‘Our rapid growth has created a significant number of management vacancies and many of these have been filled by staff who started in Customer Service.

Avanta was formed in London in January 2004 offering highly flexible, unbranded office space, with advanced and competitively priced technology, tailor-made to meet the requirements of the occupier.

The company started in London but quickly spread to other towns and cities across Britain. It now employs 164 people in the UK, managing over 670,000 sq ft of office space in prime locations across London, the Thames Valley, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.  Its first international business centre opened in New Delhi, India, in September 08 and a further two centres are opening in Mumbai later in the year.  Further overseas expansion is also planned for Dubai and China.

As a new company, Avanta needed to differentiate itself from more established competitors and identified its ‘front of house' people as a key group which could give it a real point of difference. 

Jill Jackson, Director of HR and Training, takes up the story. ‘After 2 years of operations, front-of-house people seemed to be the area where we most needed to reduce churn.  They are the face of our business so they are very important to us.  We didn't want to keep recruiting people just because they seemed nice!  I wanted to make sure they were right for us and we were right for them.'

‘The industry norm for retention is 9 months for people in a customer service co-ordinator capacity. This meant a lack of continuity for our clients and their visitors as well as a high cost to Avanta.  I wanted to bring in ways of improving that.'

‘We introduced competency-based interviewing and then contacted Accelerator Solutions with whom I'd had a business relationship in a previous company. We were looking for the right assessment tool, something simple, easy to use and with easy to interpret results. Accelerator introduced us to Profiles International's Customer Service Perspective and I have to say, it works brilliantly.'

‘We spent a lot of time benchmarking the Customer Service element to make sure we would get what we wanted.  We made use of the distortion score within the Customer Service Perspective (the element that indicates if candidates may have polished their responses). We tried hiring people who scored 3s and 4s but it didn't work out. Once we put a lower limit of 5 on the distortion score, our recruitment became much better.  We hired people who stayed longer, many of whom moved into higher positions.  And even if they weren't perfect, we were better informed about what to expect from them and how they needed to be managed.'

Avanta now has a tried and tested recruitment process - first interview, assessment, second interview, three-month induction.  Jackson believes that the professional nature of the process gives greater value to what people do. She contends that if people go through a formal process, they will put a higher value on the position they've applied for. 

This is also reflected in the way Avanta trains its front line staff. As a member of the Institute of Customer Service, Avanta uses Institute approved courses (again working with Accelerator) to increase the knowledge, competency and sense of value of Avanta employees.

Jackson continues:  ‘Our rapid growth has created a significant number of management vacancies and many of these have been filled by staff who started in Customer Service. Anyone going for a career move from customer service into management takes a more comprehensive assessment, the Profile XT, so we can identify coaching needs and ensure that we help them to make the transition successfully. 

So what has working with Accelerator and using Profiles International assessments done for Avanta?

Jackson says:  ‘We don't keep everyone we recruit but our retention rate has gone from 9 months to 15/16 months and the cost of the Customer Service Perspective, when compared with higher turnover rates is insignificant.  Our reputation in the way we recruit, train and develop our teams is known to the competition, and we find that we get many applications from employees of our competitors, but appear not lose our people to them.'

‘And the objective, neutral nature of the assessment process protects us from the likelihood of tribunals etc. Taking on the right people for the right jobs has been an integral part of the growth of our business. We are so convinced that we won't take on anyone who's not been assessed.'

 Accelerator Solutions

Established in 2000, Accelerator is a new kind of support consultancy, partnering with organizations who want to grow through service leadership.

The Accelerator team is led by founding directors Heidi Daniell and Henry Hopkins who wanted to create an organisation which would make a real and lasting difference in the quest to eliminate the personal and business frustration caused by poor service and foster an appreciation of good service.  Accelerator provides services in three main areas: Research and Strategy; Training and Development and People Assessment.  These solutions are aimed at developing a lasting service culture that translates into business success.

Profiles International

Profiles International is the world's largest online assessment provider with 45,000 clients in 120 countries around the world.  It offers a comprehensive range of employee assessment instruments used to put people in the right jobs, help managers lead, coach, and motivate effectively, and help all employees direct their efforts to achieving greater productivity, profitability and job satisfaction. Since its foundation in 1991, over 48,000,000 assessments have been taken around the world.

Profiles International assessments provide employers with information used for hiring, promoting, succession planning, 360 degree feedback programmes, management development, training, motivating, improving customer service, and other employment-related issues.