Hr Problems In Nokia Careline Management Essay

Introduction

Nokia careline (a unit of Scicom MSC Bhd) is an international outsourced contact center that is based in Malaysia that comprises of Nokia Global customer care services that are situated in Menara TA One building behind KLCC Kuala Lumpur. Nokia mobile telecommunication equipments are a global name and market leader in the industry. Due to its emphasis on quality, both in its goods and services led to its strategic concentration of its global customer service units in Malaysia. Nokia’s vision is Total Customer Delight and it aims to delight its customers by consistently delivering on its promises both in its goods and services.

Nokia as a market leader in the mobile telecommunication equipments industry is generally known for its synonymous to leadership by quality, both in terms of service excellence, commitment and innovation, through the provisions of uncontested multi-lingual inbound customer care and technical support services to both its local and international clients. With more than 500 staffs in Malaysia, Nokia is providing contact center services via voice call, email, online chatting; faxes etc. to millions its customer and consumer across the globe. Nokia’s impressive contribution to the service industry has earned it the prestigious global brand that it is enjoying.

One of the unique strength of Nokia lies in its choice of geographical location of its contact center, specifically in terms of political stability, cost, skill work force, skilled multi-lingual human resources, technology and infrastructure. A critical look at Malaysia as a country has shown that it is reliable in its optimum efficiency. Importantly what makes Nokia careline different is its approach to human resources and selection criteria. Its front-line staffs are mostly graduates and intellectual who have been trained extensively by Nokia HR department. They are after all, the ones that the customers’ experience of the brand pivots on. On a management level, the people we hire not only have several certificates and awards to their names but years of experience in relevant fields and in various markets abroad.

HR Problems in Nokia Careline

In the best of worlds, employees would love their jobs, like their co-workers, work hard for their employers, get paid well for their work, have ample chances for advancement, and flexible schedules so they could attend to personal or family needs when necessary. And never leave.

But then there’s the real world. And in the real world, employees, do leave, either because they want more money, hate the working conditions, hate their co-workers, want a change, or because their spouse gets a dream job in another state. So, what does that entire turnover cost? And what employees are likely to have the highest turnover? Who is likely to stay the longest?

By definition the attrition is a reduction in the number of employees through retirement, resignation or death”. While the hard costs of attrition provide reason enough to invest in retention programs, the hidden costs can provide even more business incentive. Most people would agree that new agents do not provide the same level of service as experienced agents. With the large percentage of customers who churn solely based on customer service, the impact of less than proficient agents is enormous. The chart above adds these hidden costs to the hard costs of agent attrition to show the true costs of reaching proficiency.

The hiring process and choosing the correct people discussed in following report based on the current contact centre industry processes in selected company.

Current issues that are affecting Nokia Careline Hiring Processes?

Evidence from industry reports have shown that to acquire appropriate employees HR managers mostly worked on list of some hiring questions. Most importantly is noted that most managers are hiring based on expected employee skills, but later fire many for their bad characters. Because of the overwhelming problems associated with hiring employees who lack required character traits, more and more managers are asking character-discerning questions when interviewing employees.

Introduction

Evidence from Nokia HR hiring process has established that their activities are extremely challenging, especially where Nokia Careline attrition rates currently shows that it is higher than the industry average. Contact centres can employ anywhere from a few dozen, to a few thousand employees; the hiring process can be time consuming and layered with high costs. Expenses such as advertising, employment search fees, interviewing time, assessments, training costs, salary, and benefits are noticed to be too often underestimated by Nokia Careline HR management. Whereas becoming efficient HR that is skilful in hiring and nurturing the right employee requires Nokia Careline HR to be knowledgeable and possess understanding of the uniqueness of a contact centre HR culture. Base on the objective of the case analysis, this paper practically frames the process and offers guidance on best techniques that assist efficient leadership in Nokia Careline.

The observed Hiring Mistakes in Nokia Careline

Due to is challenges in multi-lingual staffs, Nokia HR is very constraint in hiring the right people that could staff with it for a longer period. can make a world of difference in the success of your business. Yet, many business owners do not approach hiring in the right manner and often make the same mistakes.

Nokia Care-line’s inadequate approach in verifying Applicant Profile.

No matter what candidates include on their resumes, you need to conduct some due diligence. If you are serious about specific candidates, make sure their work history is accurate, and check at least a reference or two. In addition, it’s helpful to check their background.

Nokia is observed to be overly influenced by advanced degrees.

