It’s that time of the year again when clients from across Australia visit VBP to learn more about the value of outsourcing and of course, witness our unique and amazing culture.
This year, we had 20 delegates from 14 firms who joined us in our 4-day tour and conference. Just like last year, each day we ran different sessions.
Sessions:
After the sessions, clients were able to spend the rest of their time in the office to meet and train their team members as well as talk to other staff with unique roles beyond the typical financial planning tasks. This way, our delegates were given the chance to understand our operations and gain some insights that may be helpful for their business.
They were also taken to notable food spots in the city to have their lunch and dinner. Not only were they able to enjoy our local food, this is also the time when they get to interact with their co-delegates and learn about each other’s businesses.
On the last day of the conference, we took the delegates to an island hopping trip. Of course, a visit to the tropics isn’t complete without a beach trip, right?
After their beach adventure, they headed back to the hotel to prepare for that evening’s event, one of the highlights of the conference, the Talent and Awards Night.
It was definitely picture-perfect – everyone dressed up in stunning Great Gatsby outfits, having fun and celebrating the exceptional talents showcased by the staff as well as the recognition of hard work and dedication of our team.
Watch the highlights from the conference:
With the efforts of everyone involved in the planning and organising, the conference was a huge success!
As we would always mention, VBP not only aims to provide great service to our clients but also build strong relationships with them.
Hosting this annual conference is our way of adding value to what we give to our clients—to help them understand our role better and to let them experience being part of an amazing culture.
Thank you for every moment, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with VBP and have gained a massive amount of knowledge and insight from both your team and the other clients whom we were lucky enough to share our time with.
Great networking, positive open discussions between delegates about industry and practice operations.
Extremely well organised. Great to experience the VBP Office and it’s culture. Insightful conference sessions, being able to understand more of our VBP staff’s location and culture. Great value.
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”
At VBP, we respect each other and embrace diversity. People genuinely care for one another. Our bond goes far beyond the typical “co-worker” relationship—we are more than just a team; we are a family.
This year, we held our very first VBP Family Day. Everyone had the chance to bring their families and loved ones along. It was an amazing Sunday filled with fun activities. In the same day, we also celebrated Father’s Day. We prepared a special tribute to all dads present in the event. There were talent presentations from families–kids sang and dance with their parents. Such a precious sight!
The VBP Family Day is a celebration of one of our core values: One World and Family Spirit. As we always mention, in VBP, we treat each other like family so it is also important for us that our loved ones get a glimpse of who we are as a company.
We believe it is important that our loved ones also get the chance to connect with our business by knowing what we do and who we work with; as well as understand our culture in order to build trust and confidence that we belong in a company that does not only give us the opportunity to grow, but also values what’s important to their team.
See photos in our VBP Careers & Culture Facebook page. And the highlights from the VBP Family Day 2018 in the video below:
Last March 2018, VBP has reached a new milestone—we are now 200 in our team! As we continue to cater to more financial planning firms in Australia, we also continuously (and rapidly!) grow our team here in the Philippines. Seems like yesterday when we were working as a team of 20. And now it’s four and a half years later and we’ve grown 10 times in number!
Being a culture-led business, growing our team and living our purpose are some of our main goals. See our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG) below:
We have a clear purpose, goal and plan, which is vital in keeping everyone aligned. (We use a one-page plan and learnt all about these principles from Gazelles coaching and from the book Scaling Up by Verne Harnish.)
Every company should have a clear vision for the business and of the four focus areas: People, Strategy, Execution and Cash. By far, the most important for our company is the decisions we make relating to ‘people’.
So how were we able to build, and now grow, a strong team? We focus on 3 things.
Hear it straight from our team on how they feel about working at VBP:
As we now focus on our next milestone to reach 300 staff by 2019, we remain focused on continuing to develop our people’s skills, to commit to improving advice delivery processes (via better use of technology) and maintain our unique business culture. This helps us with the longevity of our staff and the stream of people being referred to work with us.
As you know by now, culture is a big deal in VBP. As we continue to grow, the challenge lies on how to sustain the strong connection amongst our team members while allowing each employee to flourish on their own.
Our company’s purpose doesn’t stop with providing excellent back office support to financial firms. We also make sure that we provide the best working environment to our staff. We aim to be one family despite our growing number and diversity. We aim to keep our staff happy and enthusiastic–to work in a place where all their efforts, big or small, are valued; to work in a place where they can be themselves and share their talents and interests with their colleagues; to work in a place where it’s more than just ‘work’.
Each year, the VBP staff are divided in to teams (we call them ‘squads’) where they compete through the year in a range of activities to win the VBP Culture Cup. This year’s Culture Cup competition opened at the VBP Culture Camp 2018, a full day offsite team-building event. Energy overflowed as the cauldron was lit and the competition began. The squads presented their cheers and yells and played a series of games which encouraged teamwork and camaraderie. Of course, the much-anticipated part of the event was the search for the next VBP Culture Camp Ambassador and Ambassadress (us Filipinos love a beauty pageant). The winners will not only be the “faces” of VBP, but more importantly, they will be playing lead roles in developing a program for staff engagement that will cultivate and promote the VBP culture.
So why do we value culture so much? And why is it important for our clients?
Firstly, we believe that it is important for our clients to know that they are working with a company that cares about their people. Secondly, focusing on a strong culture makes good business sense and benefits us and our clients as we increase staff retention. Lastly, client satisfaction is greatly influenced by employee satisfaction—if our staff are happy with our company, they are motivated to perform well thus increasing efficiency and keeping clients happy.
Here are some stats from the previous year:
#OurCultureIsOurBrand
Watch the highlights of the VBP Culture Camp 2018:
Tazmanian Devils bagged first place in the Cheers and Yells competition.
As the energy overflowed, the squads then played some fun games to encourage teamwork and camaraderie—Tug of War, Catch the Dragon’s Tail and Basketball (with a twist!).
The highlight and much anticipated part of the event was the search for the next VBP Culture Camp Ambassador and Ambassadress.
We crowned the new Culture Camp Ambassador, Marvin Estrera from the Tazmanian Devils, and Ambassadress, Vanessa “Peggy” Quirante from the Wombat Silencers.
Ended the event with an awesome foam party!
Operations Manager
Chy is one of our greatest success stories in VBP. She started as a Financial Planning Assistant in April 2015, won the First Employee of the Year Award in 2016, then became a Client Services Manager in 2017.
Currently, she is one of the cluster heads working with Client Services Managers and Dedicated Team Leads in overseeing about 250 admin staff and ensuring right support and direction are provided to achieve great outcomes for clients.