Working from home was just one of the many necessary adjustments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was once a sought-after perk of working, suddenly became part of the new normal. Before the spread of COVID-19, the number of U.S. employees that regularly worked from home was relatively small. 

Businesses of all sizes were greatly affected by the effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The structure of the economy drastically changed within a matter of months, and even well-established companies had to re-evaluate their strategies to survive within an uncertain business environment.

When the pandemic hit, Everise swiftly transitioned 95% of our champions in the Philippines into a secure work-at-home environment within weeks - since then we have continued to thrive.

It’s a central challenge confronting CX operations: how to economically retain the most qualified and experienced talent when single client support demand fluctuations may not justify their year-long employment? This is an especially thorny mess to untangle when working to retain notoriously difficult-to-recruit licensed agents whose certifications are indispensable, though maybe only a few months at a time.

Businesses around the world are beginning to cautiously open up, welcoming their people to a new way of working. As a people-first company dedicated to incubating innovation, Everise approached this challenge by conducting a test-and-learn pilot program in our Austin, TX Experience Center, in order to measure the sentiment and performance of those returning to an environment transformed by pandemic. 

Since Everise quickly transitioned to a home-based support model in March, our people have now had time to adjust to a work-from-home environment. We've gathered internal data and learnings to review our work-from-home operations and see how it has affected our employees and overall performance.

It’s one of those business stories that needs to be documented.

As the year 2000 approached, then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates -- who at the time enjoyed near-Nostradamus status --  was asked about the most important technology developments to anticipate in the new century. One thing Gates described seemed highly improbable at the time: the idea that as internet bandwidth approached computer processing speeds, actual data computation and storage would take place farther and farther from the user.