I found this article in the Charlotte Observer today. There's a new
company called Willow that will be bringing REAL work-from-home jobs
in customer service to the area at around $13 per hour. I don't know
anything more than what's in the article. There is an info session
next week in North Charlotte and there is a phone number and Web
site for more info (please see below).

Not sure if they offer benefits but they do offer training. It could
be a nice opportunity for someone who wants or needs to work from
home and already has broadband and a phone line.

The article also mentions Medco -- another company operating in the
area with home workers doing pharmacy orders.

I've worked from a home office for IBM for about 5 years now (worked
10 years at the IBM facility before that) and it has been great for
me. I do employee communications, which includes newsletters and Web
pages.

I hope this info is helpful to someone.

Best regards!

-- Mike


Posted on Fri, Jun. 03, 2005


Stay home, talk, get paid

Company brings its home-shoring customer service operation to
Charlotte

LAURA YOUNGS

Staff Writer


As Charlotte continues to grow as a call-center hub, the city is
starting to see a twist in this type of customer service -- home-
shoring.

Also known as home-sourcing or onshoring, home-shoring is a system
that allows companies to route customer service calls to agents
working from their homes.

Florida-based Willow CSN Inc. plans to bring that concept -- and a
few hundred jobs -- to Charlotte this year.

CEO and President Basil Bennett said Willow decided to come to
Charlotte based on demand from people interested in working for the
company.

Willow's system routes customer service calls to appropriate agents,
who essentially are the middleman links between customers and Willow
clients such as Office Depot or Verizon. The biggest advantage to
systems like this, Bennett said, is that agents can work around busy
schedules and raising families. Agents sign up online to work as
many hours as they can. Work is available in 30-minute increments.

A person could work 10 hours one week and 50 the next, receiving an
average hourly pay of about $13-$14, he said. For some, Bennett
added, this is a full-time job. For others, it's supplementary
income.

"You don't have to send this work offshore," he said. "There are
very talented people here in the U.S. who are willing to work for a
reasonable price."

Charlotte is home to 32 traditional "brick and mortar" call centers,
which employ more than 11,350 people.

But the home-based concept is newer to the area. Kati Hynes,
director of economic development for the Charlotte Chamber of
Commerce, said she is aware of only one other company, Medco Health
Solutions, Inc., that is doing something similar.

Medco, which fills prescription drug orders, announced plans in
March to operate in Charlotte and bring about 150 jobs in the next
18 months, she said.

Willow and Medco will not have a physical location in Charlotte.

"It's great for people who want to work from their home and people
who are confined to their home," Hynes said.

Home-shoring has existed for years, said Stephen Loynd, senior
analyst for IDC, a Massachusetts-based technology research firm.

But ongoing controversy about offshoring -- sending jobs overseas at
a lower cost -- has increased home-shoring's popularity. Some
companies use a mix of home- and offshoring, allowing them to save
money as well as to send more technical questions to domestic
agents, he said.

Home-based agents can save businesses overhead costs such as real
estate and utilities, he added.

Bennett said positions are available, but the company is working on
getting classes set up for training. He said if Willow can set up a
class for later this month, they can have people earning money in
about 45 days.

He added that the company grows by about 175 jobs each month
nationally.

"I firmly believe that companies are looking for an alternative to
sending these jobs offshore," he said.

About WIllow

• Willow CSN info sessions will be 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday at
the
Courtyard by Marriott, 333 W. W.T. Harris Blvd.• To register,
call
(866) 771-0041 or visit www.GoWillow.com.

Willow agents must have

• DSL line.

• Telephone line.

• Computer.

FAST FACTS

• There are an estimated 4 million traditional call centers
agents
in the United States and 115,000 in India.

• There are about 100,000 home-based U.S. phone representatives.

• Traditional call centers cost about $31 per employee hour,
including overhead and training.

• Home-based agents cost about $21 on average.

SOURCE: IDC report: "An Alternative to Offshore Outsourcing: The
Emergence of the Home-Based Agent," by Stephen Loynd and Brian
Bingham.


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