Finance Colombia: So we’re here in Medellín at your new facility. Tell me, first, let’s talk about why TaskUs chose Colombia. You guys haven’t been in Colombia very long, less than five years, but you’re already growing rapidly down here. What caused you to first look at Colombia and then kind of, you know, go ahead and jump in and commit to the market?

Stephan Daoust: Sure, as an organization, we realized that we wanted to be more global and expand our footprint. Although the company started in the Philippines, we knew that if we wanted to compete on a larger scale, we would have to be in multiple areas around the world.

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When we looked at LATAM, we had opportunities in several countries, but we narrowed the field by looking at the culture, the talent, the opportunity, what our clients may be looking for, as well as in terms of locations, we looked at real estate. So several factors come in when we start looking at where we’re going to establish. So when we came into Colombia, we decided to start in Cali and then expand from there.

But what we found in Cali was that the talent, the richness of the talent, the opportunity was very strong, and the demand from our clients became very strong. We see great performance, we see great opportunity, and the teams are well-educated and work well in terms of supporting. And they have this hunger for development and career, and this allows them to tie our rapid growth with their demands for growth, and it’s a great fit. And that’s why we’ve seen this success in Colombia, and that’s why we continue to invest in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: How do you find, as the senior vice president in charge of different regions, how do you find the ease of doing business in Colombia compared to the other areas, compared to the EMEA region, for example?

Darryl Hill: Yes, what I like about Colombia is that it executes flawlessly in the main, and we deliver a great product for our clients. The clients, when we get them into this part of our global business, they want to grow with us, and that’s important. There are cultural differences across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, and different clients have different needs, okay?

When I think about Europe, the needs are very different from what we have in LATAM. It’s predominantly around what we call multilingual hubs, where TaskUs provides the capability of around 30 languages in Europe. When I look at LATAM, it’s predominantly Spanish and English, and that gives us a different cultural alignment. We’ve got different requirements for our clients. But ultimately, we developed a culture that’s pretty consistent within TaskUs, so the cultural element, for me, is not any different. The client’s requirements are what make a change in terms of where we go next.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, I notice that culture is very, very strong in TaskUs. I noticed that even down in Cali. What do you guys do to nurture that unified culture among your different locations?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, it starts with… The co-founders have started with this in mind, right? They started with an opportunity that’s focused on employees, and looking at respecting their needs. When you look at our structure and where we’re located, we’re predominantly located in Tier 2 cities. We do have some Tier 1 cities that we compete in, and the reason why we do that is because we need more specialized skills, or there’s a requirement from a client perspective. But from a TaskUs selection process, we start with looking at Tier 2 cities. Why?

Because we found tremendous talent, we find the opportunity to employ many, and we go to the locations where people are located. They don’t have to move to Bogotá, they can have a job in Medellín, they can have a job in Cali, they can have a job wherever they’re located, wherever they want to be located. So, it diminishes the movement and the pressure of having to try to move to find employment, and it allows people to just grow in the areas that they want to grow. May that be their homes and their families, and have that support as well as grow their careers

So, it starts at the foundation of how we’ve set up. When we look at our sites, we’ve built our sites with culture in mind, making sure that they have their own identity. The sites are named by the employees, not by the organization. So, the employees get to identify their own identity within the sites as well, and want to kind of contribute to growing. They feel more natural here, right?

I’ve heard many times this week, just having these focus groups with our people, that they talk about, you know, “We’re not a number,” right? “We’re treated like humans and it’s personal,” and that interaction. So, it starts at the top, in terms of driving that culture and that support, but the everyday function of our team leaders, our managers, our senior managers, they’re approachable. They support our teams. They have personal conversations, not just about work, but they’re looking to administer life. We look for both passion and purpose within their work, but outside of work as well. And that promotes this culture of, you know, being tied together, wanting to be successful together, rather than the individualism that we often see in this kind of industry.

Finance Colombia: And tell me about, we’re here in Punto Clave (‘Key Point’), and Punto Clave, and I don’t know how much you guys know locally from being in Medellín, but one of the reasons it has that name is because it’s kind of a nice area, but it’s also very central. You’re not really in downtown, but you can also reach both ends (north & south) of the city with the metro and everything like that. How did you guys come to choose the Punto Clave location?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, once you come to the location and understand our culture, you know exactly why we picked it. Ease of getting here, right? Our teammates don’t have to travel two or three hours to get here. They don’t have to get into three different modes of transportation to be able to connect and come here. The station is just outside. So the selection process comes with the culture in mind, thinking about how we make this easier for people to come to us, rather than making it difficult, and being in a central location where maybe it’s great for business, and perhaps it looks posh and comfortable for a company. We’re not about that. We’re about the employee experience. So it was very easy to select this process or select this area because of the accessibility that they have to come to work every day, and making that, as much as possible, easier for them.

They have great shops in the area. They got great food. They want to run an errand after they’re done at work; they can do that, right? So there’s plenty of opportunity for them to be here and support. We would never be in a location where it’d be very difficult to get to and people would have to travel hours to get to, because that would just not be our DNA. That’s not who we are.

“So it is critical that we can hire the talent. The talent is here. In some cases, even if it’s a bit raw and we need to develop, that’s great.” – Stephan Daoust

Finance Colombia: What is it that you guys do in your talent process to ensure that you not only cultivate the right talent once you have it, but also select the right talent? You know, I told somebody the other day, talent is hard. Talent is the hardest part of, I think, any business, but especially in a business where… I think this place has a capacity of 800, when you need to hire a lot of people, and there’s competition in the city. What is the method or the ingredient that TaskUs has that sets it apart when it comes to recruiting and developing talent?

