Expert: Strengthen labor force to keep businesses competitive

CEBU, Philippines - Companies that want to succeed need to capitalize on the strengths of their labor force and invest on the career development of their employees in order to step up in the competition in terms of productivity and competitiveness.

This is according to Brian Quebengco, strengths performance coach of Salt and Light Ventures, who advised top executives and managers to recognize the “best” employees of their companies, identify their strengths and hire more of them.

He said that employers particularly those engaged in business process management and outsourcing need to create working environment where optimal performance is achieved and maintained.

He added that contact centers where there is a notable retention rate have to understand and carefully plan out their strategies in order to avoid their employees from being disengaged with their jobs that may eventually affect the company in the long run.

Aside from the usual evaluation and coach performance, he recommended the strength-based development approach wherein the employer is more focused on honing the natural talents of its manpower and developing the career of its people.

Quebengco said that while humans are naturally gifted with talent, it is the responsibility of the company to further enhance the skills and knowledge of its employees.

“Do you know the talents of your employees?  Do you know how to manage their talents and how to strengthen them? There are actually a lot of brilliant talents in the organization but some go unnoticed. That’s the job of the employer to acknowledge them and help them maintain their performance,” he stated.

He said that it is ideal for the top management to talk with the employees once every three months and get to know their issues and concerns in the organization.

Quebengco cited that chances of an employee to be disengaged at work average at 40 percent if left unattended.

“You have to work with people and people will have to work with you. What’s mostly happening now is that some managers do not talk with their employees,” he said during the International Contact Center Conference and Expo (ICCCE) 2013.

He then advised managers and supervisors to start executing such strategies as part of the company’s career development program for its employees. 

“Career development is not just all about coming up the ladder. It means that the career of an employee is being cared for by the management, that feeling that they are taken care of. Once you begin to focus on building the career of your workforce, you will get great people to talk on the phone, great people as the company’s front liners, great people to serve your clients and the organization,” Quebengco concluded. /JOB (FREEMAN)