HR Management
The element most significant to WestShore BPO long term success will be its ability to recruit,train, retain and develop its human resources. The following discussion describes WestShore BPO to this critical sphere.
Recruitment
In today’s call center industry, the task of recruiting qualified people is becoming harder and harder to achieve. For the most part, recruitment difficulties are caused by direct competition with several hundred call centers spread across Bangalore. With several call centers in this industry, we set ourselves apart not only by focusing on the obvious compensation and benefits package, but by addressing other equally important needs of employees, namely:
Management
Reliable and trust worthy company for them to respect and grow with. Open management style that encourages people to speak up about their concerns.
Environment
Family atmosphere that encourages open communication, and takes care of them. We pride ourselves by having coemployeesthat take care of each other.
Location
Unlike most call centers in Bangalore, WestShore is located in the heart of the city where less than 5 contact centers are located. This enables WestShore to have a direct geographic advantage in its vicinity. Most of the center in Bangalore is either situated in World Trade center or any other business center.
WestShore BPO employee recruitment efforts have included the following specific methods:
- Placing prominent advertisements in newspapers, and on its website and elsewhere on the Web.
- Participating in job fairs sponsored by the major universities and other institutions in Bangalore and elsewhere.
- Targeting and approaching candidates directly in the limited circumstances.
- Placing job advertisements in online recruitment website.
- Utilizing the personal social networks ofsenior executives and middle management
WestShore has deployed a rigorous selection process that has yielded only the best employees from the candidate pool. Our process implements a four-step, multilevel, employee screening process consisting of the following:
- Resume screening
- Guide Phone Interview
- Psychological, IQ and Communications skills exam
- Character probing final interview
- Department interview
Training
WestShore BPO has two-week, in-house, core foundation training program conducted by in-house trainers. The core foundation’s training program would include.
- Orientation to WestShore BPO corporate practices, policies and procedure.
- Introduction to U.S. political and physical geography, modern history and popular culture.
- International skills and etiquette for telephone, e-mail & Web based communications.
- Sales skills.
- Advanced customer service skills and information technology systems training, focusing on CRM systems.
- Upon completion of the core foundations training program, the agents will undergo a client-specific training that will educate agents on how to handle specific accounts as required by the clients. The specific content and duration of the client-specific training program would vary depending on the requirements of each client.
Retention & Motivation
Fulfilling immediate requirements, sustaining and managing current levels and achieving future projections for employee staffing will require the constant attention of WestShore BPO management. Continuously improving its service quality will depend on WestShore’s ability to minimize employee attrition rates. As the off-shore BPO solutions industry in India continues to develop, and labor markets in Bangalore and other important labor centers continue to tighten, attracting and, more importantly, retaining the best employees will become increasingly critical. WestShore offers something different; we provide an enriching environment where being a part of it becomes a self-fulfilling experience of really being in a community.
Our strategic plan projects controlled and sustainable growth; WestShore has always been a company that takes care of its people because employees want to be in a company that they know will take care of them. Accordingly, we have successfully portrayed WestShore as offering an attractive combination of a friendly, close-knit, informal corporate culture and competitive compensation, including customary fringe benefits. WestShore strives to become personal, yet still have a corporate environment.
Motivation of the employees is encouraged by developing a sense of urgency with the employees in being part of the whole team. The growth of the company is associated with their dedication and determination in making the programs they are tasked to handle, work well. Salary or commission incentives only play a part role in pushing agents to perform better. Real motivation comes from the agents loving who they are working for. We have been able to provide that environment where people want to be part of.
Lastly, WestShore geographic location provides it with some advantages over the areas that are highly concentrated with call centers. Being one of a handful of call centers situated in Bangalore city is a blessing as WestShore is able to tap into an unsaturated residential pool around the vicinity
