In a move to address ongoing staffing challenges and focus on customer service responsiveness, Air New Zealand has decided to temporarily outsource some of its call centre activities to the Philippines. This strategic decision comes from a shortage of suitable staff in New Zealand, particularly those with the specific skill set required for these demanding roles.
Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer, Leanne Geraghty says the airline’s commitment is to improving customer service.
“Air New Zealand has over 500 people in our contact centre in New Zealand, this is more than pre-Covid but we’re still not providing the level of responsiveness we’d like to give our customers.”
To bridge this gap, Air New Zealand has contracted an Australian call centre company with a base in the Philippines, where a dedicated team of up to 100 staff will handle online inquiries from Air New Zealand customers.
Leanne says “There is very specific aviation related experience in the Philippines.”
Highlighting the complexity of the work and the necessity for a specific skill set, Leanne says that not all providers are suitable for such specialised roles.
“Given that, we engaged in an invitation only RFP with four suppliers who we knew had the specific skill sets we were looking for.”
Despite the temporary change, Air New Zealand remains committed for local recruitment and job retention.
“We are continuing to recruit within New Zealand. We are not sending jobs offshore, we are retaining all of our employees and our service partner employees and looking to hire more here locally.” says Leanne.
*Inside Tourism reached out for further comment on follow up questions, but had not heard back at the time of publishing.