Darryl Hill: What’s important is that we align on the profile from the very beginning in terms of the job and the responsibility. And it’s so important that we continue to evolve that profile. So with all the clients that we have all over the world, there are very different requirements. So, for this particular environment that we have in Medellín, we’ve got a very young environment, I would say 20 to 25-year-olds, because I asked the question this week; they are conscious that the BPO industry is evolving, and they want to work somewhere where it’s a little bit different. And the TaskUs secret sauce that we have in Colombia is that we’ve created a perception in the open market that we look after our people.

And every time I ask the same question, what sets us apart? It’s about the culture and the people. And the only other thing I’d add to the last question is that when we select leadership, it’s all about humility. And the people who are most important in this organization are our teammates. And that is clear for all levels of responsibility. And we continue to drive that with our people. Very, very humble approach to how we hire, retain, and develop our people.

Finance Colombia: What is your evaluation? And this is for both of you, so please both of you chime in. As a company that operates globally from the APAC region to the EMEA region to here in the Americas, what is your evaluation of the talent and everything from management potential and technical literacy, and bilingualism of the workforce that you have in Medellín?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, one of the selection processes, the level of education and opportunity for us to identify people who want to learn, want to grow, and can commit to growing their career, or want to commit to growing their career. The other part that we do quite well is that we also create our programs to develop people. So we have the academy, which looks at a range of businesses.

So if you want to do quality, there’s a program for that. If you want to do workforce management, there’s a program for that. You want to be a team leader, there’s a program for that, manager… So every position that we have within the business has a development program that’s attached to it. So, what we hire for from a leadership standpoint is really about the capability to learn, the capability to be adaptable, and the capability of caring for people. Those are probably the three fundamental areas that we look at when we look at our leadership.

Much of our leadership is growing internally. If you look at both Darryl and me, we both started as teammates. We won’t mention the years here. It’s been a couple of years, but ultimately, I started as a teammate taking calls. I’ve done every role within the operation. So we create this and we have our leaders understand what it means to be a teammate, what it means to be a team leader, and have some empathy and some compassion on what that role means, and also be able to support the future of that.

So it is critical that we can hire the talent. The talent is here. In some cases, even if it’s a bit raw and we need to develop, that’s great. That’s what we want. We want to be in a position where we create this culture and push that culture into them. And we teach them the rest. At the very end, we can teach them skills. If people want to learn and they’re adaptable, we will teach them whatever they need to learn to be successful in this environment.

Darryl Hill: Yeah. The only thing I’ll add is that our retention at the leadership level is phenomenal, which I have not seen before. And that is, again, going back to the culture, but also we have developed an internal strategy about how we keep those people interested in their current roles. And we give them the opportunities to grow. There is no particular part of my region that doesn’t continually grow. So there’s always an opportunity.

And when we get feedback around surveys, whatever else, one of the fundamental challenges I’ve seen in other organizations is, I have no opportunity to grow. But as we continue to do a good job and our clients appreciate what we’re doing for them, we continue to grow those clients, and people see those opportunities that they may not see in other places, which is important.

Finance Colombia: One of the things I noticed about TaskUs is that it has a very appetizing benefit package. And I hear that you guys give all of your employees, not just the mandatory EPS, but the same plan that the executives get, like the SURA plan, which is, you know, what I have that I pay for. And that’s kind of unheard of. That’s like for bank executives. Tell me about your philosophy. Is that true? And expand upon your philosophy when it comes to taking care of your teammates from the top to the very entry level.

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, and I think it goes back to the culture, right? The fundamental piece of the culture is that we don’t treat our C-suite level any differently than we treat our frontline. Yeah, there are some things that we need to manage, do, and support. But when it comes to benefits, we do provide additional benefits, not just the requirements in the country. And that is one of the reasons why some of the employees have been attracted to us because we’re providing that. There is no difference between the VP level in terms of what he has received in terms of a package at this site and the teammate level.

Why is that? Because the teammates are the most important. The frontline is the most important function. Without them, there’s none of us, right? So we provide them no distinction. We provide them the same access and the same support that we would provide our executive team for that reason alone, because at the very core, we’re about the people, caring about the people who take care of us.

Darryl Hill: Yeah, the only thing I’ll add to that, what I like about TaskUs is that we continue to reassess those benefits, right? In the main, it’s annually, but we get feedback locally. We get expert guidance from our leadership and our teammates in particular. And we take action on their feedback. So if something isn’t working out, we will make a change. We’re not afraid to do that.

Stephan Daoust: Just the interesting thing about that. Darryl and I both spend time in our locations. And when we go into locations, the most important meeting that we have is with our teammates. So we have focus groups. We meet with our teammates directly with no leadership in the room. And we ask them, “What do you love about us? What can we do better? How can we make this thing better for us and you, right? How can we take care of you so we can take care of our clients?”

So we don’t need a suggestion box. I mean, we formally do an opinion survey, but not only when we travel, but the leadership team is responsible for doing them regularly, and to report on them and identify what the opportunities are. Some things are easy to fix. You can do it the same day. Some will take a bit longer, and some will be challenged. But the reality is that’s why we exist. We exist here to make that life better. And our job is to get better every single day. That’s the motto.

Finance Colombia: Impressive. Is there anything that you wanted to mention that I neglected to ask?

Stephan Daoust: No, I think, I mean, ultimately, we want to continue to grow. I think we have a great opportunity to do that. It’s been fantastic so far in terms of Colombia’s support; our partners, when you talk about ease of doing business and supporting, we get media partnerships, we have government partnerships, we have non-governmental partnerships.

We’re just so happy with the support that we’re getting. I think everyone realizes the common ground that we are trying to create an environment of opportunity and careers, and they want to go on that journey with us, so we’re happy to take them along. TaskUs is growing faster than anyone in our space. We continue to grow at double digits. And that is because of the work that our teammates are doing every single day. So I can’t be more pleased with the story in Colombia, and we look forward to growing.

Alorica currently has approximately 350 employees in its first Cali, Colombia center, with a capacity to grow to 600 seats. The site is located in a large retail shopping mall, providing employees options for transport, dining, and entertainment. From the site, Alorica services financial, retail and healthcare accounts.

