Touted as a major call center provider in the Philippines, Sutherland Global Resources, is looking to expand its reach in the industry by opening a call center in the Philippine island province of Catanduanes. The company has partnered with the Provincial Government of Catanduanes in order to make the plan a reality, and Governor Joseph C. Cua is looking forward to working in conjunction with the call center company to bring business to the island, ultimately lowering unemployment rates in the area.
“The Philippines’ average economic growth is reportedly higher than some Southeast Asian countries but at the same time, it also has the worst unemployment rates in the region,” said Sonny Africa, executive director of the Ibon Foundation, in a statement.
“The country’s unemployment crisis will remain unresolved without a genuine thrust to develop Filipino manufacturing and domestic agriculture,” added Africa.
Although the company does not deal with Filipino manufacturing or domestic agriculture, Cua believes Sutherland Global Resources could help greatly with the problem of unemployment the Philippines has faced for a long time.
On December 6th, Sutherland’s Vice President for Human Resources Shridhar Aiyer as well as the Senior Manager for Talent Development Vijayendra Nagar, met Governor Cua to discuss the operating system of the partnership in addition to plans going forward for establishing Sutherland’s call center business in Catanduanes. Also at the meeting was Joseph Lim, operator of the Center Mall, the first and only mall on the island of Catanduanes.
All who attended the meeting reportedly agreed on the basic structure of the partnership and plans and created a proposal for an agreement which will be inked sometime this month. The minute the memorandum is signed, recruitment and training for the call center agents will begin, and Sutherland will be provided a space in the Center Mall to base its operations.
Looking closer into the details of the proposed agreement, Sutherland would deploy qualified, trained candidates to either their Legazpi or Naga branches, and the schedule would allow the employees to return to Catanduanes weekly. However, after 1,000 employees have been deployed from Catanduanes the arrangement will change, and Sutherland says it will call the agents back to work at the new call center in Catanduanes.
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Edited by
Jamie Epstein
