Work at Home Agents

When you call to make an airline reservation, what’s the most probable picture that comes to your mind? It might be that you’re picturing the agent at the other end of the line sitting in cube farm. That picture may be accurate for many airlines. But lately, with the advent of work at home opportunities for airline agents, it’s likely that the reservation agent you’re speaking with is working from home.

The Work at Home Agent

In a CBS Evening News Story, an employee of Jet Blue Airways, Suzy Dall was interviewed to talk about her work as one of the company’s many work at home reservation agents. Jet Blue is among the enterprising companies who are beginning to explore the possibility of having their agents work at home.

Suzy Dall is only one of the 800 work at home agents that they have who no longer have to spend eight hours a day on a cramped cubicle answering phone calls from customers wanting to reserve airline tickets.

“If you call 1-800-JetBlue, you’re going to get someone in their home,” said JetBlue’s CEO David Neeleman. He further added, “The minute we made that transition, their productivity was 25 per cent better. Even today I can’t figure out why more companies don’t do it.”

Indeed, after the morning family chaos of breakfast to brushing, Suzy Dall goes up to her room and “log” on. This is not telecommuting where people work at home once in a while. This is an actual career based at home and the house is the only place they ever go to work.

“This is it. This is my office,” Dall said about the room right by the window, overlooking the cul de sac. “Once that first call comes in, my whole focus changes. I’m not a Mom anymore – all of a sudden I’m this person who is trying to be a good customer service representative.”

Jet Blue CEO Neeleman created these work at home jobs as a way to reduce employee turnover. Every month, employees quit their jobs because of too much stress. It’s not wonder. These agents take more than ten million calls a year. If that’s not enough to stress you out then I don’t know what does. Jet Blue figured that if these agents were to work at home, then they would be on familiar turf and would be much happier than in some call cubicle warehouse.

And so the idea for work at home agents began. But what started out as a way to increase productivity in their employees soon became a way to tap into the Internet revolution. This type of work at home opportunities is like hitting two birds with one stone. You take advantage of the comforts provided by the Internet and at the same time allow for the family-centered revolution.

We are at an age where both parents lead different careers of their own. And because of this, the family – the kids especially – are often neglected. Work at home opportunities for agents allow one parent in a two-income household to spend more time at home.

“I am able to be here when they leave in the morning. And I’m here when they come home from school in the afternoon. So I feel like I am a stay-at-home mom, yet I can get my work done in between,” Dall said.

TOTAL WORD COUNT – 565
KEYWORDS “Work at Home” = 12 (density = 2.1%)
“Agent” – 12 (density = 2.1%)