Stoneridge Electronics

Recruiting workers from its European neighbours enables Stoneridge Electronics to support a growing customer base of businesses throughout Europe, who are reliant on its products.

The Dundee-based company has a 30-year history of developing and manufacturing Tachographs for data recording in line with EU regulations.

With established markets in the UK, France and Spain, Stoneridge is now expanding into other countries including Germany, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands and relies on native speakers to support this roll-out.

Nearly 20% of its 116 staff in Dundee are international graduates from these countries and others, including Belgium and Switzerland, with degrees in various disciplines, including law and marketing.

They are employed across Stoneridge's three customer-facing teams – Telesales, Customer Support and Technical Support – handling enquiries from existing customers and making calls to potential new ones.

"I think it's absolutely vital that we recruit people who speak a number of different languages," says Stuart Adams, European Fleet Support Manager. "We can't expect our customers who get in touch with us to be language experts. And if we only had English speakers here it would be difficult to talk them through any issues and assist in getting them fixed as soon as possible. So having local-language support is vital for both the customer service and technical teams.

"In terms of sales, it's easier to explain to potential customers the extensive feature set and unique selling propositions of our products when speaking to someone in their own language. It's really important for us when we move into these new markets that we have local-language support."

In addition, cultural diversity is another big bonus for the business. "For example, learning that some nationalities much prefer to interact with a person rather than purchasing through a website," Adams explains. "Having so many different nationalities just gives us a much wider perspective."

Stoneridge's international workers were sourced through recruitment websites, agencies, referrals from existing employees and, as European Union nationals, were entitled to come to the UK and seek work here.

CONTACT

Stoneridge Electronics Ltd
Charles Bowman Avenue
Claverhouse Industrial Park
Dundee
Scotland

Tel: + 44 (0) 871 700 7070
Web: www.stoneridge-electronics.info
Email: sales@elc.stoneridge.com