The role of the outsourcer is changing. A nationwide talent shortage has sparked a realisation among client organisations that business process outsourcing (BPO) providers can offer so much more than just cost cutting.

Despite record levels of employment, there remains a talent drought in the UK that is causing headaches for employers who are struggling to recruit locally for customer-facing positions.

A major study by recruitment giant Manpower has shown that that the number of employers reporting skills shortages has increased six-fold over the last decade – and more than doubled since before Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

Among the skillsets most in demand are those deemed ‘human strengths’, with ‘reliability & self-discipline’ ranked top for soft skills, while ‘operations & logistics’ and ‘customer facing & front office’ were both ranked in the top five desired technical skills.

Organisations desperately attempting to plug the skills gap are increasingly turning to BPO providers who are able to call on trained and experienced staff in regions across the UK.

Jo Carlin, head of HR for Europe at global BPO firm Firstsource, explains: “In outsourcing we’re perfectly placed to take talent with various levels of knowledge and experience, because we’ve got the ability and capacity to develop that talent while they’re with us.

“They don’t need to come to us with a whole host of past experiences or formal qualifications, they can just come to us and we’ll support them with their career journey. If we are talking about plugging the talent gap, there are some key areas that that all outsources should be looking at. One is to grow from within. The other is to make your interactions with the community meaningful.”

A community-led approach
Firstsource, like many other BPO providers, operates call centres in locations around the country. It currently has nine regional hubs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The company can call on approximately 5,000 employees who are trained to support clients across the financial services, utilities, and media & telco industries.

A lot of thought goes into establishing a regional contact centre, both from a strategic business perspective but also from a desire to contribute to the local community.

“The more meaningful the interactions are, the more likely you are to have a footprint in the community in which you are located,” says Carlin. “The way we operate is nimble so we’re able to quickly get operations up and running. We look at regional talent pools and what experience people in that area have.”

Various factors need to be considered when creating a regional hub, some of which will relate purely to the bottom line but more often than not it is the people who are the heartbeat of the operation that is the primary consideration.

Offering a recent example of the importance of getting the regional approach right, Carlin adds: “If I think about [the Firstsource call centre in] Pontypridd in particular, the decision was taken to move there from Cardiff, which we did in April 2022. There were a couple of reasons for this. One was the competition in Cardiff, the saturation of call centres makes competition for recruiting and retaining staff very challenging, the rates of pay for equivalent roles in Cardiff are generally high so it was not always getting us the right kind of people.

“This move has allowed us to reach different types of people while still being commutable for our talent. We need to always make sure we’re accessible and that we’re doing enough in those communities.”

A vital component in the process that underpins the development of regional hubs is ensuring that an inclusive culture can be fostered that will benefit employees, clients, and the end customer.

Carlin says: “The way that we view diversity is that it is the outcome of an inclusive culture. You will often hear people say ‘how diverse are we as an organisation?’ But actually what we do is look at how inclusive our culture is. We focus very much on how do we create a sense of belonging that is right for that location and team etc.”

Working for an outsourcer can be a fulfilling career
Working in a call centre is unlikely to be the top career choice for many young people. However, ask anyone who has risen through the ranks at a BPO provider and they will tell you what a varied and exciting career it can be.

“It’s really varied, interesting, dynamic, and pressurised, so basically all the things that human beings thrive on,” says Carlin, who likens the flexibility of working for an outsourcer to a “superpower”.

She claims it is this flexibility that is one of the biggest benefits to clients: “We allow clients to focus on their core strengths while we take care of the tailored solutions they need, ramping up and down easier than they are able to do themselves,” she says. “We’re able to go into communities and markets in a different way, building the teams needed in a flexible way, adjusting as needed along the way.

“When talking to our clients about their needs, we highlight the efficiencies we can make, our development pathways, and all the other fantastic stuff that we do, which they might not be expecting.”