“Trying to improve the quality of the life in all the sectors is our due for the future of Albania”
FIAA: Teleperformance Group enjoys a long and successful history in the industry of Outsourcing and Offshoring Consulting, with global presence around the world and in Albania. In our country, Teleperformance is present since 2008, clearly high standing with Teleperformance Group´s world-class standards and tools. Could you tell more about your group’s experience in Albania?
Mr. Pisa: If we wanted to summarize in one word the experience that Teleperformance Group in Albania has had in Albania, I would say: outstanding.
Teleperformance is the largest and more successful Group in the world in the CRM/BPO sector, we are present in 82 countries with approximately 500,000 employees worldwide.
We started in Albania the first pilot projects in 2007 and then in 2008 I personally opened our legal entity and the first office and today, at the age of 15, we are more than 3,500 employees, the largest employer in the country and the largest tax payer. If I look back, I can say that I am proud of what has been done so far in Albania. I have always believed that here we had all the conditions for creating a solid reality in this community and the numbers to date have proved me right. I would say a great business case.
We have created an industry that did not exist before us, and above all, we have defined the benchmark in terms of employee management, office quality, internal procedures, salaries, quality of delivery and any serious company in the sector that wants to enter the country must measure itself with these standards to be competitive.
Albania is often considered abroad only for the availability of low-cost jobs. Nothing is wrong in my opinion anymore. Our experience is diametrically opposite. We have invested in training, quality, wages above the market average, and this has given us the opportunity to attract International Clients who are known everywhere in the world for the quality of the products and services they provide, demonstrating the fact that in Albania you can work with high quality standards if you invest adequately in personnel.
How is the company performing? Are there any plans for further extensions?
The results are positive, both in financial and quality of the service we provide to our Clients. The company has grown steadily every year since it exists in Albania, with a strategy oriented towards sustainable and organic growth and we estimate that this trend will continue in the coming years, obviously considering the limit constituted by the fact that young Albanians speak less and less Italian language and more English which, however, is a language available at low cost in other regions of the world.
Would you share with us what you consider key advantages for success in Albania and some drawbacks that might be still improved for a better operating digital market and technological progress?
What has always impressed me in Albania is the ability of young people to adapt to both the language and culture of countries we serve, even if they may never have seen in person yet those countries. Our services are mainly Customer Care, and this places people in the daily management of problems that have occurred in the management of purchases of products or services in some part of the world far from Albania. If I talked about the ability to empathize with such different cultures you would not believe it, and it is the reason why all our customers love us. Imagine also when you are managing some outsourced process for big companies: they are in contact with employees based in other countries and they are able to deal without any cultural or language issue.
Level of education, work flexibility and ambition are certainly to me the strengths of the Albanian people, that is a key in my case as we are a people company.
What needs improvement is certainly the fact that this industry, which employs thousands of workers, is not yet recognized as such: the creation of a national sector labor contract, for example, could lead to greater flexibility for employers or at least to fit better the needs. To have a typical category contracts could also regulate the employment as there are still many companies that operate in a not completely legal manner to the detriment of employees.
What are your impressions of the current business operating environment in Albania? What challenges are you facing?
My industry is facing the worst period ever in terms of easiness to recruit, which by the way is happening almost everywhere in the world but for different reasons than in Albania.
We have been observing for months now an exodus abroad of young people who emigrate to seek conditions that they do not recognize as possible in Albania. This is really a shame for the country because it is depleted of talent and is a deterrent for large groups to invest in the country.
The issue is obviously very complicated and concerns both politics and entrepreneurs, but it should be strongly taken into consideration also because it is not true that these young people find abroad what they did not have in Albania, at least not always. To try to improve the quality of the life in all the sectors is our due for the future of the country.