he opening of Dell's customer contact center in Mohali has been one
of the biggest things to happen to the graduates' job market in the
region. Having recruited hundreds of fresh graduates from colleges
across Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh just one
year after it set up base here, Dell is hunting for more talent. And
with a solid career growth system in place, the company has managed
to attract some of the best talent available in the market. Mr Vivek
Mathur, site director, Dell, Mohali, talks to The Tribune about Dell
and its workforce.How important is customer care to Dell?
We
started our first customer contact center in India (Bangalore) in
2001. Today we are located in four cities: Bangalore, Hyderabad,
Gurgaon and Mohali. We have around 12,000 employees on our rolls in
India currently. We support Dell's customers around the world in
areas such as technical support and customer care. We also carry out
sales of Dell products. We have a predominantly young workforce in
our contact centers. The average age is around 25. Most of our
employees in the contact centers are general graduates in their
first job after coming out of college. Customer experience is a key
determinant of performance at Dell. We believe that an employee must
be adequately motivated to deliver high- quality customer
experience.
How is the employee-manager relationship on the
floors?
While we believe development is a shared
responsibility between the manager and employee. It is the combined
performance of thousands of team members worldwide that determines
our performance as a company. At the same time, it is critical for
all Dell employees to take pride in working for a winning company,
to have a challenging work environment and an opportunity to learn,
grow and build a career.
What are the development options for
a customer care agent in Dell?
Continuous improvement is part
of Dell's DNA and drives its efforts to be a great company and a
great place to work — in short, to cultivate a Winning Culture.
The company offers a structured process for people development,
which is measured against the Dell Competency Framework. Individual
development plans are discussed vis-`E0-vis the employee's
performance reviews. This provides a structured framework for the
employee's career progression.
What about career management?
Our
employees have adequate opportunities to grow vertically and
laterally. We have a robust Internal Job Postings microsite on our
intranet where vacancies are regularly notified. We have tied up
with distance education majors like ICFAI and BITS, Pilani, to help
our employees pursue their studies even while they work at Dell.
—
CKS
