Enterprise customers don’t care much about the nuances of a hybrid model in their outsourced operations. For service providers, though, it’s the small, barely visible things which determine the quality of service.
Auxis has been following changes in the global business landscape for approximately three decades. The post-COVID adoption of a hybrid model is just another change in the picture that the company seems to have adapted its operations and marketing strategy well to.
NSAM had the opportunity to bring together several members of the Ausis management team for a roundtable. The verbal exchange shed light on how the company manages some of the smallest and most applicable segments of its operations in a hybrid model: from visitor and control skills to safety and corporate culture. The following are the effects of this organization’s verbal exchange.
The debate around work-from-home (WFH) models and return-to-office mandates has not yet subsided. Business leaders remain divided over which technique is most productive for their express industry, a fact that may recommend that BPO vendors want to adapt their sales methods to this perception of a 50/50 split. The experience at Auxis, however, is different.
“By and large, consumers don’t care,” said Eric Liebross, senior vice president at Ausis. “They tend to prefer an office style rather than a work-from-home style, but in general, the hybrid style we implemented doesn’t matter to them. “”It’s not a challenge for customers. “
“From the customer’s point of view, as long as you offer a smart service, they are very open to a hybrid style and don’t mind pushing other people to return to the office. We don’t see that trend,” added Fabiana Corredor. , vice president of marketing at Ausis.
Clients seldom demand a fully on-site setup, the Auxis team assured. The few cases in which it happens are usually determined by industry verticals. Clients that operate in highly regulated environments, like finance and healthcare, would rather have their business processes handled in a more controlled space, where data security locks are stronger and the service provider has a tighter grip on information flows.
Some consumers are much more comfortable in this regard, basically because of their own corporate culture. IT consumers tend to be more open to hybrid or even remote configurations, for example.
“It’s based on the visitor’s scenario,” said Rosemarie Torres Marshal, vice president of visitor development. “A lot of times we make it transparent to the consumer from the beginning that as we integrate and put procedures in place, we have more We have a mandate to bring other people into the office, but we want to have the ability to offer workers the option [of a hybrid model] because it helps us with our hiring.
When asked if any of them would return to the classic 100% local model, the reaction of the Auxis team was necessarily a resounding no.
“It’s less difficult to locate other people [with hybrids]. It’s hard to track down other people on those days who still need to come into the office,” said Lizze Arroyo, vice president of human resources and management at Auxis. “And you can even charge more. Salaries may simply be higher, and more benefits and other perks will have to be added to trap [employees] back in the office.
“We’ve literally seen accounts where we had an in-office model and we switched to a WFH model and our attrition levels dropped like a stone; from virtually high attrition to almost nothing,” added Eric Liebross. “Clients respect that issue because they experience it themselves.”
It all comes down to a matter of convenience, but also of competitiveness in the labor market. A recent Buffer study shows that 98% of workers would prefer to work remotely “at least for some time” for the rest of their careers. For employers, offering the option of hybrid or fully remote work can be listed as a perk.
“A lot of companies have gotten rid of hybrids [in their paint model], and we’re now more competitive in certain sectors,” says Maria Matamoros, head of recruitment. “When we’re targeting people, it’s anything we bring up in the middle of the interview, to make our offer more attractive. “
But like anything else, hybrid comes with its challenges. Companies are still trying to figure out some of its more sophisticated details, such as understanding the area of the workplace that will be needed for their hybrid setup and making the corresponding investment. There are also the problemas. de direct feedback, implementing the corporate culture, and even generating enough interest in the company to make a career there.
“A lot of it has to do with building a culture. We believe that there is an Auxis culture that we want our employees to adopt. And it’s very difficult to do that if they’re never in the office,” Liebross said.
“We’ve invested a lot in the workplace brand. It helps paint a picture of our culture and attracts customers,” added Lizzie Arroyo. “I think they like to see other people running as a team, that we have values. “
While useful in many ways, Auxis applies the hybrid style similarly to all of its staff. Some other people require a more classic onboarding technique. This is the case for entry-level employees.
“Maybe I’m a little old school, but for other people at the lower level, I think it’s important for them to get into the workplace at least for a certain period of time, because it helps them grow, it helps them stay engaged and focused; to have someone to train them,” Lizzie Arroyo said.
“When you get to some of the upper levels, or other people with more technical roles, expanders and things like that, the other people are very used to running on their own,” he added. “With them, it’s easier. Again, there are other experienced people who want to be on the site with other lower-level people to guide and expand them.
It is not unusual for Ausis to require new officials to be in place for a period of three months. The company uses those three months to make sure agents are in a position to market, training them and immersing them in the company’s culture. In the post-COVID job market, where many young workers enjoy very little face-to-face tasks, those 90 days are very important for the success of any onboarding process.
“We realize that a lot of other people don’t have the skills that we want to fill certain positions,” Matamoros said. “The 90 days in it are mandatory to have informed business skills. “
One of the benefits of operating in a hybrid style is the availability of a larger skill set. While long commutes would likely still be an issue, workers would likely be more willing to be on site as long as they only do so a few times a week.
This has allowed Auxis to take its acquisition strategy to the next level. The company now relies on the capacity of several major cities, including Colombia.
“In Colombia, we recruit in several locations: Bogota, Medellin and Barranquilla,” explains Fabiana Corredor. “This is the good face of countries like Colombia or Mexico, where there are towns of more than a million inhabitants, and where we are necessarily limited to a single town [. . . ] There, the technique becomes even more distant. »
One of the trickiest issues to manage in a hybrid style is knowledge security. This is one of the most sensible considerations for business leaders this year and next. As such, verbal exchange is inevitable for BPO providers.
“For the most part, consumers will ask about this [safety in a hybrid setup]. At the end of the day, much of it will be controlled through our security technique, and the rest will be a discussion with the customer. “” explained Eric Liebross. If they insist on having other people in the office, we can accommodate them, but we strongly urge them not to adopt a full-office model. “
Auxis has a tendency to work within the client’s own system. It’s about making sure the visitor is comfortable with how their knowledge is handled, which is achieved by accepting what is familiar to them.
“We work through and under visitor systems and processes. We connect to your environment through a targeted connection, such as a VPN. No local data storage. We work under the same visitor structure,” Liebross explained. “This solves 75% of knowledge and security coverage issues. The remaining 25% depends on how local ads are handled.
Cesar is the editor-in-chief of Nearshore Americas. He is a journalist based in Mexico City, specializing in foreign industrial policy, agribusiness and the food industry in Mexico and Latin America.
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