Making a Large Impact: Teleperformance

(continued from GISA story – 2018 GISA Winners)

Lessons Learned

While Teleperformance has a long history of supporting alternative labor pools, it really formalized its efforts when it joined with the Rockefeller Foundation, Microsoft (this year’s GISA winner in the purchasing category) and other global industry leaders in 2013 and 2014 to discuss the future of impact sourcing.

From a case study Teleperformance created in partnership with the Everest Group and a local agency in South Africa, it found a compelling business case for Impact Sourcing. The study found that Impact Sourcing (IS) workers have 15 to 40 percent lower attrition rates and higher engagement.

“IS workers retain better and stay with the business longer,” said Mark Pfeiffer, Executive Group Vice President and President of Teleperformance’s CSR Committee. “They have high enthusiasm and morale that can be affectuous to the rest of office. It is amazing to see people reach their self-potential. There are a lot of smiles, happiness and joy.”

While he says there has been no magic bullet to its success, Pfeiffer says relationships have been key factors.

Teleperformance has learned the importance of forming partnership in local countries with third parties for pretesting, orientation and upskilling before employees are even tested for core jobs.

“We have great third party relationships,” he says. “It is imperative that agencies be in those countries.”

Equally important is the relationships with customers who have committed executive leadership and provide Teleperformance with flexibility, understanding their hiring requirements can be met in ways other than formal education.

Teleperformance’s IS approach also has helped it recruit great workers, including millennials, who believe in its larger CSR strategy and want to work for a socially conscious company.

While Teleperformance and other impact sourcing founders share pride in the progress and positive momentum that has been made in the past five years, there’s still work ahead. “We would definitely encourage all prospective buyers to investigate the great potential of IS and to consider joining us and other leading companies as members of the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition,” he said.