To those outside the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, the name Nearsol won’t ring a bell. It isn’t as recognized as well as its counterparts who have established offices in the Philippines in the last 20 years. But to those in-the-know, NEARSOL is a force to be reckoned with. It’s a David to many proverbial Goliaths in the metro. For one, its clients are among the world’s top 20 most recognized brands. And in cities where it holds operations, they are an employer of choice.
Headquartered in Irvine, California USA, Nearsol began as a real estate service company in 2006. By 2011, it had successfully entered the back office support industry and had already expanded solutions into logistics and appointment setting. By 2017, it included workstation lease solutions and now has a foothold in cost-competitive countries such as Guatemala and the Philippines.
To date, it has numerous established offices in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific.
The Secret Sauce
“Always Customer Service is more than a policy; it is a culture manifested by upper management and transmitted throughout the organization. We focus on delivering the best Customer Service and strive to exceed our customers’ expectations and needs. We are not just service providers, but allies to our partners as we are dedicated to delivering our promises and continuously improving. Nearsol believes in the power of cultivating great working relationships and promoting our culture of family.”
-Nearsol Culture
Anyone can promise stellar service. But only a handful can deliver. What is uniquely NEARSOL’s is its culture. While the results and numbers matter, empathy and passion are held on equal footing. NEARSOL’s founders have always believed in taking care of all of its stakeholders – employees, shareholders, clients… and their formula for delivering top-notch services is to take care of their employees.
Nothing here is as sacred as cultivating great working relationships. And cliché as it may sound to many, the secret is a familial touch.
“You can’t take care of clients if you don’t take care of your people. It’s a Nearsol thing.”
Covid-19 was a curveball. Nobody had anticipated its magnitude nor its supremacy over business models. Everyone has gone digital. And with it, the need for services such as NEARSOL’s has increased exponentially, as well. The drive to recruit talent has never been more competitive.
Other well-placed competitors offer perks. Top talents have always been lured by pay, health benefits, medical leaves, flexible hours, and paid sabbaticals. But the buzzword as of late is company culture. Recruitment officers now find that a majority of job applicants are inclined to forego any of these perks in favor of a great workplace mindset.
Why should anyone care about company culture?
The answer is fairly simple. Culture holds up enthusiasm in the workplace. Company culture picks up where the company handbook ends. It’s what drives your company’s “frontliners” to respond to new ideas. It’s the tenet that dictates whether you behave differently for result’s sake or if any of your team members go the extra mile for the client. It’s also the secret sauce of thriving service-oriented organizations such as NEARSOL.
Company culture didn’t matter for many years. After all, a job is a job. It puts food on the table and therefore we should all be grateful whatever the working conditions. But this point of view is as antiquated as the horse-and-buggy. It makes a difference (in terms of bottom line and perceived success) when the workplace isn’t something that people dread.
Admittedly, work can be tough. There are deadlines to beat, quotas to fill, customers to appease. But while the job may be quite the challenge, it’s the company culture that makes the difficulties a breeze. Designed correctly, it will even out work-related stress.
EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS MATTERS AT NEARSOL
The NEARSOL workplace is a happy place to work in. The formula is simple. Happiness and a light-hearted environment translate to productivity. It’s the proverbial, “if you love what you do, you’d never have to work a day in your life” kind of productivity”.
When a service-oriented business is more productive, it means, that more work gets done in less time. It means getting several steps ahead of the competition. It also means that many talented people join the pool.
We find it counterproductive to hire talented people only to treat them like robots
NEARSOL strives to foster a family-oriented company culture. It doesn’t make sense to fill offices with people who look to each other like mere acquaintances. The philosophy that has always worked was to foster a compassionate and attentive working environment.
It has helped them get through difficult times personally and professionally. It has also been instrumental in finding the best people. For instance, at NEARSOL the thrust was to scout for concerned and involved individuals. People who have been with NEARSOL KNOW this and they are drawn to the culture.
In addition, a sense of community is part of the culture. NEARSOL’s passion extends beyond the walls of the office. Concern for humanitarian causes is a condition sine qua non for progress in any community. Wherever NEARSOL operates, there is always a drive to bring a wave of change either through socio-civic projects, philanthropic missions, or training. The objective is to help those with less in life improve their standard of living and eventually become self-sufficient.
In the last 12 months, NEARSOL Philippines has successfully continued their Make-A-Wish Project (for underprivileged children), extending work from home opportunities to those who have been adversely affected by the pandemic, plus other socially relevant campaigns that have been at the heart of any NEARSOL community.
Not unexpectedly, NEARSOL training and pay are unequaled. “We have a knack for finding passionate individuals. What matters is attitude more than skill. We can train anyone for as long their heart is in it” says Mark Jayson Bitualia, NEARSOL Iloilo’s Marketing Manager. Compensation is at par with the world’s best.
