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O2 revamps hiring to reduce call centre attrition

With four contact centres to operate - including a new site to staff - and labour turnover costs to control, telecoms provider O2 has redesigned its recruitment process to ensure that it attracts and retains the best employees.

On this page:
The challenges of labour turnover and large-scale recruitment
The new hiring process
Performance-based selection
Creating a performance profile
A three-stage process
The recruitment process timeline
Discover O2
Attitude and access discussions
The advice exercise
Literacy, numeracy and IT test
Scoring against a candidate assessment profile
Unsuccessful candidates
Satisfaction with the new recruitment system
A major challenge
Organisation profile
Resources

Key points

  • Mobile telecoms company O2 has overhauled its recruitment and selection practices to improve its ability both to recruit call centre staff and to retain them thereafter.
  • As well as filling vacancies at three existing contact centres, it had the challenge of finding 1,500 recruits for a new centre in Glasgow.
  • The new hiring process is streamlined, uses online applications, initial telephone interviews and a half-day assessment centre.
  • Selection is based on a US system called "performance-based selection", which focuses on personal competencies and motivations.