A year after the official opening, Alorica invited Finance Colombia in for a visit and tour of the facilities. Executive Editor Loren Moss spoke with Alorica team members including Talent Acquisition Manager Camila Rivas, Site Director Tulio Padilla, and Operations Manager Andrés Molina.

Finance Colombia: Colombia is very competitive when it comes to BPO and contact centers, but it is curious that although Cali is doing very well, it is not as well known as Bogotá and Medellín. What is the special touch that Cali offers to the sector?

Tulio Padilla: I think there are two types of advantages. The first is about our bilingual workforce and that is that in Cali, there are many programs that support the growth of bilingualism. That is not so common in cities like Bogotá and Medellin. In reality, I would say that Bogotá and Medellín are cities that are a little, or much more touristy than Cali, and the bilingual workforce that we have in Cali is much more local.

Likewise, Cali has fairly strong internet penetration. It is the third best city in the country for internet service, which of course helps us a lot with the stability of our network and the stability required to provide services to our customers. In addition, Cali’s location is strategic. This is a city with direct flights to many cities in the United States which obviously facilitates visits both by our clients and also by the different Alorica staff and, let’s say that the weather and the altitude also helps a lot so that there are not so many local risks such as earthquakes, risks of tidal waves allowing us to have a much greater stability than in other cities in the country

Finance Colombia: Right. I would like to ask you, speaking of manpower, how are you recruiting talent here? How difficult is it to find and hire bilingual talent?

Maria Camila Rivas: Yes. It is quite a big challenge. Because first, this industry is not known in the city and in the department. So, the first thing we did when we landed in the city was to make ourselves known as a real job option for young people and for anyone who wanted to look for work in Cali and in the surrounding cities or municipalities.

At the beginning, we had to educate the population, telling them what a call center is, what a BPO is, what our industry is as well as the options we offer. Once our brand was positioned, then we started looking for bilingual talent.

Let’s say with Andres, that is precisely why he is with us in this interview. He was the first to start the operation here. He was the first to start receiving that bilingual talent…So, it was also a learning curve between us as a recruitment department and his perspective from an operational standpoint, to search and find that balance that would allow us to identify those people. So, little by little, we found those niches, that pool of candidates that we required or that we needed because of their English level, and they brought their friends, their acquaintances, and so little by little, we filled the site. As you can see, we already have three different customers and in conjunction with the Pacific projects, anything related to the bilingualism programs, we get there. To introduce ourselves as a company, foster alliances with English institutes, everything that represents English, we are there.

Alorica Talent Acquisition Manager Camila Rivas

Finance Colombia: Alorica is recognized worldwide as a very important global call center brand, however this was the first working site for you in Colombia. Was it difficult to establish a brand? Because those who work in call centers in the industry such as those who follow the industry know very well who Alorica is, but getting here and hiring people is a different thing. How did you handle the challenge, to establish the brand not so much as a service provider but as an employer?

María Camila Rivas: So, we had, let’s say, two channels: the first, social networks. From the beginning, we had a community manager, who is still working with us, and she was in charge of taking all the culture we had at the regional level and landing it here in Colombia. So, we also started working with a local marketing agency to add the “Caleño” seal on it, so we said how everything was Caleño, cañelizate, Alorica Caleño accent, everything, so that people would start asking how is it? What is this?

Well then, at least out of curiosity, we began to reach out to young people. We started with Instagram, Facebook, so the good thing is that from the beginning we always had the building, so that would allow us to show candidates and potential candidates that this was real, that it was not something that we are showing today but that tomorrow it would not exist. We have an excellent location, we are located in Palmetto where most people know that it is a shopping center, it is not a building from nowhere, so let’s say that little by little, we had the guarantee to make ourselves known in the city.

In addition to that, as I was saying that we participated in other events with our brand, explaining to people who we are, what the opportunities are, and so on, I think it was a mix of many things: Our social networks, the marketing agency, our participation in events. Our goal was to be everywhere. We even had billboard cars moving around the city talking about Alorica, everything you can think of, we did it. Here we are!

Finance Colombia: What you do as an employer to promote individualism so that a person feels like: “when I go to work there is no need to hide who I am?”

Andres Molina: I think that one of the most important things for that, and that has happened here since we opened, has been the open door policy. I think that is key. The fact that anyone is able to establish open communication with each other regardless of their position. That allows us all to be ourselves and to be able to show who we are without fear, without fear of discrimination, without fear of retaliation of any kind. That has been something that since we launched, I think that all operations to date and in all support and administrative areas have been maintained. The fact that we all can talk without any problem—and also activities that are done within the site depending on the time of year.

We do different activities that allow people to show what they are good at. So, apart from the environment of only answering calls and only coming to work, they really show who they are. Let me give you an example; last month we had an activity in which everyone was very participative and very involved. And then those kinds of things, those kinds of activities and additionally, the support that is felt from each and every one from the areas is essential for that.

Finance Colombia: What are the opportunities to advance as a person starting from an entry level. Are there opportunities to grow? Tell me how that works

Andres Molina: There are, and I think it is one of the great advantages of being a new site. Let me tell you, for instance, from the program that I manage, in the year that we have been operating, we have promoted around fourteen, fifteen people between supervisors, trainers, even towards other areas such as talent acquisition and I think it is very important. And I think it is something that also people, when they began to know us and when they began to work here, they notice that they were real opportunities.

The fact of obtaining the projection of growth is not only in the individual programs but also as a site opens up these opportunities a lot. We focus a lot on getting to know the people we work with, knowing where they want to grow and what moves them in order to start developing and starting to create that BPO and call center culture that it is not only to stay answering calls all your life but that there opportunities to grow, opportunities to work in operations, training, quality support areas also have their own opportunities. So, it is one of the great advantages that we have as a new site to be able to show people and being able to show everyone who has come here that everyone, because I believe that almost everyone at this time, all the staff within each of the operations was promoted internally.

