Business Solutions Director at Webhelp Netherlands, Jasper Klootwijk,explains how on a recent trip to Romania he was struck by the dedication and problem solving skills of one particular team looking to overcome talent management challenges.   

I had never been to Romania before. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. The purpose of my trip was to prepare for an important international client site visit, so you can understand how pleased I was to receive a very warm welcome from both the locals and my Webhelp colleagues on the ground!

I was keen to learn more about the outsourcing industry in Romania and had the opportunity to do so over a delicious lunch of national dishes and delicacies. It was clear from the very first conversation that I was in the company of experts. With Webhelp being present in Romania since 2000, I also wanted to understand how its team had remained successful despite an influx of competition over the years?

Walking around the customer experience centre, the answer suddenly occurred to me – it’s people. I was struck by the level of dedication every colleague showed and the high level of skill present in every department. There were people who were bilingual and multilingual coming from all corners of Europe; France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK. Such diversity plays a key role in every business communicating to a global audience, but is it possible to sustain such a high level of talent?

My host informed me that recruitment of specialised roles has become harder over the years. Whilst French and Italian speakers are plentiful, German speakers are harder to find since its government brought in new wage laws. The team’s response to this challenge was amongst the best I’d seen.

What really counted here was knowing the market and what was available in the vicinity. The team had developed a database specifically designed to deal with this challenge. It screened around 100,000 prospective employees and categorised them into skills and abilities so it could determine whether they were suitable for specific assignments and projects.

Alongside this, the team had invested heavy resource in partnerships with local universities in order to extend the talent pool. To wrap it all up, new employee incentives were developed to encourage team retention. 

It was so refreshing to see the can-do attitude of the Webhelp team in Romania. A lot can be learnt from its commitment to always find solutions to a problem. I look forward to seeing how things have progressed next time I drop by.

These views are my own and do not reflect that of The Webhelp Group.