The Rise of Remote Receptionists
Until recently, a receptionist was a team member based at a company who generally staffed the front desk. They would have greeted visitors, made appointments, answered queries, taken telephone calls, and replied to emails. Advances in technology changed the role, allowing people to work away from the workplace. And in 2020, this trend accelerated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Working from home
When the first lockdown of the pandemic was announced, one of the immediate effects was that anyone who could, should work from home. This included many receptionists.
There they could carry out the same work they had done in the office, such as answering phone calls, making bookings, responding to emails, and providing information to potential customers and clients. In doing so, they were able to help businesses continue to operate during difficult times.
After Covid
With the pandemic now behind us, business premises have opened up. However many people have continued to work from home, including remote receptionists. Many receptionists prefer this, saying that working from home gives them a better work-life balance and cuts out what is often a costly and time-consuming commute.
Employers are equally happy with this setup, finding this greater flexibility in working enables them to attract a higher calibre of employees.
Agency Workers
Traditionally, a receptionist was an in-house employee. But with remote receptionists, this may not be the case. Businesses can use an agency; an approach that allows them to tailor the working time to their needs, whether it is answering a few calls a month or multiple calls a day and managing a booking system. In using an agency for remote receptionists, companies will have a team who are familiar with their business, and so the same standard of service can continue even if a receptionist is ill or on holiday.
While the remote receptionist cannot replace an employee working at the front desk who greets clients and visitors in person, they can handle much of the work, reducing the number of employees a company needs to hire for their reception work. This is a cost-effective solution for many businesses.
Remote Receptionist vs Virtual Receptionist
A remote receptionist is very different from a virtual receptionist. A remote receptionist is still a human; they are simply not on the premises of the business they represent. Virtual receptionists make use of A.I. (artificial intelligence) technology. This technology is still developing, but it is already creating virtual receptionists who can handle certain routine tasks. A.I. often raises the fear that the technology could replace human employees.
A receptionist, whether in-house or remote, is very often the first contact a potential customer has with a business so it is vital they make a good impression. For most, this means the friendly, personal touch only a human can give. Even in the technologically advanced post-Covid landscape, human receptionists remain the choice of many businesses and customers alike.