Candidates with plenty of letters after their names have certainly worked hard to earn their degrees. But there is no substitute for real-world business experience, and people often make the mistake of overlooking candidates with track records but not degrees. Note: this does not apply, however, to specialized fields that require advanced degrees.

Absence of long-term plan for incoming staffs in Nokia Careline.

Hiring someone to fill a current need can help you through a busy time. However, unless you’re hiring someone on a temporary basis, it is observed that Nokia Careline need a long-range plan for their employees beyond its immediate need, including how it plan to develop him or her, and how he or she fits in with Nokia careline’s long-range plans.

Arguments from staffs that Nokia HR is not conducting a good interview.

Conducting a good hiring interview is a skill that many people do not possess. It’s important to ask the right questions to determine whether a candidate is right for the position and fits into your company. For example a good Interviewing Prospective Employees on best they think they could contribute and benefit by joining the company.

Nokia’s inability to staffs based on good fit. For efficiency, there is need for government to establish positive rapport among employees. If you hire someone who does not fit in with the team’s chemistry, you may find yourself with unnecessary problems.

Nokia Careline HR is expecting too much from employees.

A common problem these days is looking for one person to save a sinking ship. An unrealistic, lengthy list of qualifications and background requirements is what confirms the existence of this in Nokia? As normally advertised in employment ads, Nokia careline is noticed for not creating situations where they could settle for someone whom they think can do a little of everything, but does not excel in the key areas. This was argued as a unique area that assist Nokia Careline to narrow its focus to the most important aspects of the position.

Common reasons why employees are leaving Nokia Careline

Seeking ways to reduce attrition in your contact centre? Look to your supervisors to build employee loyalty and prevent agents from leaving “prematurely.”

There are many reasons for resignations, but some of the most common include:

“I found a better opportunity,”

“My decision was based on compensation,”

“I want to expand and learn new things,” and

“I am leaving for personal reasons.”

However, these are the real reasons why employees resign? After our study we discovered two dominant factors that influence a person’s decision to leave an organization.

The financial health and stability of the company

The health of the company culture including the work environment and the manager/employee relationship

The uneasiness your employees feel related to these factors can be easily remedied. You need to address the root causes for their feelings and engage them in such a way that helps them provide solutions to the perceived problems.

Financial health and stability

Many people leave their organizations because of fear. The company is experiencing a downward spiral, it’s losing customers and there are rumours of a possible sale, closure, even bankruptcy. In today’s economy, it is hard to find organizations that are not experiencing some challenges. However, alleviating some of the anxiety around this factor can help you keep your best employees.

Addressing company culture

In our study, we discovered that 71% of applicants left their organizations because of the culture. In fact, many applicants pointed directly to their managers as the primary reason for leaving.

So, in what way are these basis causes hidden and from whom?

The research tells us they are hidden from the very people who most need to see them clearly, the line managers in every organisation who are charged with engaging and keeping valued employees.

One study found that 89 % of managers believe that most employees are pulled away by better pay. We believe that, in 88 percent of voluntary turnovers, something besides money is the root cause. This amazing disengage linking belief and reality allows

managers to deny responsibility for correcting and preventing the basis causes of employee disengagement.

Because so many more employees quit and stay that is, disengage than quit and leave, employee turnover can precisely be viewed as just the tip of the costly disengagement iceberg. The question that remains unasked in so numerous exit interviews is not “why are you leaving?” but “why did you first start thinking about leaving?” Asking that question would let somebody see that the lessons learned about turnover are just as applicable to disengaged workers.

Here then, are some hidden reasons employees disengage and leave, offered in no particular order because they vary in importance among diverse cultures and for diverse individuals. Each reflects the employee’s felt loss of one or more of the following: trust, optimism, importance, and capability.

Here are listed some hidden reason:

-The job or workplace was not as expected. Managers misrepresent pay offers, hours aren’t as promised, training or promotions don’t come through. In other words, expectations aren’t met. To narrow expectations, allow team members to interview candidates and let them sample job experiences, perhaps through computer-based simulations. The problem usually starts with managers hiring in such a big hurry that they don’t take the time to give a realistic preview of the job. Or they oversell the job or company for fear that the candidate won’t consider the job or company as they are. Of course, most new hires will quit when they discover the undiscussed realities, resulting in costly turnover.

-There’s a mismatch between the person and the job. Employees may not know their own strengths or what work fits them; managers may be in a hurry to hire and willing to take any warm body. The result can be employees who are bored and stressed. Every CEO should know by now that getting the right people on the bus and into the right seats is a prerequisite for business success.

