Teletech to open additional call centers, hire 10,000 more

The local unit of Teletech Holings, Inc. will hire 10,000 more workers as it opens six to 10 additional call center facilities in the next two years. The company now employes 15,0000 workers. The expansion plan involves multimillion dollar worth of investments, Teletech Vice-President and General Manager for Asia Maulik Parekh told a briefing on Friday. Part of the expansion is the back-to-back opening of facilities in San Fernando, Pampanga and Sta. Rosa, Laguna within the first half of next year. The 1,700-seat San Fernando site is in a 10,000-square meter area within SM City Pampanga, while the 1,000-seat Sta. Rosa facility covers 8,000 square meters of land occupied by Robinsons Mall. The San Fernando site will open its recruitment office by January, while the Sta. Rosa site will follow a month after. Teletech aims to open both centers by the second quarter of 2008. "It makes a lot of sense going to the malls," Mr. Parekh said, adding that SM Pampanga and Robinsons Sta. Rosa attract around 300,000 people who are potential call center workers. Mr. Parekh said they have yet to choose the sites for the new facilities. "We are currently looking at potential areas [that] can support our growth." The facilities would most likely be dispersed outside Metro Manila to attract more workers who do not have access to the business districts, he added. "We are maintaining our current strategy, which is bringing the jobs to the people and not the people to the jobs," he said. Teletech claims to be the largest global provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) in the country. Out of Teletech’s 10 facilities in the cities of Bacolod, Bacoor, Cainta, Cebu, Dumaguete, Lipa, Iloilo, Taguig, Pasay and Roxas, six are leased in a mall. - M.G.S. Ramos/BusinessWorld