Homeworkers of the world arise

Date: 1 Apr 2009
By: Mandy Garner

Homeworking is the future, says John Riordan. As Vice President of Arise Virtual Solutions Inc, he believes he is in the vanguard of a new way of working which will sweep the world.

Arise was set up in 1997 with the main aim of giving people who are unable to work due to disability or caring roles the opportunity to do so from home by bringing the market to them. Its largest group of employees is working mums who make up around 75-80% of its employees.

At the time it seemed a concept ahead of its time as broadband penetration was not high, but it is now becoming clear that it presents a good model for future working. The company, which started in the US, is now going global and the UK is one of its main overseas markets. Although it is has been servicing clients’ businesses around the world for several years, its first UK-based customer came on board last year.

Riordan says it is the right idea for the right time. “It is a tremendous time to be in this kind of business,” he says. “There are a lot of businesses which are carefully looking at it as a model on cost and flexibility grounds. This is the future of working.”

Arise works by training would-be home-based workers in sales, customer services and technical support who work on the phone and via email. Once they have had the right training, including proficency tests, they are ready to work for a large variety of clients, including multinational corporations, provided by Arise. Arise workers are set up as business owners and have the right to choose who they work for and when and how often they work through flexible scheduling options which allow them to divide their time into chunks which can be as few as 30 minutes. Potential employees pay for their own training and equipment and are paid either per call, per minute or per hour rates. Sales staff also get sales-related incentives and bonuses.

Dynamic
Riordan says the business model is dynamic enough to respond to the speed of business demands today and he adds that there are an “inordinate number of people” looking for alternative ways of working to augment their income. “They can spread the risk by taking up a part time job with Arise,” he says. The model is equally good for people who have been out of the workplace for a while and want to come back and people who have recently been made redundant.

Riordan says UK companies are responding well to Arise’s way of working. “We organised a meeting between a senior executive of a major UK company and one of our home agents and he watched the agent work. He walked out saying the potential of this way of working is vastly underestimated in the UK market. Another client with a significant UK base said four years ago that it would take off in the UK when the time is right. That time is now.”

Riordan says companies are losing out on a lot of talent now because they are restricted geographically to people who live near their office. Arise allows them to pick staff from around the country. Then there is the talent pool itself. He describes the typical Arise worker as aged between 35 and 40. They are likely to have a degree and significant work experience and to have children, with all the life experience this brings. “If you contrast this to someone working in a call centre who is typically likely to be in their early 20s, in their first or second job, there is no comparison between the two talent pools,” he says, adding that women returners are among the best agents the company has. “They are the most motivated. They have stickability.”

“The flexibility of the model works in everyone’s favour. The agent signs up for when they want to work and the client pays for the number of calls that are taken,” says Riordan. He says one of the potential drawbacks is cited as “lack of socialisation”, but that has its advantages for clients as they “optimise their time” rather than spending it chatting to colleagues. In any case, Arise provides a chatroom for workers to engage with other colleagues and with the equivalent of a supervisor in case they need advice. “They are never out there on their own,” he says.

“The younger generation’s community is virtual in any case,” says Riordan.

Europe
Since it is just starting out in Europe, Riordan says the main worries potential agents have with Arise is whether it is legitimate. “We’ve all seen the stickers on traffic lights saying ‘earn £10,000 from home’. What they earn with Arise is a basic hourly pay for basic hourly work. It is not a get rich scheme. We have around 9,000 people working in the US and many testimonials from people who have worked with or for us,” says Riordan.

He adds that there is always “new market nervousness”. People learn by word of mouth that a business is reliable or it is proven when they get their first pay cheque. This increases if the business is based on the internet and outside the country. “To alleviate this concern,” says Riordan, “we have set up a data centre in Edinburgh.” There is aslo an account manager in the North of England, an admissions suipport desk in Ireland and a business development manager in London. 24/7 agent and technical support is provided from the US. The company also has an business development manager working in mainland Europe whose function is to “open up” Europe and other markets. Riordan suspects that central Europe will be next on Arise’s hit list. For now, though, the UK is a prime target.