Millennium BCP, Vodafone and others: How they are dealing with remote work

The reality of remote work was imposed due to the Corona Virus pandemic, and threw Contact Centers into a forced transition to remote work. Thousands of agents, supervisors and other employees were put in operation from home.

APCC (Portuguese Association of Contact Centers), with the support of Collab, organized a webinar with the theme Telework in Contact Centers: Challenges for Management and Supervision. In this webinar, Millennium bcp bank, Manpower Group, Majorel and Vodafone revealed what strategies they adopt for remote work. You can view the entire webinar (or re-watch it) on this page (Portuguese language only). Fortunately for you, we have compiled all the testimonials and key points in this post! Check here the testimonies of these companies and get to know how they are thriving managing contact centers.

Right now, due to the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 85% of the APCC Associated Companies have at least 90% of the teleworking operations and almost half of them are 100% in remote work.

Hugo Pinto

Director of Customer Operations, Vodafone Portugal

 The adaptation of the Vodafone Contact Center to remote work was remarkable: in just 4 days, the entire contact center became telecommuting. Hugo Pinto explains that it was a complex operation, which included details such as providing routers for agents who needed them, ensuring that everyone has computers and the necessary hardware devices to carry out their functions and implement cybersecurity measures. For Vodafone, the use of Gamification in the contact center has been highly valued in the telework setting, because it acts as a motivating element for the teams, driving engagement and employee satisfaction.

Hugo reveals that, in a Vodafone internal survey, 80% of assistants considered being “well” or “very well” in the teleworking regime and that 33% would like to stay working at home even after the pandemic.

Cândido Ferreira 

Senior Manager and Head of Service Centers & BPO Unit, ManpowerGroup Solutions

“Our industry was one of the precursors, one of the ones that took the monitoring of indicators to the extreme”, reflects Cândido Ferreira. In fact, in a contact center environment, all indicators are traceable. As Cândido quoted, “Whoever does not measure, does not manage“. The senior manager points out that teleworking brought some difficulties in supervision, as ManPower Group Solutions used very mature measurement processes that had to be adapted.

“For us, the main indicator is engagement,” he admitted, explaining that engaged people are more motivated and will achieve their goals. Creating dynamics of union and belonging among workers were some of the company’s key strategies to ensure success.

Porfírio Rebelo

 Business Unit Director, Majorel 

Majorel has an international workforce. With clients and projects from around the world, their workforce mirrors this diversity. “One of the key points remains communication,” revealed Porfírio Rebelo, explaining that they use connection tools to keep everyone in touch and that they even created an internal website similar to Facebook. 

The Business Unit Director assumed that Majorel’s mitigation plan is based on postponing the entry of people to the physical facilities and that the health and safety of all are first. He also commented that the reality of teleworking has to be analyzed from a legal point of view and that the APCC should have a relevant role in this negotiation.

Susana Cipriano

Head of Contact Center, Millennium BCP

Millennium BCP, a Portuguese bank of reference, assumes that it did not have any major constraints regarding the transition from its contact center to remote work. “It was a challenge, but fortunately we were able to respond,” explains Susana. She adds that the entire team of customer support professionals is senior, trained and autonomous to operate at home.

An example provided by this bank’s Head of Contact Center was the theme of moratoriums. New legislation about the moratoriums produced a considerable impact on the financial sector and raised questions among users. The entire Millennium bcp team, working remotely, responded quickly to the expected rise in demand. They selected the most suitable agents, trained remotely with personalized assistance from the bank’s product and training technicians and thus guaranteed exemplary customer service.

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