Through its people imperative, Tanfeeth shows that Business Services Partners can add value well beyond cost savings

Through its people imperative, Tanfeeth shows that Business Services Partners can add value well beyond cost savings

As the Gulf Cooperation Council s (GCC s) first large-scale Business Services organization, Tanfeeth wanted to deliver value to its clients that extended well beyond the typical cost drivers. To Tanfeeth, this meant providing additional human capital services to ensure employees were productive, engaged and skilled members of Tanfeeth s team. The delivery mechanism needed for this was an extensive HR infrastructure with five key pillars: Learning and talent development Recruitment and on-boarding Performance management Line HR Internal communications. Tanfeeth developed and applied this HR infrastructure for a large client organization operating in the GCC s banking sector. The impact was significant improvements to employee satisfaction, internal hiring levels and average hiring times, and a reduced employee learning curve.

Tanfeeth: Adding value beyond cost through a HR imperative The situation Over an 18 month period, Tanfeeth progressively absorbed all of its client s back-office operating units. Its focus was on initiating wide-scale transformations to deliver on critical Service Level Agreement (SLA) targets for the client, especially by improving customer service quality, cost efficiency, process turn-around times and employee engagement. This made building a comprehensive HR infrastructure critical. Tanfeeth knew it could never achieve its SLA targets without having a HR infrastructure that supported the implementation of its operational changes. In particular, it needed to create engaged staff with the right skills, knowledge and capabilities needed to support and live those changes in their day-to-day roles. The HR infrastructure also needed to be scalable and consistent to ensure the effective integration of new-client employees. This formed part of Tanfeeth s broader client transition strategy and which in turn, was essential as part of its longterm expansion plan across the GCC. The solution To deliver on all of Tanfeeth s operational and transitional objectives, a robust HR platform was established with five key components: 1. Learning and talent development 2. Recruitment and on-boarding 3. Performance management 4. Line HR 5. Internal communications. Learning and talent development A comprehensive talent program was built within Tanfeeth. It ensured each agent received the following: Guaranteed minimum of 36 training hours each year Choice of over 50 training programs 50+ training programs Examples: Basic agent skills Keyboard typing English language Tanfeeth knowledge Basic Tanfeeth Readiness Tanfeeth Operating Model Technical skills Sales management Performance management Soft skills People management Conflict resolution Leadership Excellerate global leadership development Managers Certification A global leadership development program for high-potential employees Individual career paths through a threetiered learning staircase identifying shortterm and long-term training requirements Regular evaluation of training and development needs during monthly performance reviews. To deliver this training, Tanfeeth built a dedicated training center. In addition to this, Tanfeeth also introduced a comprehensive range of virtual courses to give employees an opportunity to complete training at home. The online training suite featured beginner to advanced courses for a range of Microsoft applications included MS Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Projects and Visio.

Recruitment and on-boarding Leaner recruitment and on-boarding processes were introduced, including a predictive hiring model that enabled Tanfeeth to hire large numbers of recruits with just one week s notice. An online induction program was also introduced which ensured all new recruits could understand and embrace Tanfeeth s organizational culture, values and operating model. Focus was also placed on hiring from within Tanfeeth s talent pool though greater emphasis on internal job postings. The underlying goal was to reduce recruitment costs and hiring times, while for employees, encouraging internal mobility and cross-skill development. Performance management To ensure all Tanfeeth employees were focused on delivering exceptional customer service, a new performance management system was introduced. It aimed to drive the human behaviors and operational priorities needed to achieve customer service excellence. Key features included: A maximum of 3-5 KPIs for every role, cascaded down from enterprise-level KPIs An internal communications program driven through Line HR to ensure every employee understood their individual and team KPIs, as well as the performance outcomes needed to achieve them Performance white boards for every operating team, identifying the extent to which each individual and team had achieved their KPIs on a daily, weekly and monthly basis Automated reporting and tracking to ensure KPI data accuracy and objectivity Fact-based performance dialogues conducted on a monthly basis where employees received a rating based on their KPI target achievements KPI outcomes linked directly to the monthly or quarterly incentive payouts made by Tanfeeth to drive a results-focused culture and ensure recognition of high-performers. Line HR Dedicated Line HR representatives were placed on every operating floor at a ratio of 1 to 150 agents. Their role included: Providing employees with a direct and immediate point of contact to address any HR issues arising during the change management and transformation process Driving the results-culture needed by Tanfeeth, as facilitated through its performance management system by helping communicate new KPIs to employees, assisting managers in delivering effective monthly performance reviews, and monitoring both top and bottom performers Acting as a conduit between Tanfeeth s Operations and Training teams to ensure the 50+ training programs introduced broadly across the organization were available for staff, based on their training needs Increasing staff engagement levels by conducting quarterly employee satisfaction surveys and implementing action plans based on these results, as well as regular reward and recognition ceremonies. Internal communications A comprehensive internal communications framework was developed to support the change management process. The multiple-medium toolkit was critical in ensuring employees were informed of Tanfeeth s strategic direction, and organizational changes, while also helping to solidify its one team culture. As part of the communications framework, every new Tanfeeth employee received a personal introduction from Suhail Bin Tarraf, Tanfeeth s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during an initial town hall session. Other features of the communications framework included monthly newsletters with updates from the CEO and covering all business news and achievements, as well as regular electronic memos from Executive Committee members, intranet updates and an online, two-way communication mechanism to ensure staff could have their questions answered directly by the CEO.

Tanfeeth: Adding value beyond cost through a HR imperative Supporting Tanfeeth s communications strategy was its state-of-the-art head office in Meydan, Dubai, which prominently displayed key facets of Tanfeeth s brand and culture. This included branded walls featuring its vision, mission, values and 10 guiding behaviors, as well as dedicated spaces for Tanfeeth s various newsletters, publications and posters. Additionally, Tanfeeth s CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Human Resources and Head of Strategy and Transformation all committed to spending a minimum of eight to 12 hours each week on the operating floors. This provided an opportunity to address employee issues and questions, and conduct process confirmations to identify employee adherence with standardized operational procedures. It also helped to increase the overall visibility of leadership. The results By implementing a comprehensive HR platform, Tanfeeth s HR team has delivered the following outcomes for the client: Contributed to a 27 point per cent increase in employee satisfaction through engagement initiatives Ensured over 50 per cent of all roles were filled through internal job promotions Achieved a 50 per cent reduction in time-to-hire Delivered a 60 percent reduction in the learning curve for new hires. In addition to these results, the effectiveness of the training programs introduced by Tanfeeth s Learning and Development team has led to them being sold as a produce suite to other businesses across the UAE. The Tanfeeth HR team is now focused on expanding its capabilities across recruitment, performance management, Line HR and internal communications to continue improving on these impressive initial results.

About Tanfeeth In Arabic, Tanfeeth means getting the job done and that s exactly what they intend to do. As the GCC s first large-scale Business Services company, Tanfeeth is committed to delivering service excellence across the region by providing its clients with customer-focused solutions which stretch across the entire business value chain. This includes cross industry solutions like voice services, data services and human resources services, end-to-end services for the banking sector as its specialization, advisory programs to implement effective reengineering solutions and training programs to build operational capability within its clients organizations. Tanfeeth can touch all industries and processes, and as a local company, deliver bottom line results by combining a proven Lean operating methodology with its deep understanding of how the GCC market works. It also adds even more value to its clients by improving their customer satisfaction, while enhancing their training, development and leadership capabilities as well. Tanfeeth currently employs over 2,000 staff across the United Arab Emirates. Meydan, PO Box 777 Dubai, UAE www.tanfeeth.ae info@tanfeeth.ae