Telework Exchange

When the H1N1 virus emerged last spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC-INFO National Contact Center found itself squarely on the front lines. Between April and December 2009, CDC-INFO representatives answered more than 198,000 inquiries from state and local public health agencies, health care providers, and the general public about everything from treatment protocols to vaccine availability.

"We are considered a critical service, especially during a pandemic," says Paige Flynn, Operations Lead for CDC-INFO. "No matter what the scenario, we have to stay up and running 24/7."

To ensure that goal, CDC-INFO has spent years crafting, testing, and strengthening its continuity of business operations (COOP) plan. Telework has been and remains a key component of that plan.

While CDC-INFO is managed and overseen by CDC employees in Atlanta, the actual call center is operated by a contractor whose corporate headquarters are located in Arlington, Virginia. Calls are routed to customer service representatives (CSRs) located at the main CDC-INFO contact center in Phoenix, Arizona, with support from additional staff members located in Rockville, Maryland, and other locations.

"A key part of the expectation for our contractor is that during a pandemic and a COOP activation, they will remain functional, will practice social distancing, and will have the technology and capacity to work remotely when necessary – to ensure that their services remain operational, without interruption, no matter what," says Flynn.

During steady-state operations, some CSRs in the Rockville office telework on a regular basis, while Phoenix employees are authorized to telework as needed.

The CDC-INFO service permits contact center representatives to work remotely as warranted as long as they each have access to a PC as well as Internet and telephone connectivity. This enables the CSRs to handle all work functions and respond to public inquiries with minimal delays or interruptions.

In the event that some or most of the workforce are sent home during a pandemic, a significant challenge would be the lack of immediate site assistance from a supervisor, says Susan Laird, Content and Joint Information Center Lead for CDC-INFO.

"During normal, steady-state operations, you have so many contact center representatives answering calls simultaneously that inevitably one of them will have a question or problem they do not have the answer to," she explains. "If they are at home and a problem comes up, they do not have the option of turning to a supervisor for immediate support and assistance."

To provide that access, the IT staff built capability into the network for contact center representatives to more easily get in touch with a supervisor. The system also allows representatives to escalate calls to subject matter experts inside of CDC to address especially complex questions.

Laird notes that the key to ensuring ongoing operations is planning. CDC-INFO participates in several COOP exercises annually, which typically test worst-case pandemic flu scenarios. During these exercises, required remote access technologies, such as intelligent call routing systems and security, are checked frequently.

In order to ensure adequate staffing in preparation for spikes in call volume during an event (and to accommodate the likelihood that some contact center representatives may also be ill with the flu), CDC this year hired additional surge staff from other Federal agencies, as well as partner agencies in the Atlanta area.

"We have that mechanism in place should the need arise, but as the need decreases, we release some of those supplementary staff," Flynn says.

Laird notes that another best practice is to constantly look for new ways to improve preparedness and responsiveness – even during a crisis.

"This year, we have been doing lessons learned from Day 1," she states. "That's the biggest difference between the real thing and an exercise – you have to make changes and improvements on the fly as events play out. Flexibility and responsiveness are critical and that is one reason – along with all of our upfront planning – that we have been so successful at maintaining our 24/7 capability without a blip through all of this."