Transcom, a 23 year-old global BPO operating here in the Philippines since 2007, recently launched its lifestyle and wellness hub at its new Regional Operating Headquarters (ROHQ) located along EDSA, Mandaluyong a few clicks away from the Boni MRT southbound station.

The hub showcases three in-house facilities that aims to provide employees the opportunity to create a healthy work-life balance which many output-oriented organizations tends to neglect at times.

Transcom Cafe

The Transcom Cafe offers a cozy venue for employees to unwind, have a light pick-me-up of delicious snacks and drinks while sharing light conversations with colleagues and friends.

It can also be a great venue for casual meetings or even some alone time.

Fitness Center

The Fitness Center is a small gym located also inside the hub equipped with some of the latest work-out machines that is sure to tone tired muscles, offer employees some fat-busting cardio and make them feel energetic (and healthy) all day.

Going to gym regularly, aside from giving you a great work-out also allows your body to cope up with stress. And result-oriented jobs like the ones in the BPO sector can be really stressful (and routinary) at times. Exercise is one of the greatest – if not the best – stress-busting activity.

Child Care Center

The Child Care facility, also inside the hub, is in principle a day care center. It is a worry-free in-office space where employees can leave their kids while they’re at work. The facility is manned by professional caregivers (or nurses) and is equipped with audio-visuals, a play area and a 6-bed sleeping quarters. It is open on weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 1pm to 10pm and 10pm to 7am. No, of course you can’t leave your kids there forever, ’cause that would be bad parenting already. 🙂

Anyway, the Transcom Lifestyle and Wellness Hub at their Boni ROHQ was formally launched two Thursdays ago (May 24) and I was able to talk to Mr. Mark Lyndsell, the CEO of Transcom’s Global English Region as well as some of the leaders in their organization namely:

  • Lee Coates, COO, Global English Region
  • Robert Cabral, SVP, Global Head COE for Learning & Development
  • Emily Bais, VP, Client Delivery
  • Kim De Guzman, VP, Client Delivery
  • Tanya Latinsky, VP, Client Delivery
  • Cliff Hurd, VP, Client Delivery
  • Craig Buckley, SVP, Client Delivery
  • Jennifer Wells, VP, Information Technology, Global English Region
  • Kalle Soininen, CFO, Global English Region
  • Belle Bales, People Officer, Global English Region
  • Jun Abo, VP, Recruitment and Sourcing, Global English Region

We asked Mr. Lyndsell about what the Wellness and Lifestyle Hub is all about and also the inspiration behind the project and he said,

“I believe this demonstrates a real statement on how Transcom places heavy emphasis on our people and ensure that we invest in their well-being particularly and in a place like this, giving them opportunity to relax their minds and hopefully, they’re also in the gym investing themselves so they will stay fit. The Child Care Facility is probably one of the things I’m most proud about being part of this organization. All of us recognize the value and the importance of family in the Philippines. Unashamedly, some of our best people in the organization are working moms and dads and as a leader I wanna make sure that I’m able to support them so that they can come in to work without having to worry about where the kids are or who’s looking after them.”

Lyndsell also points out that the whole project is above everything else, addressing the needs of their people.

“I think collectively as a team, all of us recognize that we need to support our people and there’s lots of different ways in which we can do that. For us, it’s trying to address those needs but in a practical way so we provide free services between all our sites for all of our employees, we provide pharmacies at all of our sites, we even provide free meals for all of our people who’ve got perfect attendance. I think, holistically, what we’re trying to do as a business, is to tune in to those practical needs of our people. And for us, looking after people’s minds and their bodies, while also being able to look after their kids in a safe environment, to me it makes perfect sense.”

We also asked if there are known direct or indirect positive effects of the Wellness and Lifestyle Hub on their employees’ productivity.

“Yeah for sure. As a leader, I try to put myself in other people’s shoes and I think we all appreciate the distresses in the lives of everyday life particularly the country like Philippines. I think facilities like this which by the way is found across all of our other sites, basically aimed at taking away some of the stresses and concerns that people have in their daily lives if as a by product of that we can see improvements in productivity then it is all well but truthfully, that’s not part of the agenda.”

We also asked if there were any contributions from the employees in conceptualizing the Lifestyle and Wellness Hub.

“Getting feedback from employees is one of the things that we do at a regular basis. I would sit with employees and ask for their feedback on how they are and that’s when they raise their concerns or their requests on what would make them feel better and how can we support them better. I’m quite informal or at least I am trying to be when I ask people what’s on their minds. I literally just stand in front of the guys unscripted and I’ll ask whats on their minds and from the last ten months the feedbacks been very consistent. One of the things I’m very aware of particularly in Filipino culture is the specific traits of ‘malasakit’ and for us its critical to try and tap into that trait.”

Other than the gym, cafe and child care facilities, Transcom has been operating onsite pharmacies to save employees the hassle of buying needed medical supplies outside, as well as regular shuttle service to all employees to ensure their safety and ease the challenge of commuting to and from work.

Transcom also has its own foundation which encourages employees to help their fellow employees in case of emergencies by way of contributions through Transcom Cares.

“Transcom Cares is our little safety net that we put in placed in order to be able to help the people that we work for and I think it’s very important and we’re all very passionate about it.”

Transcom provides customer care, sales, technical support and collections services. It is manned with 27,000 customer experience specialists at 45 contact centers across 20 countries, delivering services in 33 languages to international brands in various industries.

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3 Comments

  1. You featured my employer pala. Nice one.

    1. ay yes, and I’ve toured inside your sites at Boni and Ayala The 30th 🙂

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