The recent news of the end of 6-month’s trial which started in June 2023, the infamous 4 – days Work Week programme has been reported widely across major news channels. Citing great success both in terms of employee wellbeing, and most importantly work performances, and revenue of the companies which had taken part in this pilot programme.

“A recent study in the United Kingdom followed the experiences of 2,500 workers in 61 organizations across various industries who changed their schedules to work four days a week versus five. The researchers found that the change increased team members’ happiness, reduced stress and burnout, and did not hurt productivity. Employees reported feeling less stressed and overwhelmed and said they were better able to manage their workloads. Stress, of course, is a major contributor to poor mental health and can lead to physical health problems. Source article, Is The 4-Day Workweek The Next Big Thing? by Adrian Gostick, Forbes.”

Here in Malaysia, surprisingly enough, a small number of home grown tech-startups are adopting it. It’s understandable why the take-up would not be popular with local employers, either calculating cost of each employee in-put, the time it takes to complete the task on hand, or simply the trust between employer and employee.

However, fellow employers should not totally dismiss the idea, instead let the possibility of the idea brew while taking proper steps towards laying the foundation either in the near or far future. AUTOMATION is the key to laying that strong foundation. “Never say never” is a motto that one should carry in this time and age. Especially for those whose businesses fall within SME’s range. Think about it as attracting quality talent such as Gen Alpha’s, versus having to be in the constant limbo of dangling the carrot of higher-pay which might not work for the new generation. Instead work-life balance is what they seek.

Laying a strong Foundation with Automation comes with unparalleled benefits regardless if your company’s work culture is the standard five days or a four days work week arrangement. Attracting the right talent, and retaining the current generation – Gen Alpha will be more inclined to new technology, growing-up in an environment where they’re constantly connected.

With automation in place, employers can be rest assured with peace of mind. The systems can be programmed to function till a “human agent” is available to take over, training this new generation to be an efficient workforce of CX support will be a breeze.

One should always zoom out to see the bigger picture, while at the same time being able to meet in the middle with the current workforce that makes up most of the current workforce.

According to research, Call centers in the US are made up of a gender ratio of 69.2% female and 30.8% male, and the average age of call center agents is 40 years old. Source, Call Centre Agent Demographics and Statistics in the US by Zippia Career Expert.

The current situation of many CX contact centers is to contain the high turn-over, and combat the current employee’s focus. A disgruntled CX agent does more harm than help to your overall business.

A 4-day work week would be benefiting the current CX workforce by having lower employee turnover, higher employee satisfaction, and lower medical leave application. With the demographic report above, working mothers and single mothers which makes-up the larger pie of the female ratio therefore a 4-day work week will benefit you greatly, boosting morale and increasing motivation in completing and at the same time excelling on given tasks.

Thus with automation, the possibility of migrating to a 4 day work week is not far off, and should not be the only reason for automating your CX Support.

Across industries, allowing your customers to be able to reach you in an instant is the key to success. Be it if your business caters to B2B customers or B2C customers alike. Not only external customers, but also internally – your employees, middle management as well as stakeholders. With automation, it can solve many of the traditional problems which require human presence.

The introduction of OMNICHANNEL is not new, but it is also not widely adopted as yet. Many are hesitant at the cost, but can’t deny some form of automation is required. A team to handle WhatsApp inquiry, might be different from the team that is handling queries through social media or from the website. However, this only leads to customer confusion and frustration.

By implementing Omnichannel solutions, it helps companies who wish to automate by integrating all channels of communication on a single platform. Meeting companies at where they are, and growing together through a flexible approach where the resources are scalable by Cloud implementation.

📌 Connecting the dots with Chatbots, or WhatsApp bots implementation, who are the first in-line to greet customers instead of the constant ringing tone when lines are busy.
📌 Automating the simple task such as tracking delivery status, to simple tasks such as setting of appointments thereby saving time.
📌 Probing and screening through the call-in before connecting to the right live agent who can handle customers well, will surely earn your company loyalty.
📌 Further to these, supervisors are able to monitor agents all on a single platform, draw out reports for the management team, enabling the latest updates and when updating stakeholders.

When there’s a strong foundation in your CX Support for both internal and external customers, confidence in your brand will come naturally. Using the tools an Omnichannel has in place would be the next best step for Marketing strategies having all data on hand. Especially for companies within Malaysia where the target market is key to the greater market share.

Test and experience an Omnichannel’s ability with a FREE DEMO by our Omni-experts. Seek advice on which solution suits your business best.