Finance Colombia: What would you say is the difference between Alorica and others, given that you are competing for talent with other employers inside and outside the sector. What is it that you do, not only from the employee standpoint but also from the customer standpoint? why choose Alorica instead of any other company?

Alorica Operations Manager Andrés Molina and Site Director Tulio Padilla

Tulio Padilla: I think there are many points, really. I have had the opportunity to work in different BPOs and I have never come across an organizational structure as strong and as good as the one that Alorica has. I think we have a very big advantage, and it is, first, in the BPO industry, each country works very individually, very apart.

Here, I think we have a great advantage, and that is that we have 23 years of combined experience from people who have helped us, guided us to have a very successful project without taking away the opportunity to customize Alorica to our culture and to bring our culture to the company, and that Alorica really opens the doors to understand the Cali culture as well as the Colombian culture in general, that would be something important for me.

Andres Molina: Yes. In addition, I believe that the work environment that we have been able to generate within the company and that, within that same environment that same communication that we have been able to generate internally; I really believe that we have been able to show our teammates that there is a real balance between work and life. I think that has been quite important to all of us here. We really care about the people we work with and we really care to make sure that they feel good at work as well in their personal life. Those have been key factors. I think that the entire leadership team is focused on showing that the balance can be real if we can achieve it as long as there is some communication…But I do believe that the working environment is and has been super important.

Maria Camila Rivas: I am on the same page there! For example, I have known Andres for, I would say, eight years now. We had the chance to work together in Bogotá for another very large BPO company and the two of us arrived here. I invited him to join this project believing that having the chance to start from scratch and having the opportunity to open a site gives you the chance to leave your mark. Andres is in fact from Barranquilla. He worked in Bogotá, we brought him from there to here

For example, in Tulio’s case, as I was telling you, the fact that he had already lived here, went back to Bogotá and has decided to come back here, clearly means that he understands the potential. We have been in this industry for about ten years, knowing different BPOs and what Tulio and Andres just mentioned, our work environment and how we work together, I think that is what has helped us.

We always go to a place together. For instance, eight days ago, we were celebrating our anniversary, everyone from all lines of business, all departments supporting, so I think that is what really stands out. Even candidates perceive it. When they get here, they sit in the lobby waiting to be interviewed. And when they see people walking by they realize that people are happy here. They say that there are no other places where people smile that much! That is why I love that they smile because that is our agents’ expression and the expression of most of the people who work here. There might be times when they are not smiling, maybe they want to have lunch, but in general they are happy, so that is what it does, because we too, from the different areas and departments, whatever the role in the hierarchy, we want people to feel good. That is precisely what we do here in Alorica.

Known for its strong culture and employee-friendly environment, TaskUs won industry association BPro’s 2022 Bronze CX Interaction awards for best administration of human capital.

Known for its strong culture and employee-friendly environment, TaskUs won industry association BPro’s 2022 Bronze CX Interaction awards for best administration of human capital.

Unlike traditional centers, the TaskUs facility is designed as flexible space that can accommodate workers that want a traditional commute to work, as well as those who want to work from home and “drop in” from time to time. Finance Colombia’s executive editor Loren Moss recently visited the facility for a tour, and to speak with Beatriz Viveros, TaskUs’ Senior Recruitment Manager for Latin America.

Finance Colombia: Can I have your name and your position here?

Beatriz Viveros: Sure, I am Beatriz Viveros (above photo), Senior Recruitment Manager for Latin America.

Finance Colombia: Ah, ok so not only for Colombia but for all of Latin America?

Beatriz Viveros: Yes, for now, we are located in Cali (Colombia) and Tijuana (México). Also, well, I would also be part of some, additional growth that we are considering here in Latin America

 Finance Colombia: Why did you choose Cali? Why Colombia and then why Cali specifically?

Beatriz Viveros: Well, why Colombia? The corporation has always been looking to grow in Latin America, it has seen it as an offshore need close to the United States because of the time zone, which suits us a lot, as well as Colombia; the level of training, the level of bilingualism and obviously the financial solidity as well as country security.

Most of our operations are in the Philippines, which is where the company started…This topic of growing multilingual began, so that is why the topic of Spanish was highly valued. So it was part of this growth of multi-language that the company is doing and that is why they chose Colombia.

When they began to review Colombia, the truth is that there is an anecdote that our vice president would tell you better, but when they began to review Colombia, they reviewed other cities, they did not know anything about Colombia and considered cities other than Cali.

They never considered Bogotá, because the idea of TaskUs is not to be located in these super crowded and super dense cities in which market competition is extremely tough, so we want to be located in places where we can make a difference and where the impact is felt.

Cali, well, the anecdote that our vice president always tells is that, when they called him to offer this job, which was the first person they hired here, they mentioned Medellín. So, they asked him, Can you move to Medellín? And he said, yes, that might be an option. It seems cool to me, but have you considered Cali? He is from Cali.

Then they asked him, “are you serious about Cali?” And he said “of course.” Cali is the third city in the country, the cost of living is lower than Bogotá. Bogotá and Medellín are more populated, especially in the BPO ecosystem, than the other two cities, and also Cali has super strong telecommunications infrastructure. I believe that this is something very few people know about Cali. So, let’s see, Colombia has three undersea internet cables, the first two access the country from the north and they supply service to a vast part of the country. The third one accesses the country through the Pacific. That one from the Pacific goes straight into Cali so, the quality that we have is very big in that aspect. In addition, there is also a talent training issue that is very little explored with very few BPO players here, so he always cataloged it as a hidden gem and told them that.

The TasskUs facilities in northern Cali, Colombia have a sports-themed environment.

He says that later when he arrived for his second interview, they told him, “well, we want to share with you that the city where we are going to start operations is Cali.” So, he contacted them with Invest Pacífic and everything else. I believe that at that time the corporation realized the value and the great strategic position of the city to grow here in Latin America.

