Companies Expand Services with At Home Agents

Companies are expanding their Work-From-Home programs with more and more At Home Agents for these growing categories:

• Call Centers and Customer Service Centers
• Healthcare
• Travel Companies
• Education
• Secretarial
• Writing, Translation and Transcription
• Finance

Companies provide training and a list of approved equipment to help the At Home Agent achieve their goals.  Most often, they will be required to have a PC or laptop and either a computer headset (USB) and/or a telephone dialpad with a headset for landline use.  It all depends on the company guidelines.

Is working from home right for you?  Let's look at the Pro's and Cons.

PROS:  You will be saving on gas and you save time, as there is no more driving to work.  Your time may be more flexible as you work in the comfort of your own home.  Though you may want to work in your pajamas, professionals suggest you do your best to be disciplined and be mentally ready to tackle your new job as an At Home Agent.  That includes setting a schedule and feeling professional - not in your pajamas!  Out of necessity, you may develop more communication skills with all the new tools available to you like Skype for Business, video conferencing, video meetings, and any training you will receive for your new job.  If you're using a headset, make sure it has noise-canceling features, so a baby crying or dog barking in the background won't be heard by your customer.

CONS:  You may not be the type of person who does well without the structure of the workplace.  You may feel alienated from your co-workers.  You may have too many interruptions at home.  Your family needs to learn to respect your work time and vice-versa.  You may find working from home too stressful.

Whatever you decide, working from home can be a great experience and very profitable.

Lexair offers some excellent equipment suggestions that stay well within a personal budget.  Some companies require their agents to purchase both the headset with dialpad equipment as well as a computer (USB) type headset.  We have found the following items seem to be the most popular for that type of equipment:

For landline telephone requirements:

 T110 Headset with Dialpad.  This is a single ear noise canceling headset with mike and mute button.  The dialpad is your phone.  Hard wired, no quick disconnect on the headset.

T10H with Quick Disconnect Cord.  This Telephone Dialpad will require a headset from the "H" series corded headsets. Features include listening and volume control, mute and redial.  We recommend the HW510 Single Ear or the HW520 Dual Ear corded noise canceling headsets.  For a complete line of the HW500 series, click EncorePro-500.

For USB computer headset requirements which are used for softphone calling, video conferencing and training, the Poly Blackwire headsets seem to be the most popular.  Blackwire headsets offer several models from an entry level up through the professional level, are worn over-the-head, and are available with both single and dual ear styles.  The Blackwire 3200 Series and the Blackwire 5200 Series come in both USB-A which is the standard size USB connector and USB-C which is the micro size connector and is more often used with some of the newer laptops and PC's.  Some models are configured to work with both a PC, tablet and smartphone. For more information on the Blackwire family of headsets, click BLACKWIRE to compare features.

Note:  Here is a list of 100 companies hiring this month according to the job site, Monster - LIST

For more information on any of our headsets, please contact one of our Headset Specialists.