Telecommunications giant Digicel has successfully completed transitioning its more than 300 customer care agents to a work-from-home environment, in response to the coronavirus threat and the need for social distancing.

The company reached the 100 per cent milestone last week, having activated its work-from-home policy in late February, when it implemented social distancing as a workplace requirement.

The fully integrated customer care staff has now been added to other non-manual labour Digicel employees currently working from home, and increasing the number of staff working from home to 95 per cent of its full complement.

Taking the coronavirus threat seriously from very early and moving quickly to implement the necessary workplace protocols have proven effective to enabling Digicel’s business continuity efforts.

For its customers, this means that their calls and chat sessions with the customer care team will continue to be handled in a timely and efficient manner, the telecommunications giant said. Agents will still be able to solve issues, address queries and provide important links to online resources.

“This is another big step that enables us to stay connected to our customers. Right now, all of our team members are safely at home and on the job,” according to Pia Baker, director of Customer Care and Experience for Digicel Jamaica.

“The final transition has been seamless. Over the past six weeks, we have been steadily equipping and training our team members to work from home while asking our customers for their continued patience and encouraging them to utilise our digital channels. Now fully in the virtual environment, our agents continue to be pleasant and productive while meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations and maintaining high service levels. At the same time, we continue to focus on listening to our customers and improving their experiences with our contact centre,” she noted.

Digicel Director of Human Resources Gloria Fenton-Rose, meanwhile, said that, in the current climate, the company’s goal is to protect the health, safety and well-being of its staff, by encouraging regular contact and communication among teams and providing emotional and support in the virtual space.

“As a provider of essential services to the public, we have a duty of care to keep our business running, no matter what. Our customers depend on us to be there for them, and, indeed, the support that we provide to them during this time could not be more vital or more needed,” she stated, while encouraging other businesses to make similar arrangements as far as is practicable.

With its customer care agents located in at least five parishes, Digicel said it is the using the power of its expanded LTE and true fibre-to-the-home networks to, seamlessly and securely, connect their employees to the office and their customers.

In the meantime, the company continues to impose a ban on all employee travel, large-scale events and face-to-face training sessions, while informing, educating and reinforcing with its staff the importance of good hygiene, prevention and coping measures.

The company is also offering regular health checks for employees done by stationed nurses in office locations, as well as taking all necessary precautions, during interactions with their customers in retail stores and other critical service delivery areas.