Cultivating Nearshore Employee Engagement: Proven Practices & Benefits

December 3-5, 2013 | San Jose, Costa Rica

© 2013 IAOP® All Rights Reserved

Proven Practices & Benefits

Jon Butler Information Services Group

Cultivating Nearshore Employee Engagement



► Sourcing, Strategy and Benchmarking market leaders ► $65 billion in client savings delivered ► 70% of the Global F100 are our clients ► Overseen 60% of all global advisory-led transactions ► Five decades of global leadership in sourcing-based solutions ► 12,000 engagements ► $365B+ in transactions ► Operations in 21 countries on 6 continents ► Data driven with the most comprehensive and deepest client databases in the market ► End-to-end solutions from opportunity assessment to new service operation ► Proudly independent with deep collaborative relationships with all major service and

technology providers



Lucky you! You’ve:

• negotiated a great deal with your service provider,

• signed the contract,

• put the proper governance and PMO mechanisms in place,

• established meaningful SLAs to ensure your business case will be met,

• set up favorable periodic contract re-evaluations and rate benchmarking,

• and finally outsourced that whole people management thing because…

…THAT is now your service provider’s problem, right?

But why are you continuously missing SLAs and why are the wheels falling off your business case?!?



► Why should you listen to me? I planned, created and operated the

fastest growing delivery center in a multi-national’s 52+ center network

Leading center in financial terms Lowest attrition in LatAm – among

lowest in the 200,000+ FTE company Delivery always on time, on budget The highest employee engagement in

the company!

Fact: Employee

Engagement is the emotional commitment the

employee has to the organization and its goals

Thrive

Stay

Say

Engaged employees go the extra mile!

Employee Engagement 101



While the Engagement-Profit relationship is obvious remember: Driving engagement for the sake of money is a dead-end street, driving engagement for the sake of people is a highway.

Companies with High Employee Engagement:

► Have twice the customer loyalty rates than those with low engagement

► Have a 5x total shareholder return

► Have 6% higher net profit margins

► Deliver products with fewer defect and better quality (one F100 company went from 5,658 to 52 parts per million)

Highly Engaged Employees:

► Are 87% less likely to leave their organization than non-engaged employees

► Average fewer sick days per year (2.69 versus 6.19)

► Are 5x less likely to have a safety incident and 7x less likely to lose time as a result

The Dollars and Sense Are There …if Done for the Right Reasons



Service providers

► Communicate to your teams how you help

the client meet its goals – reinforce the fact that this would be difficult for your clients to do by themselves – that’s why they have hired YOU!

► Communicate to your team your own organization’s goals and vision as a service provider

Employees stay with organizations when they believe it is in their self-interest; they exert discretionary effort when they believe in the value of their job, team or organization.

What value does your organization bring?

Clients

► Communicate to your teams how your

organization makes life better for people and clearly communicate their part in your organization’s vision and goals

► Spend time with your service provider employees to explain to them your business and how you are different from your competitors

¿Quien eres? / Who Are You?



Service providers

► Get rid of typical hierarchical structures ► Encourage people at junior levels in the

organization to speak up and reward them when they do – even when they are wrong!

► When clients visit arm your juniors with insightful questions to pose to the clients – the clients will be impressed and your people will feel a sense of pride

In order to affect, you must connect. Do junior people in your organization feel empowered to speak up?

Clients

► Communicate to all members of your team

and not just leaders ► During site visits spend time with the

management team AND with people more junior in the organization (without management around!)

► Remember: some of the best innovations come from people who are doing the day-to-day work

Aplanar el campo / Flatten the Field



Service providers

► If you are not a local national provider, see

the client perspective ► If the lead is not from the region, then insist

the lead learn the local opinions and perspectives on the service provider home country as well as client countries

► Remind clients interviewing your people about collectivism, simpatía, respecto and personalismo

History 101: Do you know the collective story of the people with whom you are working?

