How To hashtag#Retain hashtag#Talent?
“If our people stay longer our clients will be satisfied and shareholders will have better returns” … CEO of a BPO client. This dates back 15 years. I was sitting in the conference room of a BPO client with the CEO and the CHRO. The CEO continued, “I understand that we cannot expect lifetime employment. If people leave in one year we cannot recover the cost of training. The clients are unhappy with the attrition as we serve their customers. With such short tenure, the customer service is impacted.”
I understood their stance on longevity. Their business was focused on customer service on behalf of their clients. The customer service agents must be trained on the product, services, and processes of the client extensively. The investment was justified only if people worked for 3 years.
We had to unearth the reasons for early exit and levers for retaining people for longer. We had to help our client increase the average tenure from 1 year to 3 years.
We began with an employee engagement survey to assess why people were leaving and an EVP (Employee Value Proposition) survey to understand what the persona of an ideal company people wanted to work with.
The next step was to shortlist the expectations of employees that could be fulfilled and will be aligned with the CVP (Client Value Proposition), and shareholders’ expectations.
We found a link among the three. The clients wanted a better experience for their customers. If that was delivered, they would be happy to sign up for more products/services with the BPO. This will lead to better shareholder returns. This required behavioral training and client-centric training beyond the product, service, and process training. We needed to invest in training budgets.
The employees wanted better positions and money when they switched jobs. They were looking for better training. This resonated with the leadership team.
We arrived at a strategy that was centered around continuous employee training for better client service, enhancing the market value of employees if they stayed longer with the BPO. Our client created certifications at the end of every year. People wanted to gather all the certifications before they quit. They had to work longer with the BPO.
This holistic approach not only retained employees but also boosted overall business performance. Thus, the necessity of prolonged retention periods, particularly in the BPO sector, underscores the importance of understanding and fulfilling employee needs to drive success for all hashtag#stakeholders involved.
How did you retain your hashtag#employees?