Sol Rojo, our CEO, participated in the III Forum of the Labor Absenteeism Observatory. In her presentation, she highlighted the importance of proper workforce planning, effective communication between management and employees, and the company’s ability to adapt to the needs of the workforce in order to minimize absenteeism.
On March 16, 2023, Sol Rojo, our CEO, was invited by Mutua Montañesa to the III Forum of the Observatory of Absenteeism hosted by CEOE-CEPYME Cantabria, where she participated along with other experts to analyze trends and discuss the impact of absenteeism on the productivity of companies. From her perspective as a general manager of Netboss Comunicaciones, she shared experiences and observations from the point of view of a company formed by multifunctional and multidisciplinary professional teams with more than 20 years of activity. But she also spoke as a representative of a company that offers customer service and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in particular, where they design, build, transform and manage the operations and business processes of customers.
The entire conference is available on Youtube here, with the beginning of the intervention of our CEO, Sol Rojo at minute 42:25.At Netboss Communications, the issue of absenteeism is a concern both for us as employers and for our clients who rely on us to address BPO projects. So they can improve their service continuity in an efficient and effective way.
We can address the significant impact that absenteeism has on productivity through proper business process design and implementation: This is a crucial part of our initial advice when a client wishes to outsource a service. It implies a need for additional personnel, material means (from workstations and equipment to infrastructure) and an organizational management of shifts, leaves, vacations and replacement personnel.
One of the reasons our client companies turn to us is for their day-to-day management and costs in critical services or areas. The absence of personnel, whether planned or unplanned, can have negative consequences on their ability to maintain service continuity and can lead to collapse situations.
After decades of experience and excellent measures of success, Sol explained in her presentation that the best way to minimize the problem of absenteeism, in the specific case of the field of customer services, is to identify, parameterize and apply a mix of tools and approaches:Having developed and implemented projects of this type for long years, both for clients and for her own company, Sol emphasized the importance of proper workforce planning. It is crucial to have a sufficient number of employees and a well-planned shift and break schedule to avoid work overload. In our example, we define the limit of allowed absences for each service to ensure proper customer service and meet KPIs. We use this system to manage vacations and absences effectively, ensuring that staff can be adequately replaced.
In her speech, Sol mentioned that a good work environment is fundamental to the success of a company and the well-being of its employees. One of the success factors to which we attribute our low absenteeism rates is the communication between management and employees, which we foster at Netboss Comunicaciones. We are inspired by the phrase that “The door to management is always open”: both through multiple formal communication channels, chosen based on our experience with the tool and its best application in our teams. This also works because of the seniority of most of the staff and their low turnover: our teams consist of people who know and trust the company’s management. With teleworking, and colleagues who have only known this modality, it is important to note that these communication channels and tools continue to exist and work in the same way, even if they are virtual.
One cause to which Sol attributes most success is the company’s ability to adapt to the needs of the workforce, and the recognition of this effort by the latter: because of a granular system in place that provides both visibility beyond the short term and the option to modify shifts, capacity and functions within a team, we are able to compensate for hours of work that the employee needs to miss or substitute for others. By being able to respond to the needs of our employees in a mutually recognized way, we create greater satisfaction and loyalty to the company among our colleagues.
In order to be able to respond to leaves or temporary vacancies with an almost guaranteed continuity of service, our teams are designed and trained to work cross-functionally. To this end, at Netboss we apply the motto “Flexible management. Intelligent management: Our way with which guidance and decisions are guided and made to achieve objectives is the ability to adapt and adjust in the face of changes or new situations. Although the “rules” are established, due to the design of our processes and our experience we are able to adapt to changes in all aspects.Due to our long experience in this activity, we know in detail the Contact Center Agreement, and we feel committed to its compliance; and to go beyond: we additionally offer flexibility for the staff, in the areas that we have detected as relevant for them: in conciliation (leaves, vacations, teleworking).
Prior to the pandemic, we already offered the option to request telecommuting on an ad hoc basis. However, after receiving widespread feedback from our staff, we decided that the contact center part would never go back to the office. As a result, we now work in a completely digital environment and our teleworking staff has less absenteeism compared to when we worked in the office. We continue to use the same processes, methods and tools we have always used, but now we work from home. One of the clearest advantages of this new system is that the risk of workplace accidents while commuting is significantly reduced by having our Contact Center teams working from home.
At Netboss we are very rigorous with health care: We promote a healthy environment through recurrent training in Occupational Risk Prevention and we remind ourselves of best practices on a regular basis and bidirectionally. Offering appropriate training adapted to the particularities of the type of position is key to reducing occupational risks in each position, including in the area of mental health.In Netboss Comunicaciones’ other area of activity, Software Development, human resources are scarce and very valuable due to their high demand in the market. In this area, companies must make every effort to reduce absenteeism, as covering sick leave or absences can be costly or even impossible. As a small company, it is difficult to compete with large companies to become an attractive employer. However, we strive to fine-tune our needs to reduce the learning curve for our employees.
In her speech, Sol mentioned the company’s plan to invest more time and resources in the training of junior staff, offering them opportunities to grow and advance inside the company.
In Netboss Comunicaciones, three points are essential to us:
Passion: we like what we do.
Accompanying the client like a partner: our philosophy is to understand ourselves as an integral part of the client’s company. We’re more than a mere supplier. This reflects upon our employees that consequently feel responsible of the end result and the success of their work. We also support people with those technological tools we choose in terms of their relevance for their respective function.
Talento: tenemos gente que vale mucho y que lleva más de 6 años con nosotros, algo que nos llena de orgullo. Nos gusta reconocerlo, y nuestra plantilla percibe este reconocimiento del talento por parte de la dirección de la empresa. Siempre decimos que nuestro mejor activo en la empresa es la gente que nos ayuda a prestar el servicio que ofrecemos al cliente.
Talent: some of the people working for us have been with us for more than 6 years, something we are very proud of. We like to recognize this, and our staff feels this recognition of talent from the management of the company. We always say that our best asset in the company is the people who help us provide the service we offer to the customer.
