Contingent Workforce Strategies – March 2007

“Izzy Koy is a computer science major. Her husband's job as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy makes unique demands on her. As part of her husband's career, they move every 18 months. "We are told a month before that we have to move," says Koy. As a result, she has – after exploring various options - decided to be a home-based call center worker with Arise Inc. She can choose her own hours and still be with her family. When her husband is re-deployed, Koy's office - her computer and telephone - moves with her.

‘I don't have to find a job in a different place every time he moves,’ she says. She now is making sales calls selling MP3 players. She can work anywhere and schedule her hours around her husband's calendar. People like Koy, who can adapt and hit the ground running amidst changing environments, are not only successful but are of great value to an organization.

Service Oriented

Steven Skinner,vice president of customer relationship management for Home Depot Direct, agrees. Skinner uses Arise Inc.'s call center workers. ‘I find these military spouses are much more committed to the customer experience. They take on our brand attributes as they talk to the customer,’ he says. In contrast, he feels regular workers don't take it quite so personally. ‘It's that accountability and service orientation that sets them apart,’ claims Skinner.

‘The commitment to service that is ingrained in the military rubs off on the spouses. The logic is clear. Being a spouse of someone in the military is like being in the military itself.’”