BPO managers told to improve ties with teams

CALL CENTER and outsourcing managers should invest more in building “cordial relationships” with workers to lessen the attrition rate, according to executives of two local business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

Marife B. Zamora, Convergys Philippines, Inc. vice-president and country manager, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of an industry forum that employees should be treated as firms’ biggest investments.

“When an employee resigns, he or she doesn’t leave the company.

The employee actually leaves his or her boss. I believe that if company leaders not just motivate but also inspire their people, companies will grow,” she said.

Convergys has an 86% retention from agents to team leaders, 84% from team leaders to managers, and 83% from managers to senior executives, she said.

Maulik Parekh, chief executive officer of SPi Global Solutions, Inc., said that aside from higher salaries, his firm also provides “competitive” health benefits.

“We hardly lost employees. We have only an attrition rate of 3% to 5%.

It is lower compared with others. Some of the companies in the industry have 12% attrition rate,” he said. — Aura Marie P. Dagcutan, Businessworld