They realized all the great values that Cali could have and everything that was not exploited and they loved it. After that, we started all the exploration in Cali and it has gone very well for us.

We arrived in Cali at a very critical moment for the city, we started operations in January 2021. If you remember, we were here three months before the riots, not sure if you are aware of that. So, we were launching, riots were going on, we were in the middle of COVID, but I think that the way TaskUs launched, how focused we are on the benefits for its employees. They came from having faced this pandemic issue in the Philippines, the importance of keeping people safe, to be able to offer the additional benefits that we provide, we have prepaid medicine for all our employees so that they are safe

That sold very well then, when we arrived, people loved it. Well, I am the recruitment manager. I tell you, for me, the work was not complicated. People understood all this, what we do, and this has always been our priority. Always to keep our people safe. All the ramping that was done in Colombia was work from home accounts

Right now, we are going back to the site. This started more or less a month ago and it has been very gradual. We are not one of those companies that say, “well, tomorrow you have to be on site working and I do not care about your daughter, your school, your transportation, your house,” all of these. On the contrary, coming back to the site has been very well-planned giving people time. So, I think these have been the great advantages. That was the reason why we chose Cali and they are the reasons why we have already been so successful in the city.

Finance Colombia: When talking about the workforce, what would be the advantages, how is the recruiting process, how are you hiring people, what differences are, for example, when talking about bilingualism, education, preparation for employability, and so on?

Beatriz Viveros: I would say that the first topic is soft skills. Definitively, “El Caleño” (someone from Cali) is known for being…having a friendly personality, for being empathetic and all those qualities are transmitted very well into customer service and match with TaskUs style. We provide proactive service, many customer services, and what makes us different in the BPO world is the type of clients we work with which are hyper growth and are very disruptive, so our services have to be the same and to do so, the way we deal with it, the relationship with our employees, the way we deal with all the talent challenges are different.

We strive to provide benefits that are completely “ridiculous”. With that, we achieve that our employees are engaged with the company and with our customers, so that we provide outstanding service to those clients, and they have customer service way beyond a standard BPO.

So, what have we found here? Well, we found that there are more than 30 institutions that produce bilingual people a year providing more than 7,000 bilinguals a year. The bilingualism percentage has grown tremendously in Cali in the last 10 years, from 4% to 15% of the population that we have. That huge pool of bilinguals, from B1 to B2 (English levels) available, is another thing that caught our attention and, as I was saying, the cost of living is quite affordable compared with the rest of the cities in the country. Now, when we are recruiting, it has not been all that simple that we put up the little flag and a lot of people arrive

We have made some very great efforts, precisely with the mayor’s office since we got here, mostly training related. So, what is it that you find a lot in our geography? And you should know it very well. Individuals who have made an effort to learn English but given that they do not have opportunity to practice it enough, their fluency is not the best. So, we created a school dedicated to solving that issue. It is called The Art of Fluency which started operations in May of last year.

We have already graduated more than 100 students with a very high success rate, we graduated about 80% of the students. Those individuals after they graduate from a completely free program with us, they can re-access our selection process to be considered again

We have hired a large proportion of these students. It is very interesting because they have either come from initiatives that we have made in conjunction with the mayor’s office, or they are people who approach us to work with us; however, during the process we realize that they are not that proficient. So, we tell them, “look, you are a little rusty, your English sounds a little choppy, you need training.” But we also know that here in Colombia we are not prepared to this level of bilingualism and that is why TaskUs decided to invest in this as a kickback completely to the community, and it has benefited us a lot.

In my recruiting team, there is this lady with quite a success story. She came to the recruitment process, she entered the academy then she came to work with us as a teammate, she worked for a few months and then she participated in an internal promotion process. She was with us in a trial process to see how she was doing to become a recruiter and right now she is working with us as a sourcer and it is incredible. I love stories like that. She is a mother, she has a daughter, and she says, I love it here. She was with us at the launch.

She has a somewhat unusual name for Colombia. Her name is Ariacna. So, she says, this is one of the first places where they pronounce my name correctly and they also take me into account for all the other things, like how to improve my English, the schedule with my daughter and everything else. So, there are very nice stories that prove that this really works. We can discuss very large numbers and other topics, but I can tell you that it is very cool to see someone from my team whose life I know has changed and that her daughter’s life has changed because of that, so it is very interesting. That is our great commitment with the talent from Cali.

Finance Colombia: What types of clients do you serve? Not sure if you can name them.

 Beatriz Viveros: I can not name them but I can tell you what they are about. For example, there is a car sharing service, a car sharing platform in the United States. There is also a service with fintech with financial platforms. We have some very interesting services, for example DNA Testing, we provide customer service for them also an alcohol delivery service. There is a service, with all this COVID situation, there are a lot of health-related decks, so we provide assistance with COVID tests and other types of health related topics. There are also many e-commerce companies, and given that most of our services are very focused on cloud services, they are all very innovative companies that are just as disruptive, just like us, all hypergrowth and with the intention of growing very fast, different and with excellent customer service. So, we have had tech for education as well. There is an online learning platform, a high-level company, and we provide customer service to them. Right now, we have a very interesting one that is coming, and they are those strange things that come here, that are not seen in other companies, for example, a digital locker provider; there are these lockers that you can have in certain places but you have some digital tokens…

Finance Colombia: Oh yeah. That is already growing…

Beatriz Viveros: …To access. So, all these types of clients that are so different that require a different customer service than the regular tele-call that you could have anywhere else, those are our clients and that is what we prepare our talent for.

Finance Colombia: What is different about TaskUs? Obviously there are many high quality BPOs and many BPOs that provide high levels of service, but can you tell me what it is that defines TaskUs that are that is different, not like, “we have better service,” everyone says that, but speaking of what they are, if someone is evaluating all the BPOs: “Wow, TaskUs is unique,” or is it beyond the others because—not sure if it because of its focus, why would it be?

