Atender's path to employee satisfaction

In the fall of 2019, Anders Helland and co-founder Erik Windahl Olsen established Atender. The company outsources customer support for European companies and quickly recognized that the industry was plagued by poor management and employee culture. They aimed to change this, envisioning Atender as a workplace where people genuinely enjoy their jobs and thrive.

Both Helland and Olsen had experience in founding and scaling tech companies, having previously operated a company in Malaga. They decided to build their new venture from their office in the Spanish city.

Their previous company struggled to find good customer support and outsourcing partners, as most were focused on signing large enterprise deals, ignoring smaller tech companies. This realization showed the founders a market gap they could fill.

They found a niche they wanted to occupy, and today, Atender works with tech companies across Europe, primarily targeting startups, early growth stage companies, and those with newly established support departments. The work environment at Atender is also very positive, which is rare in the industry. So, what’s their secret?

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Outsourcing Abroad: A Challenging Industry

Neither Erik nor Anders had extensive experience in the customer service industry before starting Atender. Although familiar with the industry, they hadn’t worked within it. Helland quickly noted the poor management culture prevalent in the industry:

“It only took us a few months to realize that outsourcing, especially to foreign countries, is a dirty business. People are treated poorly, almost like cattle. They are placed in cubicles and managed in ways that contradict my idea of good leadership.”

Helland, the CEO of Atender, also mentioned that the industry is riddled with a culture of fear. The founders soon understood that no good industry standard existed, so they had to create their own way of doing things.

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High Priority on Employee Culture and Satisfaction

Determined to break away from the generally poor industry culture, Helland and Olsen sought to establish the "Atender way" of doing things, creating a unique workplace.

“We believe in creating a unique workplace. We think that when people feel good, it has significant value. From a business perspective, this means fostering a workplace where people thrive, leading to better performance.”

To ensure they were building a unique workplace, the founders needed a way to confirm and measure employee satisfaction.

“We started exploring the market for tools that could help us ensure we deliver on our promise – a workplace where people are happy and thriving. That’s when we discovered Winningtemp.”

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Weekly Surveys Provide Insight into Employee Satisfaction

With extensive experience in the tech industry, both Anders and Erik were familiar with various systems. Winningtemp was new to them, but its frequent surveys and user-friendliness appealed to them.

“It was crucial for us to have real-time control over employee well-being, not just checking in every six months. Setting up Winningtemp with weekly surveys has largely provided us with what we were looking for.”

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Alerts for Issues Before They Escalate

Atender now uses Winningtemp across the entire company. According to Helland, all employees respond to the surveys they send out. Creating a culture of one-on-one dialogue, human interaction, and continuous follow-up is invaluable, he says.

“The tool is like the canary in the coal mines of old: it gives us early warnings and flags trends at an early stage if something isn’t right.”

The founders can point to many instances where Winningtemp has identified potential cultural or employee satisfaction issues early on.

“The positive aspect is that we can address these issues at an early stage, making it easier to correct them before they become entrenched.”

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The Company’s Most Important Management Tool

According to Anders, Winningtemp is highly intuitive, which is one reason it benefits the entire organization.

“Most people grasp the essence quickly, and we’ve used the tool for several years now. Since employee satisfaction is crucial for us, Winningtemp has become our most important management tool.”

As the organization has scaled, they now have many team leaders. Helland explains that these leaders work very autonomously with their teams, making good tools essential.

“Team leaders use Winningtemp as an ongoing management tool, helping them work with their teams and build satisfaction within each team. We get a lot of benchmarking data within the organization with so many teams using the tool.”

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The Industry’s Best Employee Satisfaction?

Atender has worked diligently for many years to achieve a strong culture and employee satisfaction, and it has paid off.

“Our result is that we have insanely high employee satisfaction. I dare say there’s no one else with the same level of satisfaction in outsourcing customer service. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The CEO attributes much of this success to having an effective management tool that has guided them.

“I believe the most important thing about Winningtemp is that it represents a mindset – something you want to achieve as a company. For us, Winningtemp has been the tool we needed to create a unique workplace in an industry with its share of challenges.”

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Take the Temperature of Satisfaction in Your Company

Do you, like Atender, want to take employee culture and satisfaction seriously? Winningtemp is a versatile and user-friendly platform for measuring employee satisfaction with their job situation, leadership, development opportunities, and more.

The platform allows you to analyze, visualize, and communicate – all in one place. Order a free demo and create the workplace you desire!

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