Portuguese call centre expert wins trophy at international awards

The Call Centre Trophy of Merit was won by Portuguese author and call centre consultant Manuel Alçada, CEO of Happy Work.

The Call Centre Trophies, which took place last month, are an initiative of IFE by Abilways and Call Centre Magazine.

NOS, Teleperformance, BBVA, Bankinter, Santander, MEO, Nestlé, Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Purina, ManpowerGroup, Unibanco, Alfaloc, Leroy Merlin and Worten were the other companies distinguished in year’s call centre of excellence lineup.

The Call Centre Trophies, now in its 18th year, is partnered by Multidados and the Portuguese Association of Customer Service Professionals.

Happy Work is a consultancy specialising in client service and contact centre service areas, working alongside companies providing consultancy, training and events organisation.

Manuel Alçada has recently published the call centre Bible “I’ll answer! 610 Tips on How to Run a Contact Centre of Excellence.” (Eu atendo! 610 Discas para um Contact Centre de Excelência” published in Portuguese and shortly in English.

Over the past 10 years Lisbon has become one of the call centre capitals of the world owing to cheaper wages and the high proficiency of English and foreign language abilities among the Portuguese workforce.

However, according to Call Centre Magazine, multinationals and national companies are “finding it hard to recruit staff at present which is causing call centre growth to slow in Portugal” says Jorge Pires, of the Portuguese Association of Call Centres.

Margarida Sousa Uva of Deloitte Human Capital adds, “We’re currently going through a war for talent in the widest activity sectors, so it is vital that organisations become irresistible to prospective staff by offering a good balance between professional and personal life, career progression, a good salary package, work flexibility and the perception that staff are valued for the work they undertake.”