Firms in the sector continue to report a healthy rise in recruitment, revenue and commission, finds Juliet Dennis
Homeworking firms are plotting a course of steady growth over the coming year, despite fierce competition and recruitment challenges.
Firms are expected to review recruitment plans and entry requirements to attract homeworkers or focus on organic growth to expand.
Independent Travel Experts (ITE) hopes to have 130 to 150 homeworkers in the next 12 months, up from 95. Before Covid, the company had 120.
Managing director Gary Gillespie says: “We are upping our recruitment campaigns to attract more homeworkers.”
Holidaysplease now has 106 active agents, but it is aiming to have 110 by the end of its financial year – up from 93 this time last year.
Cat Reeves, the company’s brand and business growth executive, is anticipating growth from a two-pronged approach of cherry-picking new homeworkers and encouraging existing agents to increase sales. She explains: “We grow the business by expanding the team, while at the same time working hard to increase productivity per homeworker by 15% each year.”
Brilliant Travel plans a “focused recruitment drive” for experienced travel professionals to expand its network of 30 homeworkers. Director Linda Pyle stresses: “We’ll continue to grow but it’s important to get the right people.”
Setting no limits
Simplexity Travel hopes to recruit a further five homeworkers in the next year, doubling its current number. Head of business development Mark Smith says: “That said, if we find the right candidates we won’t set a limit.”
DialAFlight aims to add to the 35 independent franchisees in its DialAFlight Concierge homeworking division, which it launched during Covid. Development manager Chris Pyne says candidates are “surprisingly hard to find” but admits the company is “ultra-selective”.
The Personal Travel Agents (PTAs), the Midcounties Co-operative’s homeworking division, says supporting its 160 existing agents to gain new clients is a “greater priority and facilitator of growth” than recruitment.
Head Sheena Whittle says: “For those agents who want to grow their databases and earnings, the opportunities are huge right now.”
Vertical Travel Group’s agent numbers dropped around 18% in the past 12 months to 170 across its four homeworking brands. However, business development director Damian Mc Donough says: “We’ll continue to bring on 40 to 60 homeworkers annually; we’re not hung up on how many.”
The group will have “close to 300” in two years but its core focus is on growing sales by maximising homeworkers’ marketing across all channels.
Personal Holiday Advisors, Constant Travel’s homeworking arm, aims to increase its network of 20 by 40% in the next year. General manager
Liz Williams says the group “lost a few” during Covid but recruitment is picking up after a dip this summer.
ITE’s Gillespie predicts competition to attract homeworkers will see firms adjusting their joining offers. “The offering will change to meet the needs of the market and match competitors,” he says.
To counter the recruitment crisis, ITE plans to drop its requirement for two years’ travel experience in a ‘new to travel’ promotion of extended training and lower fees to entice newcomers.
“We wouldn’t want cost to be the reason we don’t get a good homeworker,” Gillespie says.
The cost-of-living crisis has also made it harder to recruit, with salaried staff wary of moving to commission-only homeworker roles despite the potential to earn more than 50% above the average high street salary, says Reeves at Holidaysplease.
She says Holidaysplease is signing off some of its biggest‑ever commission payments – “regularly five figures” – thanks to strong trading post-Covid.
Growing interest
Brilliant Travel’s Pyle believes “the tide is turning”, adding: “Interest in homeworking is on the rise, particularly for those looking to run their own business.”
At Blue Bay Travel’s Personal Travel Consultants, sales manager Abbie Heaton anticipates “a lot of movement” over the next 12 months as homeworkers switch firms for better technology or instant commission to help them through the cost-of-living crisis.
“They are looking for support they don’t get currently,” she says, but adds: “I don’t think the sector will ever be at saturation point.”
She predicts a “steady increase” rather than a “boom” in homeworker numbers in the next year.
Reeves of Holidaysplease concedes that the glut of companies to suit “every prospective homeworker” makes it “tough for new entrants”, but also insists that the sector will grow. Firms cite the fact that more suppliers are employing staff to deal with homeworkers as evidence of the sector’s growing importance.
Williams forecasts a slowdown in the pace of growth but remains confident that there is room for players “large or small”, while Smith adds that there remains a desire among potential candidates “to work in this way”.
The opportunity to earn more, coupled with a desire to achieve a work-life balance, means that more people will consider homeworking “as a serious option for their careers”, according to Whittle, who adds: “The future is exciting for sure.”
PICTURES: Polish Tourism Organisation; Shutterstock/ Andrey Popov