TD moves call centre agents home

Toronto- Dominion Bank is moving almost all of its call centre employees from 15 different U.S. and Canadian cities to their homes in response to the coronavirus.

It has been a logistical challenge to shift more than 9,000 people but it’s working so well Toronto- Dominion may continue to offer it as an option in the future, a signal the pandemic may have longterm ramifications on everything from work to commercial real estate.

“Just 30 days ago we couldn’t even imagine having our contact-centre agents working from home,” said Greg Smith, the senior vice-president who oversees the centres in North America. “And 30 days from now we will have over 9,000 agents working from home.”

The agents work 24/ 7 to serve Canadian banking, wealth and insurance at North America’s sixth-biggest bank by assets, along with its U. S. lender TD Bank, whose branch network stretches from Maine to Florida.

The initiative is similar to other firms including American Express Co., Capital One Financial Corp. and Synchrony Financial in rushing to equip customer- service representatives to work from home amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 78,000 lives worldwide and shut down businesses.

Other Canadian banks are ramping up efforts to send call centre staff home. Bank of Montreal is enabling over half of its call centre staff to make the move, and has lowered the number of onsite staff in each remaining location by sending them to alternative sites, including closed branches to help maintain social distancing.

At Royal Bank of Canada, 85 per cent of its call and operations centre employees in personal and commercial banking are already working from home, and the Toronto- based bank has a goal of reaching 95 per cent by early next week.

When the COVID-19 pandemic ends, Toronto-dominion expects to keep workfrom- home as an option for call centre staff.

“There’s no telling what this is going to look like when we’re all done and how people are going to feel, but I would like to continue to allow agents to work from home even after the crisis,” Smith said. “And that would be solely for flexibility.”