Silah Gulf, the Leading Business Process Outsourcing Company in the Gulf Region has set an exemplary record of success in the region having achieved 30 awards since its inception including the Best Large Outsourcing Provider in the Middle East. BTW speaks to Suad Alkabie, Chief of Talent, Silah Gulf to understand the unique philosophy, mission and vision of a company that nurtures its employees to deliver their best consistently over the years.
Tell us briefly about yourself and how challenging and rewarding has it been for you to be at the helm of the Talent Control and Human Resources of an award-winning organization like Silah Gulf?
My name is Suad Alkabie- BSC in System control, MBA from Strathclyde University. Extensive experience in different industries, aviation and Telecom. Given the roles and responsibilities as Chief of Talent is a very challenging role and I am happy for the trust given by the top management to handle this position.
If you were to define the DNA of the work force at Silah Gulf across the various departments in three terms, what would they be?
We believe in building the concept of customer experience mindset for each one in Silah Gulf during the employee’s journey with us. The three attributes we are always looking for are:
1. Passion for delivering excellence in Customer Service
2. Commitment
3. Dedication
While recruiting potential employees, what are the basic qualities and talents that you look for? What are the various screening processes and trainings that you employ?
We screen the candidates through their academic background, experience and achievements, then we assess them in English, Basic mathematics, Geography (specific industry) and Perceptual. If they pass the assessment, they undergo the interview by HR and operation teams per industry requirements. Then, the training process starts to cover the Customer Service Excellence standard and the product and services per different industry i.e. telecom, retail, airlines and public services. Each candidate will have a passport to stamp after completion of training or performance evaluation. The employee can use the passport as evidence of achievement when they want to apply for another job within Silah or for a job at Bahrain Market.
For potential staff, we have progression, development plan; Training Needs Analysis (TNA), and in progress scheme are follow to develop and retain them.
In the process of recruitment, do you keep in your consideration the policy of Bahrainization? Also, do you encourage the recruitment of women in your organization?
Bahrainization is very important to us as this our contribution to society. We are at 70% Bahrainization and we are working to increase it more. Also, our strategy is to increase the number of women in Silah and we have plans to approach other organizations at Bahrain to work closely, currently we have around 36% of our workforce at Silah are woman; and 41% of woman at the management positions.
Silah Gulf has achieved several prestigious awards which evidently proves that the employees perform to the best of their abilities. What measures have you employed to keep them motivated to deliver their best?
We believe our employees are our assets and we are doing our best to motivate through different schemes and awards i.e. Star of the Month, Monthly High Quality, Six Months High Quality Performer, Innovation Award, Best Support Team Award, etc.
Would you say that the perception of customer service has evolved over the last one decade? Why?
Yes definitely, in the last few years the trend of customer experience journey has evolved and there is a tendency to have “Customer Experience Officer” within the top management because in each organization it is a journey they have to monitor and improve from attraction until retention. Customer service and satisfaction are embedded with the journey.
How does Silah Gulf nurture talents and ensure them personal growth as the company grows and reaches newer heights?
As mentioned earlier, we have succession and development plan for our talents. We are making the efforts to build the customer experience mindset and process improvement in their development, which in turn will influence our performance. We adopted process improvement strategy so we trained first batch of key staff on Green Belt six sigma and we will continue to do more.
Any moment of great professional satisfaction that you enjoyed in your tenure at Silah Gulf?
Well, I had an excellent hands-on experience within Silah; which add more insights to my knowledge and experience. I worked for one year in Contact center operation for specific industry. This enables me to understand employees’ needs and the operation very well.