Number of employees: 28 permanent, 24 temporary
Annual turnover: 1.2 million
Managing director: Vicki Woods
When Vicki Woods returned from a career break in 1999 to launch the European office of Absolute Quality Inc, an American software support business, she used the opportunity to build a business in effect a mini call centre far removed from the horror stories of other call-centre factories.
We are very flexible on hours, and we invest a lot of time training our people. It is a learning environment, she says. Which perhaps goes some way to explaining why staff retention in a notoriously challenging sector has been high. Last year only two employees out of a workforce of 52 left the business, and that was to return home to their countries of origin. On average Woods expects to see a staff turnover of between 5% and 10% among permanent staff well below the 50% (or worse) figures seen in other call centres.
Colleagues in the US thought they were weird and wonderful
Based in Glasgow, AQ Europe offers support services to computer software companies, testing new gaming and multimedia packages, and provides telephone trouble-shooting support to the companies customers.
Colleagues at AQ Inc in America were a little surprised at the way the European office started going about its business. At first they thought we were being a little bit weird and wonderful, Woods says. We have the same values and culture as the US business we are looking for loyalty and commitment from our people in return for the respect we show them and the responsibility we give them but we go about things in a very different way.
We work from 8 to 8 on weekdays and 9 to 5 on Saturdays, she says slightly different from the 24 hours a day, we never sleep US approach to customer service. Another difference is the level of skills at AQ Europe. Staff are very highly trained in the US there are more school-leavers, she adds.
AQ Europe has cast its net wide to recruit staff from the Glasgow area. The open-minded approach to spotting talent has helped create a diverse team among others, theres a former school teacher, an ex-bus driver, a former nurse, an ex-microchip producer, and 10 languages in all are spoken. The teams diversity includes another rare characteristic for the sector the large proportion of female staff. AQ Europe has a 50:50 ratio of men to women.
There are essentially two main roles: testers of software, who require technical knowledge, expertise, and familiarity with the clients products; and technical support staff, who are on the front line taking customer calls.
Word of mouth plays a large part in finding new staff. There is a referral bonus available to employees who find new colleagues who stay for at least three months. Around 50 or more is paid when a temporary recruit is found, and over 100 for a full-time employee.
Mentoring and training prepares new staff for all kinds of calls
Added to this is a mentoring programme which ensures that no new staff member is thrown into a role where they have to deal with customers straight away, and there is training in how to handle difficult telephone customers.
All staff members are encouraged to develop mentoring and coaching skills, and to be able to handle calls of all kinds. Woods believes that it is this flexibility and variety of hours and of work that has helped bind the team together. The firm has been a rare high-tech success story of the last few months. Last years 1.2 million in sales could be much nearer the 2 million mark this year, Woods says. Not bad for one of those awful call centres.
