Partner Article

Three firms take expansion plans home

THREE companies have vowed to create 140 new jobs in the region between them as part of a publicly-funded scheme aimed at getting more people to work from home.

To date the Home Working Fund – which is backed by European cash – has helped to create 120 remote jobs in the North East since its launch last November.

Thanks to support from the fund, a new inward investor has been attracted to the region, a local business can now accelerate its growth plans and a major call and contact centre will trial home working for the first time.

Homesource UK, 2Touch, and Agile UK are the latest participants in this unique £1.1m scheme, managed by Entrust, which is aimed at helping companies establish home workers in the North East.

Bob Travers, Managing Director of Homesource UK, a home-based virtual call centre, comments, “With modern technology, our call handlers can operate anywhere irrespective of geography. Our future operating plans will require us to double our workforce and invest in a new hub to manage our expanding home working team.

“The North East leads the way in call and contact centre excellence - our research, and the number of people who apply to us from this region, demonstrates that this is an area that offers us a talent pool second to none.”

Applicants to the One North East-basked Home Working Fund can benefit from advice on eligibility, guidance on how to make home working a reality, and the substantial funding to support general training and resources required such as computers, software, hardware or telephony.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .