Barona are looking to expand their team

We have room for Scandinavian-speaking customer service representatives at Barona’s service centre.

Barona’s service centre in Fuengirola already employs more than 350 customer service representatives, most of whom are Finnish. Now it is hoped that the team will also include more diverse Nordic language skills.

The day-to-day operations of the service centre revolve around several different customer relationships – the largest of these, in addition to Telia and DNA, includes Forenom, which offers furnished apartments, apartment hotels and hostel accommodation for temporary needs in all Nordic countries.

Forenom’s main customer segment consists of companies renting apartments to their employees, whose customer service is provided by Forenom’s own local teams, which are mainly present during office hours.

“As far as Forenom is concerned, we primarily offer customer service to private customers at Barona – we help with bookings and questions related to maintenance services, among other things,” says Melina Mäntynen, team manager of the Forenom’s team at the Barona Fuengirola service centre.

Service in the customer’s own language

Although the majority of the service centre’s employees are currently Finnish, Forenom’s customer relationship is managed by a so-called Scandinavian team under Mäntynen’s leadership.

Forenom’s customer service representatives handle Forenom’s private customers in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway via chat, email and phone. The aim is that customers who speak non-Finnish would also receive the best possible service in their own language.

“We are contacted by customers around the clock. To ensure a good service experience, we offer services 24/7, says Mäntynen.

Even though the Scandinavian team is concentrated in Fuengirola, customer service representatives also work in different Nordic countries.

“Barona’s employee volumes in Finland are still the largest, so our sister team in Joensuu mostly handles matters related to Finnish-speaking customers. In addition, they handle overflow calls from Scandinavian countries.

In a multilingual team, consensus is important

Last June, Mäntynen trained six customer service agents at Barona’s Malmö office, which only handles calls and messages from Sweden. Our hope is that in the future, more Scandinavian customer service representatives will also work on site in Fuengirola, says Mäntynen.

Mäntynen says that you can’t succeed in a multilingual team if you speak only Finnish, but you still don’t need to know all Scandinavian languages. The Scandinavian team considers it important that the service centre’s everyday life has been made as straightforward as possible for everyone, regardless of their language background.

“In addition to Finnish, our daily communication takes place in English. The practice ensures mutual understanding and that no one feels left out,” says Head of Service centre Marianne Eliasson, who is also bilingual.

The international work community is definitely a source of wealth

Eliasson says that Barona’s service centre is an internationalising work community every day, which she sees as a great asset.

“We strongly believe in our growth and aim to increase the number of employees to 450 this year. When our new office opens in March, we will have even better growth opportunities,” says Eliasson.

So, there are places for Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish talent. Open positions are applied for regularly, and it is also possible to apply for jobs with an open application.

Contact melina.mantynen@barona.fi

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