Last May 17, 2023, executive search firm John Clements Consultants, Inc. and Affinidi partnered up to bring a discussion to Manila regarding Scaling the Philippines’ Lead in the Global BPO Industry. Carol Dominguez, President and CEO of John Clements Consultants, Inc. alongside Angelena Cala, the Chief People Officer of LemmaTree and People Strategy Advisor for Affinidi; and James Liu, a behavioral analyst at Affinidi, headed the discussion at the Manila Golf Club.
Modern digital education problems
One of the main highlights of the discussion was about how BPO talent can learn. 3 key problems identified with modern digital education were about having too much content available, the difficulty to navigate the wealth of the content, and the relevance of content and speed of the application/technology being used to access and use these materials. Thus, it is important for BPO talent to have the proper agency to drive their own learning and discover their own relevant skills in the career path that they have personally chosen. Secondly, critical thinking is always important. These talents need to have the literacy to navigate the sprouting digital learning and to have the skill to filter what they deem is useful to them and those that can become a second priority. Lastly, these talents need to be able to adapt and thrive in communities rather than in isolated settings.
The Great Resignation
Ever since the pandemic, there has been a consistent flux in work environment and expectations. There has been an increasing adoption of remote work and hybrid teams, with statistics showing 97% of employees not wanting to return to the office full-time post pandemic. There has also been a rising employee attrition that came alongside the pandemic, which is now being dubbed “The Great Resignation”. There were 4.5 million job quits in March 2022 and another 40% of employees are still considering quitting soon. Furthermore, the changes have caused leaders and organizations to implement ineffective employee engagement solutions, which have of course cost the organization their people. 64% of employees have been feeling either disengaged or actively disengaged under their respective employers.
Angelena asked if the leaders have been focusing on the true culture builders of the organization, backing it up with data showing 20% of leaders tasked with defining, building, and carrying organizational culture; however, it is 80% of employees that build culture through their individual actions and interpersonal interactions within the organization’s community.
Wallie, the personal wallet
Angelena discussed how they tackle these issues in Affinidi by introducing us to Wallie, their personal wallet which contains each employee’s career history. Wallie is capable of receiving and storing one’s career-related information, which can then be used as a verifiable credential for exchanging information. The user is able to own and manage one’s personal and professional information for convenience and in turn, allows to establish one’s personal identity while carrying all the achievements the user has accumulated with them.
Within their organization, Wallie can foster a cohesive, learning and belonging culture, as well as an employee community providing a credential wallet, easy organizational navigation, peer recognition, and overall convenience and insights. Technology is a cultural artifact that allows an organization to not only be customer-focused, but employee-focused, enabling high-performance, seeking out the ability to experiment and build on those results, and unlocking data together.
Overall, the mixed batch of industry leaders from the outsourcing sector, alongside several internal employees of HR firm John Clements Consultants, Inc. made for a very fruitful discussion during the activity and sharing portion of the session. It was agreed that there will always be a constant shift between cultures within the BPO sector. It’s not just the leaders that define, drive, or carry the culture, but also its employees. To fortify that shift, we should remember that as automation and technology come into play and further get integrated into our daily processes, embracing a people-centered digital transformation will always be key.
You can find more articles about our past events, as well as interesting topics on The Lookingglass archive.