 Beatriz Viveros: Because we choose to work with different clients. As mentioned, the majority of them are hypergrowth, disruptive companies unique within their market and, now we are working with another that produces digital passports for teams to work in very large mining or construction companies. So, as you can see, they all are companies who do unique, very special things that are beginning to grow and that we can grow with them. That is the first part.

The second part is how those companies approach their relationship with their frontline, their teammates. We believe that the best way to produce security for our clients in the management of their information and in the management of their clients, is to treat our frontline in the best way, always thinking people first. So, clear examples of those: Here in Colombia, you know that prepaid medicine is an upper management benefit only. TaskUs provides prepaid medicine for its entire frontline here. They all have a 100% contract with Medisanitas, which you know, is one of the best companies here in Colombia. It is 100% covered for them. Also, they can add two beneficiaries and TaskUS pays 50% of such cost. And given that we managed such a good deal with them, that fee is way lower than what they can get anywhere else. That is one of the ways of telling you how we treat people well so that they are so happy to be here, that our clients’ information is not at risk nor is the service of our clients’ clients at risk.

In addition, we provide tuition reimbursement which is a global benefit for all TaskUs employees and that’s another thing, the benefit is the same for everyone, frontline, managers, supervisors. We provide $500USD a year to study whatever you want. It could be language training, certifications, or college. Those funds are available every year at your disposal.

We also have the benefit that I like the most, which I always say is the birthday off, and it is a real thing that happens that people can schedule. Also, we have other types of benefits. We have something super unique which is the wellness center. There are psychologists, coaches and psychiatrists dedicated to the mental care of people when they need it and we have a lot of proactive activities for people. I can tell you that when I got here, I found things as diverse as intuitive nutrition, mandala courses, talks on empowering women’s sexuality, that is, some spectacular things that you would say, are things that contribute to the total growth of the employee, and it is rare to see them in a company

So, that is the sense that we have and I would tell you that those two things are different, with whom we choose to work and how we choose to work with people

Finance Colombia: So the management, the upper TaskUs management, is satisfied with their decision to choose Cali?

 Beatriz Viveros: Yes. We are growing a lot, and as you can see this site’s capacity is for about 375 employees and we already have hired more than 800 teammates. So this clearly implies that we have had greater growth than expected, that very soon we will need another site like this one and we have been working here for a year and a half and we are completely happy with Cali.

Finance Colombia: Attrition is not a problem?

 Beatriz Viveros: We have one of the lowest attrition rates, it is not a problem, right now; low compared to the industry and low compared to other cities. Precisely because of benefits and employee management because there is also something more about philosophy, not so much about money, because if you know the BPO industry, you know this matter of telling someone about his schedule but when they start working, they say, “sorry we need to change the schedule,” we do not do that here. Saying, “you know, the volume of the client went down so I need you to ask for a vacation tomorrow” and you go like “but wait I am in the middle of the week, I have nothing to do, I have no money!” We do not do that kind of thing. So, we try to enable people to plan their lives, to plan their free time, it matters a lot to us so that they can rest, and we do it very well out of respect. On that matter, the HR Department is very firm and works hand in hand with all the other areas and help us a lot to control attrition-related issues.

Finance Colombia: Bpro is one of the most important industry associations here in Colombia representing BPOs and contact centers. The first thing is that I want to congratulate you for this event, because I have attended these events since 2013 or 2014, and it’s getting bigger and bigger every time, with more and more attendance, and even despite the pandemic it didn’t stop. So now that we are here in Cartagena, in a larger venue, tell me, why did you “change the chip?” Why did you choose to move to this venue here in Cartagena?

Ana Karina Quessep: Loren, thank you for always being present. We decided to come to Cartagena because through these last two years, which have been difficult for everyone, we wanted to find a place where we could think out of the traditional, where we were able to see each other in a kinder way, and what a better city than Cartagena to do this change? The world is made out of changes nowadays, and I think this is for us as well as for the sector, it brings us the opportunity to be able to be here and we are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the industry association and the event.

Finance Colombia: Wow, well I have received a lot of positive comments, I see this event is bigger than ever and you always have very dynamic conference. I know that there’s an after event tonight, this sort of white party, and even though we are here speaking of serious matters, the flavor is very different compared to past events. The flavor of this event is different, was that intentional? Was that the plan or was it a part of a happy accident?

Ana Karina Quessep: I think it was intentional first, and after that, it’s just the happiness provided by all the participants for being here again, seeing each other again. How long had it been since you and I have not seen each other face to face but only virtual? So this is kind of the reason why we decided to come and establish here, provide a wonderful experience, and this event is focused on the human side of CX (customer experience), so we’d have to give the best experience and search for that reason to talk and to reinforce those relationships, to do business, to talk about partnerships, to be together, so I think it’s been a mix of both and we are really glad because of the results.

Finance Colombia: Of course. For the companies in other countries, companies that are BPOs and contact centers, but also for the companies that offer goods and services, we are talking about software, or the services or advisors that work in the sector, who should attend the CX Summit?

Ana Karina Quessep: I think there are two large groups that attend our CX Summits. First, all of the companies that are in this business, at a national level as an international level, since we have attendants from Portugal, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama, who want to learn about all this innovation and everything since we have an academic agenda, a very strict agenda, well elaborated, that allows us to oversee everything related to trends.

And on the other hand, all of the companies that are currently looking for looking to establish in Colombia so that they get to know first-hand what we offer as a country. And there’s more, here there are all the technology providers, infrastructure and all the BPOs and contact center service providers that are also looking for those clients to be able to keep growing as a sector. So it’s a mix of those three, which I think is fundamental since it complements everything, and we close the cycle with the academic, innovation and business.

Finance Colombia: Excellent. I am enjoying being here but also looking at looking forward to the next year.

