Monday, November 06, 2006 BPO firm opens office in Cebu, creates 1T jobs
ANOTHER US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company has come to Cebu, creating more than a thousand job opportunities to qualified college graduates.
Teletech, a global BPO that provides a full range of front-to-back office out-sourced solutions, has opened Cebu Customer Management Center (CMC), a contact center that provides customer services to two of Teletech’s clients — an international airline and a retail company.
“(But) we have a couple of US-based companies in the pipeline that will be served by our Cebu branch,” said Maulik Parekh, Teletech’s vice president and general manager for Philippine operations.
“Our Cebu facility will have more than 700 seats and more than a thousand employees when fully staffed,” he added.
Work force
CMC, located at Oakridge IT Center in Mandaue City, has already hired 300 contact center representatives since it opened last month.
Parekh told a press conference at the Olio Restaurant last Friday that about 70 percent of the work force the company has hired is composed of new entrants to the contact center industry. The remaining 30 percent came from contact centers already operating in Cebu, he said.
Dennis Tagamolila, site director for Cebu CMC, said the company is fully aware of the high turnover rate of contact center employees in Cebu.
This is why CMC has designed the interiors of its two-story building to provide its contact center agents with modern amenities and state-of-the-art technology, he said.
Contact centers operating in Cebu are coming up with programs and incentives to prevent their employees from hopping to the next BPO firm or looking for other jobs.
Conducive
Tagamolila said CMC has ergonomic workstations that ensure staff efficiency and performance in a “conducive and relaxing business environment.”
The building is equipped with state-of-the-art training laboratories to provide employees the best learning practices and modules in online-and instructor-led training.
CMC also has an on-site cafeteria and gourmet café that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a game room and quiet rooms for employees to catch up on sleep.
“More than your usual call center, Teletech offers a lifestyle program where employees receive privileges, such as discounts, rebates and freebies from member-establishments in fashion, cuisine, fitness and entertainment, among others,” he said.
“Teletech promotes career growth for the top performers of our workforce and encourages them to maximize their potentials as leaders of the organization,” he added.
Expansion
Parekh said Teletech is already looking for possible sites in Cebu to expand its operations.
He said the company is more keen on locating in provincial areas, or in places outside of business districts, as it wants to bring the job to the people.
“In Manila, 90 percent of call centers are in Makati or in business districts. But most of their employees are not from Makati and have to travel two to three hours to get to work. Thus, we opened our branches in Pasay, Novaliches, Cainta and Lipa,” Parekh said.
In the Visayas, Teletech chose to establish office first in Bacolod and Dumaguete, before coming to Cebu, to take advantage of the cheap real estate cost in the other cities. Competition for qualified human resource was also less stiff in these areas compared to Cebu. (JBN)
