John Clements Conducts Teambuilding Seminars for CitiFinancial
By Paul Catiang

The BPO industry, while touted to be a promising, fast-growing sector, has its share of rough spots, one of which is attrition. A good number of BPO workers—mostly customer service representatives—either move to a different call center or BPO or move to a different industry altogether after a few months.

To stem the tide of attrition and to further their people development activities, John Clements has begun holding teambuilding seminars for its employees working as Telesales Representatives for CitiFinancial. In the first quarter of 2006, three weekends were dedicated to the three CitiFinancial teams for the first round of teambuilding sessions. Entitled Effective Communication in Teams, the seminar took the three teams through a series of activities designed to foster a strong team spirit. These activities included writing letters of appreciation for fellow team members and building a Lego man while sticking to their assigned roles in the team.

The first run of training was well attended and received several good reviews from its participants. Before, John Clements used to focus on recruitment; shifting the focus to the retention of TSRs reduces time spent training new recruits and enhances the quality of the services provided. “The high attrition is mostly due to people discovering that BPO work isn’t for them. Few veteran TSRs quit, so we’re trying to get people to stay with their jobs by making their relationship with their teams more enjoyable,” says a Senior Consultant.

For the second quarter of 2006, Decision-Making in Teams will make up the next round of teambuilding activities for the three teams, followed by Meeting & Exceeding Group Goals in the third quarter. CitiFinancial has expressed appreciation for these initiatives and supports John Clements in developing their people.