Clients

► Know the history of the area in which you

are working ► Determine where you want to fit in and the

role you should play ► Spend time understanding what people in

the region think of people from your country

► Essentially, find the cultural void/hurt and fill/fix it

“Conquistadores versus Gringos” / Father Figure or Big Brother?



Service providers

► When people join the organization give

them a tee shirt, when you have an event give them a polo shirt, when you are not busy give them something else to wear

► Get rid of the Styrofoam cups and get company-logoed ceramic mugs

► Rain pens, pencils and even umbrellas on everyone – all with company logos

When employee closets are full of company-logoed items it’s much harder to consider leaving an organization (and lose half their wardrobe). What do your employees wear?

Clients

► During site visits bring the treasure chest of

your own company-logoed items: Pens, pencils, mugs, mouse pads

► Fill your work area at the service provider with banners, posters, etc. that make it feel like “home” to the people in the trenches

► Bring unique products you may produce and give them to your employees

Llevar la Playera / Wear the Company Shirt



Service providers

► Do lots and lots of events – things

employees like to do (solicit their ideas) ► Go outside the normal “corporate”

activities and get creative: paintball, baseball games, mountain hikes, bowling, employee music bands, organized sports

► Have the lead participate in planning to lightly control it and show commitment

► Put junior people in leadership roles

When employees are busy planning events, outings and parties they don’t have time to think about working somewhere else. What are your employees thinking about?

Clients

► Try to schedule visits during events so that

you can participate ► Give money to your teams to sponsor

events (creates envy among other support team members to be on yours)

► Encourage team members to show you the local flair during visits so you can create collective “fun” memories with all team members

Diversión / Fun



Service providers

► Motivate the team by sharing every single

superlative about them ► Remind the team that your company is the

best so that when your team is tops in an internal category you can tell them they are the “best of the best”

► Challenge other centers in “friendly” competitions for the same reasons

Employees feel a sense of pride when they work for a “best in class” organization. What do your employees think about your organization?

Clients

► Recognize your service provider team when

they do something well and are recognized at higher levels within the organization

► Share every single recognition with them ► Give client-sponsored awards and

certificates to service provider personnel

Los Mejores de los Mejores / The Best of the Best



Service providers

► Find/create a common enemy, a rallying

point for the team ► Use a “rival” office location or anything that

helps to unite the team against the “enemy”

Remind your employees that you are all still part of “one big family”

Employees love to be part of a winning team. Are your employees accustomed to habitually winning?

Clients

► Find industry competitors and share

information about how your service provider team is helping you win in the marketplace

► Look internally for other locations against which you can compete:

Work quality Charitable giving Etc.

El Enemigo Común / The Common Enemy



Service providers

► Find opportunities for everyone in the

office to give to the community ► Never just donate money – invest sweat

equity into projects ► Make participation mandatory for all center

leaders – they don’t get to just supervise, they get to sweat, too

► Encourage employees to plan charitable events that pull everyone together

During a well-planned charitable event employees instantly see the fruits of their labor and experience a heightened sense of family. What brings your employees together?

Clients

► Consider sponsoring delivery center

charitable time – a low-cost option to increase your corporate “hours of time donated to charity” numbers

Dar a la Comunidad / Give to the Community



Service providers

► Don’t call your people a “team,” “group” or

even “employees” ► Use the word “family” on every occasion ► Being part of a family makes people

Reluctant to leave More proactive in helping others More likely to dispense

judgment/encouragement across all organization levels

People are social creatures and “long to belong.” Do your employees feel like part of the family?

Clients

► Remind people how they are part of your

client family ► Show them that you care and how valuable

each family member is

La Familia / Family



► To summarize: Having people who are emotionally

entangled with an organization’s success yields more benefits than the most well-written contract or set of SLAs ever could

Engaged employees will go the extra mile and do what needs to be done to make the organization successful

Service providers: Create highly engaged environments!

Clients: Get engaged with your service provider’s people!



¡Prosigamos!

Thanks / Gracias

Jon Butler +001 (704) 904-4444

[email protected]

Cultivating Nearshore Employee Engagement: Proven Practices & Benefits

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