positions more quickly and with employees who have a broader range of experience.
“This can help reduce average call handle times, which in turn reduces wait times for customers,” VanBrooker said. “Additionally, because there is no travel time, remote workers allow for a quicker customer response during outage events that occur outside of regular business hours.”
Additional customer service improvements being undertaken by the two utilities include transitioning to smart meters and increasing staffing in the billing department.