Background

This global investment group is one of the world’s most sophisticated alternative investment institutions with more than one thousand professionals located around the world.

Leadership sought to reimagine its workplace experience.  In other words, the organization wished to engage a service provider who could deliver exceptional reception/concierge, event management and office services (including logistics and mail room management, reprographics, and stationary supply management) that would elevate the workplace experience of the organization comparable to that of a luxury hotel.

The enhanced workplace experience was seen as aligned with the organization’s culture of excellence and a way for the firm to attract and retain the highest level of talent by helping people be happy and productive at work. The project stated strategy was to elevate service standards aligned with their exceptional brand and to:

  • Drive efficiency through process standardization and implement best practices in guest services, conference management, reprographics and logistics.
  • Staff the account and support variable work with skilled staff trained in relevant corporate hospitality practices.

Process

Leadership for the investment group issued an RFP and invited Forrest Solutions to compete in a field of seven competitors, including two incumbents, and which comprised some of the outsourcing industry’s best known players.

Forrest Solutions was able to differentiate their offerings from the highly competitive field with a hospitality-first approach and decades of experience with workplace experience in some of the world’s largest and best-known brands including Big4 clients, luxury commercial real estate brokerages, financial exchanges and more.

As well, Forrest Solutions’ unparalleled recruitment engine of 45+ dedicated recruiters in workplace experience coupled with a long and proven track record for identifying culturally fit workplace experience talent in the most challenging and competitive market on record differentiated the offering.

As the field of competitors narrowed, the investment group requested site tours of the RFP finalists.  Where the other finalist’s tours fell flat and could not evidence the elevated workplace experience sought by leadership, Forrest Solutions site tours successfully demonstrated the end-to-end rigor that resulted in an exceptional onsite experience.

Workplace experience does not happen by chance, and Forrest Solutions’ leadership was able to demonstrate the workplace process, from the training and Operational playbooks developed per client, how this matched the onsite experience and seamlessly flowed through the technology-driven feedback loop for continuous improvement.  It was fully evident to the investment group that not only could Forrest Solutions deliver workplace experience but could deliver it consistently overtime through a rigorous process of continuous innovation, one of the investment group’s key metrics.

Implementation

Forrest Solutions executed on the mandate to hire for winning and was able to recruit a top performing Client Relations Director fully dedicated to the success of the investment group, a national director to lead the charge across eight locations across the US and over 50 professionals to create and support workplace experience at the investment group – all exactly on time in an incredibly challenging hiring market.

The Forrest Solutions’ recruitment engine also deployed a proprietary 10-step process to fine tune the selection of the individuals ultimately hired to support the account. Once hired, new staff went through an exceptional customer service and hospitality training developed specifically for Forrest Solutions’ delivery of workplace experience.  Each new hire not only must go through the training program, but they must be certified to support the investment group, all within 10 days.

Results

In the Forrest Solutions workplace experience training, our professionals learn our motto:  Exceptional talent serving exceptional talent.  And this was certainly, demonstrably the case for the implementation at this investment group—and continues to be.

In the first quarterly review following implementation, the investment group awarded Forrest Solutions an overall nine out of 10 net promoter score rating.

Not only was the client delighted that the demanding implementation schedule was met despite the challenges of the market, but that Forrest Solutions was onsite and ready with a fully trained staff early.  This especially pleased the client especially in the group’s national headquarters.

Among many other accolades, the group was also extremely happy with their dedicated project manager who steered the implementation, and praised Forrest Solutions’ ability to innovate, to continuously look for “what else” with a diligent process that supported continuous development of our onsite professionals.

Ultimately, leadership was delighted to have found a partner who understood workplace experience, how to hire, train and manage it, and how to live the motto ‘Exceptional talent serving exceptional talent.’

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