DEBT COLLECTION AND HOME WORKING

The functional cost / benefit of teleworking

• What about the business?

As Pierre-Joseph Proudhon already said in 1840: if 200 people were able to erect the obelisk at Place de la Concorde (Paris) in a few hours, it would not have been possible for a single person to carry out the same work in 200 days. We leave to Mr. Proudhon the conclusions he draws from this fact, but the fact is there: teamwork is very often more productive than the sum of isolated efforts, and that applies outside of manual labour.

The question is therefore to know under what conditions the benefits of collective work are maintained when home working. In addition to the effectiveness of the technical solutions made available to employees and the fluidity of contacts with his colleagues, the quality of work at home depends on the employee’s ability to set up a suitable workspace at home. This includes the physical space (a relatively isolated office and good internet connection) and just as essential is the mental space (mainly the ability to organize oneself so as not to be distracted by private matters).

• For employees:

If we can organise our work at home so that it is not a source of material or mental stress, teleworking also eliminates the stress due to the home/office commuting. It further reduces stress by allowing for more flexible arrangements of working-hours. However, excessive teleworking isolates us.

The material cost / benefit of teleworking

Naturally, home working requires an operational infrastructure that requires investments and maintenance costs for the company. Is it profitable?

These choices were made by TCM in 2014 during a major overhaul of our IT systems. Before 2014, we had experienced problems with our server (the brain of our IT system), and on several occasions power or internet failures had prevented us from performing any productive activity. Since moving to the cloud, the AWS server hasn’t failed once. Power or internet failures in the office, which occur once or twice a year, just require us to go back home to continue working. Therefore, this equipment, essential for home working, also prevents us from losing productivity and ensures continuity for our customers; this additional benefit is significant.

Tele debt recovery at TCM before the coronavirus

A collection company provides a follow-up, listening and negotiation service with the debtors. We communicate mainly by telephone, letters, e-mails and text messages. Except for visits to debtors, this activity does not require the physical presence and can therefore relatively easily be performed without going to the office.

Since 2014, TCM has equipped itself so that its credit managers can work from home. Our IT systems are in the cloud for both debt collection management programs and telephony. And some TCM employees used this possibility more or less 2 days per month. The Belgian statistics for teleworking show that within the average company home working is slightly more prevalent.

Mid-March 2020, the pandemic

During the explosion of the coronavirus crisis, we first called on the furlough scheme on offer in order to preserve our working capital. From the 2nd week, we gradually recalled additional workers because, although income remained below normal, work abounded and we had to guarantee the continuity of our service to our customers.

In this difficult period, it appeared that telework was not efficient. Indeed, with teams being reduced, it had become even more essential to promote versatility. There was an increased need to effectively coordinate everyone’s actions regarding incoming phone calls and other communications. This has given excellent results. Fortunately, our offices are very spacious and social distancing measures were no problem.

The use of teleworking at TCM today

We acknowledged that we are more efficient when we are in the office. Indeed, transferring a call when seeing that the requested person is free and at its desk, or being able to easily ask for advice or a suggestion is much more fluid when the people involved are in sight. The balance therefore depends on the interactions between employees, which varies according to their tasks. IT developments or accounting tasks are, for example, less “interactive” than communication with our customers and their debtors.

In addition, whatever the functions involved, a company can only prosper if its employees can easily grasp the common approach. This implies exchanges in the presence of each other.

Conclusion

• Home working involves an investment in equipment. However, this investment also has other beneficial consequences. In short, the material cost of enabling home working should not be an obstacle.
• From a personal point of view, the advantage of occasional work from home depends on one personal situation over another.
• For the company, home working is beneficial if it has no or minor impacts on the collective effectiveness of the team.
• For debt collection, office attendance is not strictly necessary. TCM and its employees benefit from the flexible and balanced use of home working.

Questions about our way of working or our service? Contact us!

DEBT COLLECTION AND HOME WORKING

The functional cost / benefit of teleworking

• What about the business?

As Pierre-Joseph Proudhon already said in 1840: if 200 people were able to erect the obelisk at Place de la Concorde (Paris) in a few hours, it would not have been possible for a single person to carry out the same work in 200 days. We leave to Mr. Proudhon the conclusions he draws from this fact, but the fact is there: teamwork is very often more productive than the sum of isolated efforts, and that applies outside of manual labour.

The question is therefore to know under what conditions the benefits of collective work are maintained when home working. In addition to the effectiveness of the technical solutions made available to employees and the fluidity of contacts with his colleagues, the quality of work at home depends on the employee’s ability to set up a suitable workspace at home. This includes the physical space (a relatively isolated office and good internet connection) and just as essential is the mental space (mainly the ability to organize oneself so as not to be distracted by private matters).

• For employees:

If we can organise our work at home so that it is not a source of material or mental stress, teleworking also eliminates the stress due to the home/office commuting. It further reduces stress by allowing for more flexible arrangements of working-hours. However, excessive teleworking isolates us.

The material cost / benefit of teleworking

Naturally, home working requires an operational infrastructure that requires investments and maintenance costs for the company. Is it profitable?

These choices were made by TCM in 2014 during a major overhaul of our IT systems. Before 2014, we had experienced problems with our server (the brain of our IT system), and on several occasions power or internet failures had prevented us from performing any productive activity. Since moving to the cloud, the AWS server hasn’t failed once. Power or internet failures in the office, which occur once or twice a year, just require us to go back home to continue working. Therefore, this equipment, essential for home working, also prevents us from losing productivity and ensures continuity for our customers; this additional benefit is significant.

Tele debt recovery at TCM before the coronavirus

A collection company provides a follow-up, listening and negotiation service with the debtors. We communicate mainly by telephone, letters, e-mails and text messages. Except for visits to debtors, this activity does not require the physical presence and can therefore relatively easily be performed without going to the office.

Since 2014, TCM has equipped itself so that its credit managers can work from home. Our IT systems are in the cloud for both debt collection management programs and telephony. And some TCM employees used this possibility more or less 2 days per month. The Belgian statistics for teleworking show that within the average company home working is slightly more prevalent.

Mid-March 2020, the pandemic

During the explosion of the coronavirus crisis, we first called on the furlough scheme on offer in order to preserve our working capital. From the 2nd week, we gradually recalled additional workers because, although income remained below normal, work abounded and we had to guarantee the continuity of our service to our customers.

In this difficult period, it appeared that telework was not efficient. Indeed, with teams being reduced, it had become even more essential to promote versatility. There was an increased need to effectively coordinate everyone’s actions regarding incoming phone calls and other communications. This has given excellent results. Fortunately, our offices are very spacious and social distancing measures were no problem.

The use of teleworking at TCM today

We acknowledged that we are more efficient when we are in the office. Indeed, transferring a call when seeing that the requested person is free and at its desk, or being able to easily ask for advice or a suggestion is much more fluid when the people involved are in sight. The balance therefore depends on the interactions between employees, which varies according to their tasks. IT developments or accounting tasks are, for example, less “interactive” than communication with our customers and their debtors.

In addition, whatever the functions involved, a company can only prosper if its employees can easily grasp the common approach. This implies exchanges in the presence of each other.

Conclusion

• Home working involves an investment in equipment. However, this investment also has other beneficial consequences. In short, the material cost of enabling home working should not be an obstacle.
• From a personal point of view, the advantage of occasional work from home depends on one personal situation over another.
• For the company, home working is beneficial if it has no or minor impacts on the collective effectiveness of the team.
• For debt collection, office attendance is not strictly necessary. TCM and its employees benefit from the flexible and balanced use of home working.

Questions about our way of working or our service? Contact us!