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BLUE OCEAN DIVES DEEP TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE BEST

  

As the labour market shrinks and the need for customer service talent increases, businesses are scrambling to find ways to attract attention – and employees.  Signing bonuses, discounts, uniforms – all incentive tactics are at play in the workplace

Not only is Blue Ocean Contact Centers competing for staff among other call centres, the company considers other client service industries to be competition as well.

In the past year, Blue Ocean has participated in a number of different research surveys to better understand the marketplace, and, equally important, its own organization. Of special significance was a study completed by an outside consultant on Examining Strategic HRM Alignment within Blue Ocean.

This study examined organizational culture and workforce characteristics, assessed policies and practices on performance and workplace culture, and provided a conclusion as to what characteristics emerge for high performance – both for individuals and the company. The findings were intriguing. Blue Ocean is in good shape, but the company knows what it needs to do – and do well.

Patrick Boyce, a Coach at Blue Ocean,

handles a customer service call

            A Coach and Agent review the newest online

                      employee self-management tool

Blue Ocean and its clients want and need the same thing: thinking, motivated, and striving employees. The company must attract this type of individual, hire and orient them, engage them in the business of their work, and provide a motivating workplace that has reward and recognition for ongoing retention.

One of the keys of this is to put as much control as possible in the hands of employees. 

Blue Ocean’s culture and brand has been built around the belief that the better treated its employees are, the better these employees treat Blue Ocean clients and their customers.  Flexibility as an employer is one of the company’s differentiators. It’s a highly-valued concept preached by Blue Ocean and practiced by its employees. And in the often-rigid contact centre world, it is no easy feat.

This is one of the reasons why Blue Ocean has always produced schedules well in advance, why they allow people to request time off and change their availabilities, why they are working to create tools that let their employees manage their own time and see their own results. When employees have a one-stop shop to access their schedules, time-off requests, and performance journals – all online – they are engaged. They are no longer just doing their job; they are owning their job.

From both an operations and a human resource perspective, this also creates much more transparency as to what is happening at any given time.

The investment of company resources into creating systems that allow people to focus on the valuable and challenging portions of their jobs provides scalability to handle growth.  The type of people Blue Ocean attracts want to self manage. They don’t want to wait to hear how they have done; they want to see it – by the hour, by the day.  They are the best chance for self-regulation of performance.  When Agents are given more autonomy, Coaches and Coordinators have more time to focus on the client-driven aspects of Blue Ocean’s work. They can focus more attention on motivating and less on administrating.

Research has helped Blue Ocean identify that people who can manage their own schedules and see their own performance are much more motivated and much more confident.  Confidence is directly related to competence – and Blue Ocean’s efforts are related to the increased competence of its front line employees.

Please visit the Blue Ocean website for more information on Blue Ocean's work

                            Blue Ocean Coach Martin Bowmaster

                                checks out the company intranet

 

 
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