So far, the BPO firms, including Teleperformance, Sykes, Sutherland, Sitel, Outsourcing S.A., One Link BPO, IGT Solutions, Emtelco and Alorica have hired over 3,500 Venezuelans as part of their combined workforce of approximately 85,000 in Colombia.

Ana Karina Quessep, Executive President at BPrO, said, “BPO firms in Colombia are taking the lead in integrating refugees into their workforce. We’re very proud of their progress to date and pleased to see that they are having positive experiences hiring this talented workforce. We’re thrilled to be joining this initiative to continue to highlight the leadership of the Colombian BPO sector.”

Approximately 2 million Venezuelan refugees are currently living in Colombia

Over 5 million Venezuelans have fled poverty, crime, and political repression in their home country, that was once the wealthiest in South America. Of that refugee population, around 2 million are now in neighboring Colombia.  The Colombian government has recently moved to provide a legal refugee status for these Venezuelans, allowing them to work in the formal sector.

Lucas Gomez, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, said: “The Colombian government has taken a resolute decision to integrate Venezuelans into our economy. We see Venezuelans as talented workers as we begin to recover from the economic recession brought on by Covid-19. We’re encouraged to see our BPO sector stepping up to this challenge and hope more companies will follow their lead.”

Debi Hamill is CEO of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP)

Debi Hamill, CEO at IAOP, said: “We’re excited to launch this initiative alongside our partners today. This is a pioneering effort to not only support the integration of Venezuelan refugees, but to also advance the impact sourcing movement, by building more inclusive global supply chains.”

Previously published research by Tent and the Fiscal Policy Institute shows that refugees are three times more likely to stay with their employers than non-refugee employees. With staff turnover a key challenge for the BPO sector, hiring Venezuelans can help lower onboarding and turnover costs. Teleperformance, the world’s largest CX outsourcer stated that it has hired over 2,000 Venezuelans already.

Sitel says that it plans to hire another 300 Venezuelan refugees over he next 3 years. “Since 2017, our teams in Colombia have hired nearly 500 Venezuelan refugees,” said Eduardo Endo, country manager, Sitel Colombia. “We are honored to support this vulnerable population with growing career opportunities and education programs as they build a new life here in Colombia. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the refugee crisis in Venezuela, and we’re proud to be able to do our part for many of these immigrants.”

Gideon Maltz, Executive Director at the Tent Partnership for Refugees, said: “I am incredibly proud of the nine companies that joined our initiative today. They have shown great leadership by integrating Venezuelans into their workforce — helping refugees build a new life, while also reaping the benefits of a committed and hard-working workforce. We look forward to seeing the multinational companies that purchase BPO services join and expand this important effort.”

Transcom previously had a center in Cali, Colombia serving clients in Spain until 2016, while the company’s primary focus was on European clients. n 2017 private equity firm Altor purchased the company in a $330 million USD buyout and began investing in the firm with a global strategy, including a strong push into North America.To that end, they brought in Atlanta-based Sitel veteran Donald Berryman as the firm’s new global Chief Commercial Officer.

“We were in Peru and we were in Chile, and all those markets supported offshore Spain, basically, and for some reason, the team at the time was totally dedicated to their own regions, and so we didn’t even sell nearshore English or Spanish from the U.S. into Colombia because it was managed by Spain,” said Berryman.

Juan Rodrigo Hurtado will lead Transcom’s operations in Colombia.

“We’ll be focusing, as Don mentioned, not only on US market share, but also on those formats where we have a lot of experience here in Colombia. We’ll be attentive the Spanish market from Spain and the U.S. market as well,” added Hurtado.

Transcom’s operations in Colombia will function as a hybrid telework and on-premises contact center, with agents hired initially from the metropolitan Bogotá area. Offices are located in the Calle 100 business district on Bogotá’s north side.

“One of the benefits we have coming into the market now post-Covid is that the tremendous work at home platform that we have—and even in the U.S. not everyone is fit for work at home or wants to, you know—I think there’s somewhere around 50 or 60 percent of the people that we interview that that can work from home and the others either because they need the socialization or they don’t have the right environment at home, and who want to use that same thing, but using this hybrid model that we start, the market is really going to make a big difference for us because we already know a lot of that: what works and what doesn’t work with work at home and then providing that ability for them to come into the facility one or two days a week”to socialize makes a big difference,” said Berryman.

