When you can’t leave the home to work because of a lack of work in your area, medical issues or because of any number of other reasons it is hard to find a way to earn a living wage. Options for Canadians to work from home are even fewer on the ground. They are not however, non-existent.
One company ContractXchange offers in-bound call center type jobs for people in Canada, USA, UK and Dominica. If you want a job in the customer service industry without having to do outbound cold calls, this is an excellent option.
One aspect I particularly liked out ContractXchange is that they do work with a number of different companies so there are lots of options regarding type of work and hours etc. You could even sign up to work for more than one client at a time if that is what you want and what would work best for you. Most clients have minimum hours per week and most have a minimum number of hours which need to be worked during peak hours (for instance weekends).
The pay seems to be good, normally from $11 and up, many with sales and incentive bonuses. Of course you would be working as an independent contractor which means saving some of your income for future tax remittance and having to set up your own office. Of course all or most of the expenses will be completely tax deductible, right down to a portion of your mortgage or rent for the office.
As with most virtual call centers, you also need to set up a direct connection for your internet (wifi would be too unreliable) as well as the computer, headset and of course you need a quiet space to work.
One of the best things I found about ContractXchange is the very flexible schedule. You post your schedule about a week in advance and can swap shifts with other agents or set yourself as available for additional shifts if you want to work extra time. Having worked in a call center which only offered time off if you called in sick or booked it 6 months or more in advance, the flexibility of ContractXchange is very attractive.
The downside is that you have to pay for your training and if you don’t pass you will not be able to work for any clients. There are two types of training, the first is an 8 hour on-line course which will certify you to use the ContractXchange “AgentAccess OS™” software. This training is $75 plus tax and has to be passed before you can take the client specific course. The client specific training can be 2-8 days and can run from $75 + tax and up. These charges are also lovely tax deductions too!
After you are qualified for work you will be charged a software license fee of $29 a month for your first client and $10 a month for each additional client. Payment is made every two weeks and is direct deposited into your account by a third-party billing service, PaySource Direct fee. There is a $4.95+ tax charge per invoice (2 week) period for the deposit. So basically you will be charged about $40 a month plus tax for the privilege of working for their clients.
The work itself varies according to client. Some of the jobs are inbound sales, others customer service, some order taking (Pizza Hut, KFC) and there are even chat support options available. There are courses starting all the time for various clients, if you would like to find out more about ContractXchange, visit their website.