-There’s not enough feedback or coaching. Again, it’s a manager issue and the symptoms are inattentiveness, irregular or non-existent feedback and criticism instead of praise. He suggests buddy or mentor programs and holding managers accountable for feedback.

-There are too few growth and advancement opportunities. There may be barriers between departments, training focused only on current positions, and lack of help to define career goals. Online self-assessments, career management tools and workshops can help. Information on career paths and job requirements should be readily available and the internal job posting system should be efficient and fair. Employers should show a preference for hiring from within.

-Employees feel “devalued and unrecognized.” Managers should be aware that problems may arise if good employees are overdue for pay increases or are paid the same as poor performers, or if new recruits make more than experienced workers in similar jobs.

-Employees suffer “stress from overwork and work-life imbalance.” Look for those who consistently work late, work through lunch, work sick, take work home, don’t take vacations, and are always rushing to meet deadlines or have recently experienced a family or personal crisis. The philosophy that top-flight places to work have in common: “Give first, get second.”

– There is a loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders. If you don’t have trust in your senior leaders, you basically have no foundation for becoming an employer of choice. There’s a loss of trust in top leaders. Many workers see those at the top as greedy, isolated and unconcerned about workers. We can say that keeping worker trust in executives is vital.

Observed lapses in Human Resource New Employee Orientation programs

The importance and efficiency of orientation especially in contact centers become the new company’s area to be focused. The high retention rates among the world class contact centres and the costs of management of this centres focuses on the one of the primary stages of hiring which is orientation program to reduce the costs of agent turnover and retention.

The concept of the orientation in one of the contact centres analyzed the areas needs to be improve to reduce the retentions and agent turnovers. Bellow is the different modules discussed in program and then the areas to improve will discuss.

The current program of our company has following components:

The introduction and familiarity with the Nokia Careline:

In this part the new hires will be familiar with the goals, vision, mission, values and ethics of the company. The main purpose of this part is to have a better understanding of Nokia Careline. The new hires will be aware of the concepts and necessity of BPO and then the current contact centre industry. Lastly, the new hires will overview the company’s goal, edicts, vision, gaps and answer multiple questions. Most of the materials in this part are related to the company and it’s structure.

The current version of orientation, section 1 needs adjustments to make more attention to the concepts of the current job. Below are recommendations to improve this part:

The concept of business industry and it’s importance are as blank line tobe filled by the new hires. Assuming that there is no background about BPO and the contact centre industry, there will be lots of possible answers and no area to find the new hires understandings’. The following part should define the general BPO industry activities and the main reason for companies to go through BPO. Then it can be lines and open discussions to receive the new hires understandings.

The part related to company’s goals discuss about the logo of the company and asked the new hires to fill the meanings of the colors and sign in the booklet. The logo description could be types fully in the booklet and add more details about the meaning of the words and it’s relation to current project and company.

The Nokia Careline’s vision asked to be filled in the class based on the observation by the new hires. It is recommended that having the vision of the company and adds lines to get the new hires understanding of the vision helps the people to understand the company.

The company’s mission part asked the hires to fill seven parts related to the company. The filling parts do not allow adding any understandings or observations related to the mission. The filling gaps methods used in part will not encourage the new hires to thinks deeply to the each and every concepts. By adding few lines for every mission we can improve the skills in new hires.

The Company’s value arranged well in the terms of the five most important components.

The ten edicts of the company need to provide the new hires understating from each and every edicts and how to relate them to contact centre industry.

It is recommended to add group discussion part to know the importance of knowing the company’s goals, vision, mission, values and edicts. Discuss about the importance and ask for rating each part’s components and discuss about the reasons will help to have a clear picture of every part.

The role of new hires in the company:

In this section of orientation the goal of giving a clear job description, responsibilities and daily tasks has been followed. The importance of the new hires to the company and the ways to calculate the efficiency of each person to the company discussed. The general definition of calling the agents as company’s customer service ambassadors for company’s partners has plenty of signs for them.

By reviewing the parts in these components, we observe that the job descriptions mentioned in orientation needs to expand and include the main responsibilities and describe more about the tasks.

It seems not necessary to explain the concepts of KPI in orientation program. The current program introduces the definition of KPI and leaves it. The quality part needs to be separated and explain fully regarding the agents, team and project requirements’.

The concepts of PRA discussed are only the definition and not give a clear picture of its components and the importance f each and every element. It is recommended to separate the PRA concepts and provide the real wightages based on the project standards. To separate the PRA as one of the parts under quality add more value to new hires rather than leave it under the role of an agent in the company.