Ana Karina Quessep: No doubt here in Cartagena next year, the same date, 10th and 11th of May 2023.

Finance Colombia: Of course, I will block my agenda.

Ana Karina Quessep: Please, and invite everyone next year.

Bpro website: https://www.bpro.org/

CX Summit website: https://cxsummit.com.co/

Last year, during the first peak of the COVID Pandemic, President Ivan Duque ordered all companies that could arrange work-from-home options for employees to do so. Mintic this week released statistics saying that last year, 209,173 employees became remote workers, an increase of 71% compared to 2018 when only 122,278 workers logged in from home. The number is surely low, as many knowledge workers, confectionery (sewing) workers, freelancers, and informal workers remain uncounted.

The Penetration and Perception of Telework study was presented Wednesday of last week by Vice-Minister of Digital Transformation Iván Durán, who said: “The world has changed, and the way of working will not be the same as it was before the pandemic. People will return to the offices, but it is clear that there will be a more flexible dynamic, as companies realized that people can be productive by being at home and managing their time.”

91% of the companies surveyed responded that they adopted remote work, as it was the only option during the health emergency caused by covid-19.

The main cities that adopted teleworking were Bogotá with 157,417 teleworkers; followed by Medellín with 26,569; Barranquilla with 9,213; Cali with 5,421, and Bucaramanga with 3,467 people. The document also detailed that during 2020 six out of 10 companies were in the process of adopting teleworking, representing 56% of the sample and with an increase of one percentage point compared to the result of 2018.

In 2020, 25% of companies were doing pilot tests for the implementation of teleworking, while in 2018 the figure was 22% and in 2014 it was 21%. Similarly, 91% of the companies surveyed responded that they adopted remote work, as it was the only option during the health emergency caused by covid-19.

During 2020, four out of 10 companies were willing to migrate to the formal teleworking model, while before the pandemic seven out of 10 companies had not considered adopting teleworking. In addition, the study revealed that of the companies that have not implemented teleworking, only three out of 10 would be willing to adopt it in the next 2 years, mainly due to their economic activity.

“Remote work, in its different modalities, has transformed the lives of workers and companies; it has been a resource that has allowed many companies not to go bankrupt. It has also served as an impetus for them to move towards digital and a more flexible use of time. In fact, the study shows that, within companies, the administrative and financial areas doubled their adoption of telework between 2018 and 2020, going from 44% to 80%,” said Durán.

Photo courtesy MinTIC

Asurion is expected to create more than 1,500 local full-time jobs within 2021 for candidates with a high proficiency in Spanish and English in positions as technical support customer care and sales representatives, with additional human resources, operations, training, and support positions within 2021.

Charity Chavez is Asurion’s Director of Operations in Colombia.

The hiring, which began in April, is part of a global push to accommodate Asurion’s continued growth in the tech services industry. Employees will work on-site in the second half of 2021, with safety and social distancing guidelines and protocols in place in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the Colombian Ministry of Health, the District Health Office and the Colombian Government.

“We are excited to expand our operations to Bogota, Colombia, which will help us attract additional talent to our teamwork as the global demand for tech help continues to grow. We look forward to becoming a part of the Bogota community,” said Charity Chavez, Asurion Director of Operations in Colombia.

Asurion’s new home in Bogota will be in the C26 office building located on Calle 26# 85b-09 between Avenida Ciudad de Cali and Avenida Boyaca in the Salitre area of the city, near the El Dorado International Airport. The location also provides additional office space to accommodate future growth.

“This customer care center will be the largest of our customer care centers across the globe,” said Chavez.

Asurion has more than 22,000 employees worldwide. Bogotá offers significant accessibility that aligns with the customer service approach and the promise to help make technology accessible to Asurion customers. Furthermore, the development and growth of the city generates favorable conditions for workers as well as providing a privileged location with important access roads and public transportation.

To learn more about Bogota job opportunities at Asurion, visit careers.asurion.com/bogota.

TaskUs already operates technology hubs in locations such as the United States, Europe, Taiwan, and India, and this marks the company’s first foray into South America. Launching this month, the company will initially employ a 100% telework remote working modality. However once open, TaskUs says the site will offer recreation and relaxation areas, collaborative spaces and fun zones with gaming equipment and kiosks.

TaskUs offers innovative work-life balance policies like meeting-free Fridays, no-chat weekends, and the requirement of a “truly unplugged” vacation.

“On behalf of Invest Pacific, we celebrate the start of operations of TaskUs in Cali. Their arrival reassures the investment confidence that has been consolidating in our city-region and reinforces Cali’s position as a global services hub. Our city and region has a recognized vocation for services, a strong business network, and qualified human talent. This is part of the reason why we have more than 42 international service and technology companies operating in our territory,” said Alejandro Ossa Cárdenas, executive director at Cali and the Valle del Cauca department’s investment promotion agency, Invest Pacific.

TaskUs offers additional wellness and employee support programs including on-staff life coaches, and round-the-clock psychological and psychiatric services for free. Interested candidates may contact TaskUs here.

“Cali is Colombia’s hidden gem! Whether you are looking for birdwatching, salsa dancing lessons, sports, or even best-of-class outsourcing operations, Cali is the place to be as the strategic development node of southwest Colombia.” said Guillermo Ulloa, vice president of operations for TaskUs Colombia. “TaskUs’ expansion to Cali represents a continuation of its mission to serve and help our clients. This means more jobs, more talent development, and more social contribution.”

Above image: the first three TaskUs employees in Colombia

“We celebrate that TaskUs is arriving in Cali and are confident that our city has the human talent and advantages to strengthen the growth of services-based companies. This great news positions Cali as a digital and creative investment destination,” said Maria Fernanda Santa, Cali’s Secretary of Economic Development, adding that foreign direct investment contributes to the economic recovery of the city from the effects of the pandemic.