Donald Berryman is Transcom’s Chief Commercial Officer.

The company initially wasn’t sure they were going to return to Colombia, but started from zero, considering all locations. “We used [contact center consultant] Peter Ryan to do some research for us looking at if we’re going to come back and enter the Latin market where is the best location? So we used Peter’s research, and we did a lot ourselves in looking at all the countries that are there, both in cost and availability of resources and most importantly, where customers want to go,” said Berryman.

“So one of the biggest demands coming from our existing clients was wanting to be in Colombia. Opening up the first of our locations in Latin America is really important to us to find the best management teams in place, and what we looked at when we narrowed it down between Colombia and Mexico was that we could hire the most experienced people because there’s the biggest availability of them in Bogota. We realized that it would be cheaper probably to start off in in a smaller city, unlike some of the bigger ones, and expand into them, but we figured we want to start with the best management team, the best location, the easiest to get to for a client and then expand into other cities once were established in Colombia, and so Juan decided after that research that Colombia was the best country for us to start.”

Interested candidates who wish to submit qualifications for Transcom opportunities in Colombia or elsewhere may do so by clicking here.

Designed as a hybrid co-working center, the MAXhub is dedicated to in-person collaboration, training and development and employee engagement. Agents have access to socializing areas, computers and wellness spaces, and Sitel Colombia hopes the site will spur engagement and interaction with the local community.

Sitel is adding Barranquilla to Bogotá and Cali as the third Colombian city where the customer experience provider has a presence.

Sitel says it now has 85% of its workforce teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic with 5,000 associates currently working from home in Colombia. The company says that leveraging its MAXhub model, it is gearing up to hire thousands more in the region.

“As a result of the strength and flexibility deployed by our Sitel at Home solution and the high demand for work-from-home jobs, we continue to experience fast growth in the region,” said Eduardo Endo, VP of Operations – Sitel Colombia. “Our MAXhub opening in Barranquilla represents our ongoing commitment to the employee experience, where we can support our growing network of at-home associates with tools and resources to stay connected while meeting business growth objectives.”

Sitel has a Tracxn score of 53

The Barranquilla MAXhub—which is slated to open in spring 2021 offers an innovative space where associates can work, learn, grow and connect. The center will feature 1,500 square feet of co-working space, gym, cafeteria, library and training rooms dedicated to Sitel Colombia’s English improvement program, MAX English.

“On the heels of hiring more than 5,000 associates in 2020 to support incredible client growth in Colombia, we are projecting to hire another 11,000 full-time and part-time associates in 2021—a 50% increase from 2020,” said Mike Small, CEO – Americas, Sitel Group. “Leveraging our MAXhub model and flexible Sitel at Home capabilities create new career opportunities and expand our reach into new regional markets.” 

As a physical extension of Sitel MAX (My Associate Experience), the MAXhub is designed to deliver a consistent and connected employee experience for all employees, whether they’re on-site or working from home.

Interested candidates may apply at jobs.sitel.com or read more about Sitel Group’s MAXhubs here.

Telework is in many cases, a win-win for employers and employees. It allows the employer to reduce real estate space, and the considerable expenses of running corporate-campus kitchens and cantinas, climate control, bathroom space, even coffee and beverage expense is reduced or eliminated. The employee escapes a daily commute, may be closer to a loved one needing attention (or his or her furry pet companions), and flexibility in choice of living arrangements: for example a choice of residence not convenient for a daily commute to the office. As companies and individuals become more conscious of issues like work-life balance or carbon emissions, telework allows companies and employees to adopt and comply with social commitments along these lines.

This new curated report features counsel and insight from business thought luminaries such as:

• Vijay Narsapur, Infosys
• Terry Rybolt, Teleperformance
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• Andy Searle, BPESA
• Mark Hillary, Carnaby Content & the CX Files

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