Actions taken by the company’s HR

1. Evaluate the candidate as well as the credentials. Don’t be so enamored by the candidate’s credentials and background that you impute managerial competence and fail to assess behavioral fit. The ability to generate desired outcomes just isn’t enough. If the candidate’s management style is antithetical to the needs of those who will be their direct reports, even if s/he can execute substantively, it won’t work. Rather, consider what management behaviors will be effective, using these as the behavioral criteria against which you hire.

2. Steel yourself Against the Seduction of “Star” Quality: The concept of what constitutes good management can get clouded by a candidate’s public prowess. It can be challenging to stay focused on the fact that dazzling networking connections have little to do with one’s ability to manage others. One’s reputation outside the organization, no matter how illustrious, cannot compensate for a lack of managerial capability.

3. Accept that there will be a learning curve. Realize your own success is in part

contingent upon making this hire successful. Permit the new leader to shadow relevant internal colleagues; include him/her in key meetings; and encourage questions about decisions and methods. Understand that it usually takes 60 days for a new executive settle down and begin to hit stride.

4. Draw significant comparisons. Rigorously compare your organizational culture and that of your candidate’s past employers. Make sure you hire a leader whose exposure to other organizational cultures is like yours, or is like the culture you want to create.

5. Take your time. Don’t bow to the pressure to hurry up and get someone on board. You must subordinate your desire for quick hire to the need for sustained success.

6. Guard against hiring in your own image. You’re not looking for a clone or a best friend. The skill set you’re recruiting for in an executive may, in fact, compensate for your weaknesses. Know where you need shoring up, and be willing to hire accordingly.

7. Rely on more than personal attraction. Don’t hire based just on chemistry. It’s not enough that you’re comfortable together and seem to agree on everything. Instead, identify the behavioral characteristics that your organization can and cannot work with. Then be relentless in your interviewing to reveal these. Identify the leadership qualities you seek, and inquire specifically about these characteristics when checking references.

8. Use Behavioral Interviewing. This is an interviewing technique that helps leverage your risk to making assumptions about a candidate’s capabilities. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re looking for someone who has the confidence to take initiative. Rather than simply asking whether or not s/he possesses this trait, ask the candidate to tell you in detail about a few instances with past employers when s/he demonstrated considerable initiative. How quickly the candidate responds, and how clearly their response depicts the trait you’re seeking will help validate whether, and the degree to which, the candidate actually possesses the desired trait.

9. Use 360 Interviews. Allow those who’ll be peers and subordinates of the candidate to participate in the interview process. It’s useful create a scoring grid for important competencies and behaviors. Then summarize the scores, and debrief with the group who

participated. Be prepared ensure that emotions don’t override the quantitative scores!

Impacts of Rewards, Recognition and Retention programs on Performance

If your frontline staff members aren’t happy, your customers won’t be happy. With customer satisfaction depending on the quality of the agent/customer transaction, it’s critical to keep your staff for the long term and motivate them to perform well.

Most call center organizations are built around a team concept. In many centers these teams are no more than a group of people that happen to report to the same person, while in other centers, the team is an empowered, cohesive unit where each team member takes responsibility for the productivity and success of the group.

No single tactic can ensure that a contact center will achieve low levels of burnout and turnover. But the absence of one tactic a strategic rewards and recognition program can ensure that a call center won’t achieve those goals.

While high retention and performance rates rely on a number of factors and practices focused recruiting/hiring, a competitive salary, effective training, opportunities for advancement contact center experts agree that those efforts will be wasted if agents don’t feel that they are valued and appreciated on a regular basis.

The money spent on recruitment, the time to interview, and training time can are very costly.You can’t afford to waste that investment by not paying close attention to employee recognition and motivation in your contact centre.

The value of team and individual reward strategies and how these can be used to contribute to organisational change and success

Teams and individuals throughout the business translate the higher level objectives, measures and targets into team and personal objectives, measures and targets.

Because employees, along with management, will have a common goal to reach, any adversarial feelings that are present will gradually deteriorate. This encourages employees to work cooperatively among themselves and with their supervisors because everyone is on the same team

Individuals feel that they have ownership to the reward program and can affect its outcome significantly. A reward program becomes part of their daily and weekly focus so that the results can be achieved effectively and in a timely manner.

One of the most important strategies here is to ensure that the reward culture is modified and enhanced as the team grows and the business becomes larger.

Rewarding employees for outstanding job performance encourages them to improve their productivity and quality of work. But increasing organizational profitability is not the only objective of recognising excellent performance. Incentive programs that motivate employees to improve their performance can also help companies create a business culture that heightens employee job satisfaction and promotes organizational commitment.

