Ceridian Corporation Builds a Stronger Offshore Team Partnership with India
Situation: Highroad Global Services interviewed Lauren Ledford, Vice President of Quality Assurance at Ceridian Corporation, a global company providing payroll, tax, and benefits services. Her team had recently completed phase one of the Highroad Offshore Initiative and we wanted to find out what initial results had emerged. Mrs. Ledford described the situation as follows:
“Ceridian has chosen to pursue an outsourcing strategy and while we have been in that model for several years, delivering many successes and building positive relationships, there is always the opportunity for improvement. With our legacy products, we were also moving towards a managed service model which means greater partnering with offshore vendors, and my personal goal was to make that partnership as strong and effective as possible.”
Results: Mrs. Ledford and other members of the team reported that since the completion of the Highroad sessions and coaching, a visible difference exists between those who attended and those who didn’t. Team members now show a greater willingness to work together and exhibit deeper empathy toward each other, which has led to increased collaboration between the U.S. and India counterparts. The associates who attended the sessions also report improved management of time zone differences and more effective meeting planning. They created a time zone protocol and are already implementing many of the strategies they learned.
Mrs. Ledford had this to say about the Highroad Offshore Initiative:
“The educational program that Vicki delivered in the US has opened my eyes about working with others (and I thought I was a pretty open-minded before). What more, both the Ceridian resources and onsite Cognizant resources who participated have expressed and demonstrated their increased awareness and consideration for cultural differences. I have been amazed by the transformation! Just understanding backgrounds and appreciating its impact on behavior has opened communication. I think of all the confusion and frustrations that could have been prevented had we conducted these sessions earlier.”