Portugal has “highly stimulating cities from Webhelp for companies”, says CEO of Webhelp. Multinational opens new offices in Lisbon and Braga
Webhelp is expanding its presence in Portugal and today opens two new offices in Lisbon and Braga with a capacity for 1,200 people. Since 2015, the year it arrived in our country, the company has opened four offices, representing a total investment of around 15 million euros.
With 2,000 employees throughout the territory and with the continuity of fulfilling the 3,000 opening of employees in the next 2 years, the company will be the fifth office in Lisbon still in 2022 nationally.
Executive Di spoke with Carlos Moreira, CEO of Webhelp Portugal, to learn about the work developed by the multinational specialized in Customer Experience (CX) and BPO – Business Process Outsourcing, and to understand the potential of the national market.
Webhelp has been present in Portugal since 2015. Why invest in our country?
At a European level, Portugal is essential in Webhelp’s expansion and consolidation strategy. It is a country with the potential to implement multilingual hubs because here many people find knowledge of a native level, among other cultures that impact on the education of the large ones of the level of growth of the last decades.
It is still a country with highly intelligent cities, in addition to companies and where we believe that it makes sense to have a decentralized strategy and that after the capital regions, Lisbon or Aveiro, the urban ones have their own centers and potential, in addition to benefits at these levels of quality. of life. As about 45% of our workforce in the country is foreign, these are the factors that we have to consider, in addition to contributing to employment at a regional level, where we find a lot of extremely interesting profiles on offer.
Is the expansion in territory evident with the opening of 2 new offices, national Lisbon and Braga? What do two new projects consist of and what is the need to carry out?
At the moment, we already have more than 50 international customers from Portugal and we continue to grow. There is a continuous need in the country, which requires a level of expansion of equipment and, consequently, of infrastructure. In Braga, where we already have 90, the need for a new office is clearer, to respond to the growth of Webhelp in dar, from where one district already works for seven international markets. In this way, we bet on a second multilingual office with 3,000 square meters and capacity for 400 employees. In the case of Lisbon, and taking into account the strengthening of the company in Portugal, the old office has now been replaced by this new building, which becomes our official headquarters in Portugal. Located in Parque das Nações, with 6,400 square meters and a capacity for 835 employees. Also in September, our new office in Aveiro will also be operational, with capacity for around 170 employees.
Webhelp aims to reach 3,000 employees in the next two years. The action of human resources also has the power of action
As specific resources of all sectors, we can expect as specific resources of all human resources, where there are many competition needs and market human resources, where there are increasing needs of all market human resources, where there are increasing needs of human resources from IT or HR. Even so, in general, we consider that not in the sense of recruitment difficulties, because the advantage of recruiting at a more regional level, there is less struggle, in addition to hiring many foreign professionals living in the country. One of the ways that are used for a talent talent on the team, with internal promotion rates in cases of 90%.
The pandemic brought with it a paradigm shift in the job market. What analysis of the new reality of teleworking and what products does the company intend for this new model?
As soon as the pandemic started, Webhelp took care of training to adapt to its offer, so today, our entire catalog is adapted to this virtual or virtual session.
Also in the area of recruitment, we have adapted our organization and way of working to respond to this new reality, so much so that, currently, 100% of our recruitment processes are carried out virtually.
Lastly, also lastly, our internal communication to include all our employees in telework, so we don’t leave anyone out. We are an inclusive company in all spheres of activity.
What are the prospects for the future of Webhelp in Portugal?
In total, we have invested 15 million euros in infrastructure in the country since 2015. Around eight million euros between 2015 and 2020, with a more recent investment of 4.5 million euros in the Lisbon office, 1.5 million euros in Braga and one million euros in Aveiro. Observing this path and continuing to grow in Portugal, growing up to the strategy for the future is the continuity of the strategy applied here. At this moment, above all, we are going to invest in the strengthening and solidity of the team we already have, with a structured local development strategy and according to the opportunities that arise.