Conclusion

The results of our exploratory study indicates that the existing R&R programs are unpopular and below employee’s expectation.

Our project current attrition rate stood at 20-25% from 2007 till date.

There are no existing leveraging programs with which best Agents can share their skills with others.

Strategic Quality Metrics are not being rewarded in Nokia Careline.

The ability to manage people within a contact centre environment is critical but it is often the most overlooked element as I the case of Nokia Caeline. When the time comes to hire a new contact centre agent, be ruthless in order to help filter out the worst and hire the best by using rigorous screening tools. The hiring process is about weeding out poor candidates and finding the right person. When making the decision to promote from within, consider all factors involved; not all good employees are strong leaders.

It is critical to identify someone that can act as a catalyst for team development. It is the role of any great leader to inspire the team and foster growth. Those that are able to acquire and retain the best and brightest are those that listen and consider the needs of the employee, the group, and the company. It is these employees that should be hired initially, identified for their potential, promoted from within, and provided with the skills and tools necessary to succeed in order that the cycle continues.

Make the connection. Bring rewards and people back to your business. At the

end of the day, you and your business are only as good as the people you employ

and the way they are encouraged to perform.

Recommendation

First, put yourself in your employee’s shoes

From the sideline, it may seem like things will never recover. Your employees want to protect themselves, their family and the company, in that order. If you are a manager in this type of situation, you need to understand this. Empathize with your employees. Develop a plan to communicate the recovery strategies of the organization.

Next, get them involved

Engage your employees. Use their ideas, skills, motivations and talents to help your team implement a recovery strategy. If employees feel that they are part of the solution, you will realize a significant increase in energy, productivity, and retention.

As a manager myself, I realize that we are often used as scapegoats and that our job responsibilities are often in between organizational goals and employee relationships. However, managers influence such things as team communication, career success, employee development, and job stress as well as employee motivation. Here are some strategies that you can deploy to positively affect the way your business culture is perceived and experienced by your employees.

Managing new employees.

An organization’s orientation program is the most critical process that can dramatically improve employee retention. Most employees decide if they will stay with an organization within the first 90 days. Therefore, I have outlined five specific areas that a manager should address within the first three months.

Company Knowledge: New employees are interested in understanding an organization’s history, mission, values, vision, and direction. Spend a considerable amount of time focusing on your company.

Position Knowledge: Spend time reviewing the role and responsibilities of the new employee. As a manager, you need to describe your expectations as well as the expectations of your team. In addition, describe the tasks and activities associated with

the role and specifically highlight the critical success factors that will be used during performance reviews and evaluations.

Process Knowledge: This refers to understanding how things run within the organization. Do not expect an employee manual to cover everything. Help the new employee understand team norms and politics, organizational policies such as work hours and attendance, and most importantly, inter-team communication.

Product / Services Knowledge: New employees should have a solid understanding of the products and services the company provides. Use the experts on your team to educate the new employee and highlight the reason customers buy from your firm.

Personal Effectiveness: The last area of focus should be the development of the new employee. Address both the personal as well as professional development of the new employee including training and educational opportunities, personal growth and career advancement.

By implementing this type of orientation program, you will realize a significant improvement in employee retention as well as your new employee’s motivation, energy and commitment starting on the very first day of employment.

Retaining existing employees

People want to feel that they are a part of something and they are making a difference in the organization. You need to understand that communication is a critical component of retention. The following are simple strategies that you can use to manage and communicate with your team.

Meeting Effectiveness

Most organizations spend an enormous amount of time conducting meetings. However, when it comes to meetings, most organizations confuse activity with progress. In addition, the direct and indirect costs associated with the meetings are substantial. Your meetings should include an objective as well as measurable goals associated with the activities discussed. Make sure you understand the different types of meetings and align each type with your objective.

Continuous Feedback

Develop a culture of open communication and feedback. Spend time with each employee you support and allow them the opportunity to provide their thoughts and ideas as well. During these conversations discuss the following topics:

Company: Highlight recent accomplishments and ask for suggestions.

Team: Discuss the team’s performance and ways to increase productivity.

Manager: Use this time to receive feedback on your effectiveness as a leader.

Individual: Discuss the person’s positive strengths as well as areas of improvement.

Becoming an employer of choice — one that people feel committed to and motivated by — takes knowing the real reasons why employees become uneasy with their employment situations. You’ll find that addressing company problems, making employee’s part of their solutions, and openly communicating your culture will go a long way in retaining your best people.

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