Photo courtesy: TaskUs / Invest Pacific

The Office of the Attorney General charged 24 people before the Second Municipal Court of Quimbaya, Quindío for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, aggravated fraud in mass modality, aggravated violation of personal data and non-consensual transfer of assets.

The investigation carried out by a prosecutor of the Support Structure of the Quindío Section, with the support of SIJÍN (Colombia’s regional domestic intelligence organ) and INCOCRÉDITO (Colombia’s financial industry anti-fraud association), and demonstrated that the defendants are part of the Organized Common Crime Group (GDCO) “Los Call Center.”

In accordance with the provisions, those now prosecuted allegedly managed seven front call centers located in Quimbaya, Quindío, Manizales, Caldas and Dosquebradas, Risaralda where they exercised roles as owners, liaisons with banks, administrators, supervisors and advisers in order to deceive their victims.

Prosecutors say that they bought financial databases with confidential information to access victims whom they called posing as bank advisers offering different products or inducing them to acquire portfolios of services that they had never requested, under pretexts such as it was mandatory to purchase insurance or that they were recipients of a gift, as well as handling fee waivers.

Due to these facts, the judge ordered custodial and non-custodial security measures for the 24 suspects investigated, as follows:

Jail Awaiting Trial

• Doman Betancur Montes
• Estefanía Corrales Grisales
• Juan Manuel Correa Grisales

House Arrest

• María Eugenia Ríos Tabares (alleged leader)
• Duván Obando Valencia (alleged leader)
• Erika Gómez Martínez
• Yesenia Soto Loaiza

Released Pending Trial

• Yeison David López Villa
• Zaira Patricia Pomares Díaz
• Jenny Carolina Villada Largo
• Manuela Cárdenas Gil
• Yenny Natalia Ramirez Montes
• Sara Inés Ramírez Castro
• Diana Patricia Arévalo Castellanos
• Astrid Carolina Agudelo Jiménez
• Sandra Viviana Cardona
• María Camila Velásquez Agudelo
• Natalia Arenas López
• María Antonia Ospina Cardona
• Yolima Zapata Carvajal
• Erika García Cárdenas
• Paola Jiseth Duque Ramírez
• Carmen Emilia Álvarez Barahona (accused at liberty)
• Felipe Ramírez Mejía (accused at liberty)

Through the investigation in which sufficient material probative elements and physical evidence were collected, it was determined that 16 national banks and 4 international banks were affected, with a confirmed fraud of $5,062,904,251 COP. Likewise, financial data of 18,470 people were found in Colombia and other countries, and 6,929 records referring to claims of fraud, non-consensual purchases or without specification of the type of claim, of which more than 3,500 victims were identified.

Legally obtained interceptions account for the way in which the databases would have been purchased, in addition to the exchange and commercialization of data reserved for making non-consensual purchases in different commercial establishments.

The suspects were captured in the middle of six raids carried out by members of the SIJÍN on September 15 last in Manizales and Villamaría (Caldas), and Pereira and Dosquebradas (Risaralda), achieving the seizure of 116 hard drives, 2,300 pages with databases, 5 cell phones, 4 computers, a car for domain extinction purposes and two properties for confiscation purposes.

Image courtesy Policia Nacional

Among other measures, the president explicitly ordered telework modalities for all businesses and government agencies where possible. This would exclude persons who cannot perform their duties remotely such as nurses, retail cashiers, construction workers, etc.

Article 6 of Decree 749 of 2020 states: Telework and work from home. During the duration of the sanitary emergency caused by the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic, public and private sector entities will procure that their employees and contractors whose presence is not indispensable in the workplace, to perform their functions and obligations under the modalities of telework, work-from-home, or other similar.

The wide-ranging order also mandates biosafety protocols for those who much be in the workplace or conducting personal activities in public. Public gatherings remain prohibited, and casinos, bars, dance halls, and other “establishments of dance, leisure and entertainment” remain closed.

Restaurants may only serve carryout or delivery, gyms, pools, spas, and sports courts remain closed as do cinemas, theaters, and churches. Parks may be used on a limited, individual basis, but group outdoor activities remain prohibited. Public consumption of alcohol is prohibited but alcohol sales for in-home consumption are permitted.

“Telperformance’s experience in developing the WAHA (Work At Home Agent) model was the pillar on which we were able to consolidate and implement a remote-work strategy in the country in a very short time. The safety measures taken by the national government aimed to contain the contagion rates the best way possible, which is why we made the necessary arrangements to accelerate the adaptation of nearly 20.000 of our collaborators to work from their homes in a span of one month, a record time for such a feat. Therefore, these new job openings will also be under the work from home model,” explained Andrés Bernal, CEO of Teleperformance CGP region (Colombia-Guyana-Peru).

Teleperformance has announced an urgent need for 4,000 English, Portuguese and French bilingual agents in Colombia to work from home, despite the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Teleperformance has switched nearly 23.000 employees in Colombia to telework modalities in the past weeks, mirroring the company’s actions in multiple regions across the globe. For those employees that still must work on-site or find telework problematic for other reasons, the company indicates that it has implemented meticulous sanitation, disinfection and cleaning protocols following the recommendations of the Colombian government, local administrations and the World Health Organization to mitigate COVID-19 infections, and comply with Teleperformance’s global practices.

“Our concern will always be our people. Because of this, we look for alternatives that allow us to fully comply with Colombian legislation and with the stability of our personnel. We will always aim to attract the best talent available in Colombia, to put it at the service of the world. As an organization, we have implemented corporate policies that include rigorous health and sanitation processes in facilities and workplaces, in order to protect the entire community, and now, we are generating opportunities that help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 situation,” Bernal added.

Interested candidates legal to work in Colombia may be located anywhere in the country and in addition to Spanish, must be fluent in English, French or Portuguese, since they will be interacting with customers that speak in those languages. Applicants may apply on Teleperformance Colombia’s website.