American employees and job seekers alike have more options open to them now in the 21st century than ever before for their work arrangements, and this includes customer service jobs, dispatcher positions, inbound sales jobs, and more that can be worked from a home office. Many Americans are choosing to try out online customer service jobs from home and the like, and this is helpful for some employees and an absolute necessity for others. A person who chooses to work from home on phone services may enjoy flexible hours, and they may try work from home on phone jobs if they don’t have easy transport to an office. And even employees who can commute to the office might opt to work work from home on phone jobs. Why is that?

The Role of the Telephone

For more context on taking a work from home on phone job, it is necessary to highlight the major role that telephones play in today’s business and commerce. While the Internet and e-mail are powerful and far-reaching, not even these recent innovations can replace a technology developed in the 1870s. For over 140 years, telephones have been used for personal calls and business calls alike, and this is true in 20th and now 21st century offices. A major part of any company’s sales funnel is based on phone calls placed to and from customers, clients, and business partners, and people are naturally inclined to a live phone conversation where they can hear another person’s voice. Many business deals and sales may be done by phone, more than any other means.

Studies can confirm how important phone-base business is, and how delicate the balance may be. A consumer survey showed that 61% of respondents named phone calls as a preferred method of communicating with a company, just ahead of email at 60% and ahead of live chat at 57%. A 19th century invention is still leading, even when competing with the all-encompassing Internet. Further, studies also show that customers expect to be treated very well on the phone, and they expect to talk with friendly, helpful, and professional people. Often, the surveys show, just one instance of bad customer service may anger a customer and prompt them to switch to another company for products and services. Sales call reps are burdened with making sales and maintain current clients and customers, often by phone as well as e-mail and the like. Studies have revealed that a company may increase its customer retention rates by just 5% to see profit increases as high as 25-95%, a significant return of investment.

How do phones play into this? And what might go wrong? A customer service rep or sales rep who works at the office may find themselves in a noisy work environment, since their peers are also on the phone, talking all day. And that’s in addition to any face-to-face conversations taking place at the office. All of this background noise can quickly elevate an employee’s stress levels and distract them, which increased work error rates and may cause them to mistreat customers by mistake. All of this may harm the company’s profits and weaken the employee’s performance, but the employee can’t simply ask their co-workers to all be quiet while they place a call. Sometimes, an office may install a soundproof phone booth, but another option is to work remotely, from home. And for some job seekers, that is their best, or only, option.

Working at a Home Office

For any employee, a home office has the advantage of being a quiet and controlled environment, where an employee may place and receive phone calls and have conversations with ease. Some jobs can be performed just as well at home, if not better, and employees may ask to start working from home. And if they do, they may also cut out commute time from their schedule and put it towards more work. And for some job seekers, such as single parents or those with little or no transportation, work at home jobs are their only viable option, and naturally these job seekers will look for those positions. This may also be helpful for employees who are skilled but suffer from serious social anxiety or sensory issues at the workplace.