Hi Jitendra,
It all depends on the type and size of processes that your BPO organization has. For instance, your company may be handling telemarketing outbound, inbound, blended, or transaction-based projects/processes.
There is no uniform and generic benchmark for the bench to be maintained. Typically, one indicator is how big the different/domain processes were handled in the past.
Bench strength would depend on:
1. Type of processes/projects
2. Size of processes/projects (i.e., unit manpower required per process/task)
3. Skills availability (i.e., are the skills needed available easily)
4. Attrition (how often and how many employees leave the company/processes)
The chicken-and-egg situation is that you need to maintain a bench in various processes in anticipation of new business or more business to deliver in the shortest possible time without consuming time for recruitment and training. But the larger the bench, the more your investment in terms of bench salary/wage bill.
I would suggest you maintain a bench depending on:
1. Existing process shortfalls
2. Forecasted future processes (i.e., new businesses or expansion of existing processes/businesses)
3. Anticipated attrition (based on past records)
4. Skills availability (rare skills with higher hiring timelines call for a higher bench strength)
Create your unique bench depending on the above. The factors vary from BPO to BPO depending on the type of processes/service, size of processes, complexity of processes, skills required, and the ability to acquire new businesses of a certain size. The bench is a subset of manpower planning outcomes.
If your units are at a commutable distance, you can opt for a centralized bench. Otherwise, if they are far away, in other states, or have region-specific processes that are fairly large in size, go for a location-based bench. Location/process-service/unit-based bench is preferred if processes, products, or services have a large manpower strength or specialized skill needs.
Rahul
09968270580
Dear Madam/Sir,
I just wanted to have inputs on the following:
1. What is the BPO industry average for the Bench Resources?
2. Does it help to manage the Bench Resources for a BPO in a centralized manner, i.e., having a Talent Pool for a city/location?
OR
3. Does it make sense to have the Bench resources maintained by each Product/Services delivery unit?
If it makes sense to go with POINT "2," what steps/precautions need to be taken while going for Centralization/Regionalization mode?
Thanks & Regards,
Jitendra