There’s no doubt that the future’s digital. At the same time, demand for personal contact is greater than ever, while consumer expectations are growing; An immediate response, next-day or same-day delivery, easy product exchanges or returns. Processes have to run perfectly to meet these expectations. However, where’s humanity in the rapidly changing world of technology? What’s the ideal mix of technology and a human approach? How do you ensure that the EX (Employee Experience) makes a difference in CX (Customer Experience)?
At Engage, we’ve been following our ‘Happy People philosophy’ since our foundation in 2005. Our employees are the most important thing in our organization; then, now, and in the future. We’re committed to working hard, having fun, and getting the best out of ourselves to deliver the very best work. Nothing is better or more stimulating than working together towards success. Our corporate culture can be summarised as follows:
Fun – Development – Respect – Appreciation – Attention – Result – Decisiveness
Happy People also stands for personal development. Through our EngageFit community, we’ve really put the spotlight on vitality in the organization. It’s where we share workouts, recipes, and vitality tips!
The Engage DNA
Testing and evaluating the DNA in the selection process is the first key to a successful partnership with our employees. Creating engagement is also essential. Focussing on personal development, getting people involved and giving them responsibility in projects to continually bring the customer experience to a higher level creates commitment, loyalty, and ultimately a very low turnover of staff.
With the introduction of the Balanced Labour Market Act (WAB), we’ve placed even more significance on our ‘Happy People philosophy’. We prefer to offer all our employees a permanent contract with a fixed number of hours from the start of their employment. This is important because it offers employees the chance to develop themselves, to commit to Engage for the long term and to be certain of valuable work in the long term.
In January 2021, Engage switched to the new Collective Labour Agreement for Facility Contact Centres. In recent years, Engage has deliberately not joined previous collective labour agreements. Our employment conditions were always based on the collective labour agreement but were increasingly more favourable for our customer experts. We’re very happy with the conditions in the new collective labour agreement. Our employees are happy too: 99% immediately agreed to this new collective labour agreement.
By focusing on employee turnover, we’ve managed to significantly reduce the rate of people leaving us, as shown in the graph below.
Happy employees
Our monthly employee satisfaction survey (ESS) shows that employees want to continue working for Engage. Reasons include development opportunities, a pleasant atmosphere, and the fun meetings and events organized by Engage. In the monthly ESSs, we proactively ask whether employees feel that we have listened to their feedback. Even during the past year with everyone working from home, our employees continued to give us an average of 8, and in Germany even an 8.8. We’re proud of that!
Happy employees make for happy customers. Employers focus on a positive employee experience to distinguish themselves, and it works: the average EX in the Netherlands shows an upward trend. “Employees at Engage are treated as human beings, with their own individual developments, talents, and private lives,” says Gaby Bingley, Team Leader HR Office & HR Business Partner at Engage.
By continuously inspiring, challenging and developing our employees, we contribute to a pleasant working environment, innovation, and development. We’re convinced that motivated employees make for happy customers and good results!
Would you like to find out more about our Happy People philosophy, and how we engage and retain our people? Please contact Inke Lunenberg by e-mailing inke.lunenberg@vanadgroup.com or calling +31 (0)64 6290217.
