Lebara is one of the fastest growing private companies in Europe, originally set up in the Netherlands. Targeted at immigrants, it offers low-cost mobile phone calls to international destinations. But while others might balance this with low-cost service and support, Lebara instead focuses its efforts on never losing its customers by providing excellent service and support, despite the additional costs required. The firm has won several customer service awards, most recently for best customer service at the 2011 UK Mobile News Awards.

The CEO, Ratheesan Yoganathan, says his firm sees its employees as its most crucial asset, especially within its call centres where all client interaction takes place. Instead of measuring how many calls staff take, for example, or how quickly they finish them, staff are measured on how successfully they delivered a positive service outcome for a customer without having to transfer the call or keep clients on hold. Overall, Mr Yoganathan is resolute on the crucial role that employees play in his firm’s service delivery. “Our staff are part of Lebara’s identity, as they’re our customer touch-point,” he says.

This realisation has led to some unusual decisions. For one, Lebara’s main call centre is located right in the heart of London, at significant cost. In Mr Yoganathan’s view, this allows his firm to hire the best possible talent, including staff with a wide range of language skills, by being able to tap into a huge skills base. “You get really talented people, so staff in our call centres often move on to other departments, such as IT or marketing. They’re really high quality.”

This is not just idle talk: Lebara even hosts an annual contest for all employees, entitled “Dream big”, whereby anyone can pitch new business ideas to the management committee. The winning pitch is given an investment of £100,000. “Last year the options were so good, we had to select two people,” says Mr Yoganathan.