An OM's Dilemma

Aside from the typical job description of Operations Manager (OM) of maintaining a steady flow of Operation in the production floor, Operations Manager also bridges the gap between the Client and the performance of the agent.

In decreasing order of priority, the most demanding account in a call center would be the Post–paid Telco account, In–house Financial BPO, Retail and Publishing accounts. These accounts and or LOB are very hands on. It requires constant communication “daily” with the Client for updates, modification, focus and or just simply exploration of “tantrums.”

Operations Manager of Post–paid Telco Account and In–house Financial BPO has the most difficult job description thus it makes sense that they are paid well because sometimes kakapal ang mukha mo pag nandito ka sa ganitong account. Other OM of other accounts may say, kami rin naman hirap ahh! Ganoon? Eh di subukan mong mag–apply as OM sa dalawang account na yon and considering on agent level wala kang background sa ganung industriya, tignan ko lang kundi pati bulbol mo eh pumuti!!

Given the nature of the job description of those two type of account, it make sense that Operations Manager coming from these two types of account has higher market value than other Operations Manager from other account. When I was on a cable account, the Operations Manager will start her shift na nakaupo sa station niya at matatapos siya na nakaupo pa rin sa station niya, kausap niya si Excel File at si Microsoft 360. Unlike in a post–paid Telco and financial BPO na maya’t–maya huddle ng huddle, client calibration, di pa nakutento sa email may client conference pa, kapag may coverage or outage problem, manage mo yung queue, FGD with agents if the account is failing, dealing with attrition at kung ano–ano pa.

Thus, for those profile at Linkedin na nababasa ko who I will label as Operations Manager belonging to the “Collector’s Edition” group wherein they will just stay on the account for just one or more year then proceed with another account in the hope that the next call center will offer them higher salary because of their skills whereas most their job description are “lip service” and “email run around,” hopefully, they will be on this type of account, tignan ko lang how they will be able to cope up!!!

If you are in this type of account that is “attrition prone,” the dilemma that you will be facing is “How can I satisfy the client and at the same time keep my agent?” You are swimming between oil and water!!! You didn’t satisfy the client, you will lose the account. You didn’t satisfy the agent, you get attrition. You get attrition, you sacrifice the financial stability of the account. How am I going to bridge the gap between the two? Ba’t ko naman sasabihin? What if taga–dun ka sa call center na nag–reject saken eh di nakakuha ka pa ng style na libre!!! Che!!!

In some Operations Managers point of view, it’s normal for the account to be attrition prone, marami naman diyan na naghahanap ng trabaho. Yes, that is true but did you know also how the Recruitment Team are laboring just to be able to assemble a class to push through. Out of 10 applicants na in–interview ni Recruiter, tatlo ang papasa. Sa tatlong yon, ilan ang papasa sa final interview? Kung makapasa sa final interview, ilan ang magi–stay sa training? Kung mag–stay sa training, ilan ang papasa sa A–bay? Kung ma–endorse sa production, ilan ang aabot ng three months? Kung makaabot ng three months, ilan ang mare–regularize? You are really eating a bullet if you are an Operations Manager.

The HR of Teleperformance has a mission of “Retain employees as much as possible.” Kita ko sa wall nila. This is also where I saw na medyo stiff ang HR when it comes to recycling agents. If agent failed in one account, they don’t let go right away, they try to re–profile to another account. And when they re–profile to another account, hindi makapalag yung ibang account in saying, “dito niyo itatapon sa amin yan.” There are those agents na non–recyclable na talaga and you have no choice but to let go pero kung may mapipiga pa eh pakinabangan muna. There are cases wherein agent is not performing in a Telco account but when they put in a Healthcare account or financial account, humahataw! But of course, it depends on the call center if they have a lot of accounts in the house.

Another point of view of the Operations Manager would be, ang client ang nagpapasuweldo saken kaya eto na lang ang isa–satisfy ko to keep my job. But without the agent on the other side, how can you keep your job as well?

Again, when I was in a cable account, there was a Team Leader in our account who has a tenure ship of two years, ambisyosa si Ate! Apply siya as Operations Manager. Awa ng diyos, hindi niya kinaya yung job description kaya after just two months, resign si Ate! Nagkaron tuloy ng phobia yung mga naiwan na TL sa account. Kaya tuwing nababakante yung position, walang

nag–a–apply within the account. External hire palagi ang pumapalit sa position and we are always talking, ilang months kaya yan tatagal? That is why if you are in an account na gamay mo na ang Operations, huwag ka na lumipat, apply ka na lang as Site Director or up to even Vice President of the company!!!

Guess what? nakakita ko ng profile sa Linkedin na mga nagta–trabaho sa BPO industry, “BS Chemistry” graduate sa isang school sa Katipunan and General Manager ang position niya sa isang call center sa Quezon City. At ang pinaka–nawindang ako sa lahat!!! “BS Medical Technology” graduate sa isang school sa E. Rodriguez, Executive Vice President ng isa sa pinakamalaking banko sa America na nasa Taguig!!! Ang gagaling naman nitong mga to? They didn’t succeed in the course they finished but they succeeded in another industry. Hindi rin naman ako magtataka, mahihirap yung course nila kaya it make sense na magagaling din sila. Hindi ka matatangap sa course na yon much more na pumasa sa board exam kung di ka ganun ka–smart. Although the Recruitment Team could always match the talent they have, either someone with the same course or with similar career path.

Naloka naman ako sa isa kong pang nakita din sa Linkedin, when I calculated the date he graduated from College to the date he assume his position as President of the company, he is just 27 years old. Diyos ko po! Ganoon kabilis? I wouldn’t wonder, the company runs like a franchise system wherein everything was already documented and you will just follow the procedure. That type of system is good as a baseline but when it comes to company growth and profitability, it tends to undermine the exploration of a different type of system management that will make a site unique among others.

As for Operations Manager, if they are graduate of Mass Communication or Political Science or Economics or Business Administration or Commerce, it’s just normal that they are in that position. But for courses like Nursing, Husbandry, Forestry and they are not “career shifter” after five years man lang, somehow, in their chosen profession, meron naging mas magaling sa kanila.

The role of an Operations Manager is not an easy task. It requires diplomacy, tactfulness and diligence to be able to bridge the gap between the Client and the agents and at the same time maintain the competitiveness the account against other vendor and at the same time maintain the profitability of the call center. I salute those who were able to maintain their professionalism despite the nature of their job and hopefully they become contagious if not a paragon to their subordinates.