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In the summer of 2013, news that TeleTech was laying off 350 employees cast a pall over the city. However, the dire situation created an opening for Nordia, a Quebec-based subsidiary of Bell Canada, which was looking to expand its call centre business.
“When we became aware of TeleTech’s plans to scale back considerably, our office approached them about working together to find another suitable tenant for the building,” said Dan Landry, the city’s manager of economic development.
In the end, TeleTech decided to partner with Nordia. At that point “the city, which owns the building, worked closely with both parties to quickly put together a deal to see Nordia take over the space and the lease on the building,” said Landry.
By the end of this year, Nordia’s local workforce will top 350 people. They have a plan to grow to 400. The annual economic impact of the facility is about $15 million, officials say.
“When we opened, we were able to bring on board about 150 of the people from TeleTech to Nordia and they immediately went into training and, within a month, were taking calls,” said Kerri Dryden, who oversees operations at the sprawling facility on Hunter Valley Road.
TeleTech now sub-leases space from Nordia for the almost 100 employees still working at the site, while Nordia uses the remaining space – about 75% of the 40,000-square-foot building.
“That’s why this is such a win-win situation,” said Dryden. “Nordia uses the majority of space but the arrangement has allowed TeleTech to stay in the building and to maintain its operations in the community.”
For Dryden, who was a senior manager at TeleTech before taking the helm for Nordia in Orillia, the transition has been challenging, but smooth. She has nothing but praise for her new employer.
“Working for a Canadian company and Canadian customers has been a nice change,” said Dryden, noting local employees answer calls from residential Bell customers primarily in Ontario and Quebec. On average, those employees field 135,000 calls a month – or more than 1.6 million each year.
“I am so proud of the Orillia team. We’re recognized across Nordia and Bell for having great customer service, meaning customer feedback … demonstrates top-level performance,” said Dryden. “There’s a DNA in our community that allows us to have that success.”
Another key ingredient to the success is the hard work of recruiters in attracting the right people.
“We work hard to ensure people understand the roles because the role is often misunderstood – people think you just talk on the phone,” said Dryden. “But there’s much more to the job. We have had great success because we work hard to attract the right people.”
She said prospective employees receive up to four weeks paid training; as part of the process, candidates also spend time on the phone listening to and talking to agents so they understand what’s expected of them.
“After the in-class training, they spend another three to four weeks on the phone with lots of additional support before they fly solo … it’s a very supportive environment,” said Dryden, who noted employees range from recent high school graduates to those beyond retirement.
Because the centre operates seven days a week, from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily, there are a range of shifts available.
“There’s a variety of different part-time and full-time models available, which is something I’ve appreciated about Nordia,” said Dryden. “We’re really trying to be flexible to meet the needs whether you’re a part-time student, full-time student, stay-at-home mom … there’s an opportunity for us to be creative with the work schedule.”
It’s all part of the company’s conscious effort to be different. It’s why employees start at $13.50 an hour – markedly higher than competitors – and can increase to $17; there are also a number of incentives and a bonus structure in addition to retirement and health-care benefits.
“We want to have the highest paid employees in our industry,” said John DiNardo, president of Nordia. “It’s a big investment when you consider there might be 600,000 hours to cover in a year at one of our facilities … but our product is our people. We believe the investment pays dividends.”
And the proof bears that out, he said, noting attrition rates at Nordia are “about 50% less than our competitors. We also offer the potential to have a career,” he said, noting employees, for example, can make more money based on the complexity of their work and have an opportunity to move into management, human resources and other senior roles.
Dryden agreed, noting there are a range of positions at the Orillia centre that can evolve into solid career opportunities. She said the centre has a care/sales team to answer queries from customers about their account and service options, a retention/loyalty team that works with customers considering cancelling their services and a Fibe technology team that helps customers with questions or technical challenges related to Fibe, Bell’s newest technology for television.
“There is an opportunity to grow your career here … you don’t have to stay in the same job,” said Dryden. “You can grow into Fibe Tech or retention and some of our agents have become trainers, some have been promoted to management positions … There is lots of potential to move up.”
It’s a formula that’s proven successful. When the Orillia facility opened, it was Nordia’s seventh. A year later, there are nine facilities and plans were recently unveiled for a new facility to be built in Peterborough while two other centres have been acquired.
“We will have 12 centres by the end of the year and will have grown from about 1,500 employees to 4,500,” said DiNardo. “We are Canada’s largest … and we’re not finished growing.”
And that’s true in Orillia, he noted.
“Orillia has been great for us. There is a good, competent labour pool; people are loyal, the quality of life there is good … we like everything about it,” said DiNardo. “We started with 150 TeleTech employees, we have about 300 people now and we want to grow to 400.”
And if there comes a time when TeleTech does not need its space, DiNardo said it wouldn’t stay vacant long. “We would gladly expand to use all the space,” he said.
Photo:
Kerri Dryden, the site director at Nordia’s call centre in Orillia, said the facility will employ 350 by the end of the year and hopes to have a staff of 400 before long. It has been one year since Nordia opened in Orillia and the company has grown to become the largest of its kind in Canada.
