SITEL Puerto Princesa is strengthening its partnership with the Southern Palawan community, offering its constituents free training for work opportunities in the field of communication.
SITEL met with provincial officials in the south last week of September, to discuss their intention to cater to the available workforce in the area.
George Dy, the vice president for talent acquisition of SITEL Philippines said this is one of their ways of giving back to the community.
“SITEL is really partnering with the community to give back. It is not limited to just hiring people. It is all about enhancing the communication skills of the Palaweños to prepare them for the future growth,” said Dy.
Dy said they are going to bring job fairs to these municipalities for those interested and potential applicants.
SITEL job opportunities
Dy said they target to provide employment for the potential workforce in the far-flung areas of southern Palawan where opportunities are very scarce.
Dy said giving a person a job uplifts him as an individual including his own family.
“As the company grows, we are able to do more for the people locally. So ‘yon ‘yong advocacy kasi. In most cases kasi people are treated just like a number. So here we treat them as people talaga,” said Dy.
Palaweño management touch
Eden Gutierrez, the vice president of operations for Sitel Puerto Princesa site said being a true Palaweña offers a deeper kind of concern or “malasakit” for her fellow Palaweños in the province.
“Ako personal advocacy ko ito – I sincerely wanted Palaweños to be the one to take advantage of this job employments. Sayang naman kasi may mga combination na tayo ngayon, nagpapadala na kami ng mga tao from other sites from Tarlac, Baguio, papunta na naman ng Palawan. Ito ‘yong gusto kong matapos na. Sabi ko nga kay Rafi, ‘yong director ko, ‘This batch is the last batch I will get from Luzon. Everybody else moving forward will come from Palawan. So we really have to do a better job gapangin itong lahat ng municipalities, whatever it takes to let this people know na may trabaho sa SITEL,” said Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said they are now in the process of scheduling the “recruitment caravan” per municipality in the south around the second week of October this year, targeting to employ at least 500 individuals before the end of 2019.
She said they are going to do this in every municipality in the south and north of Palawan to also help cut-back and minimize the cost their applicants need to spend if they will conduct it only in Puerto Princesa.
Gutierrez said the municipality leaders have pledged at least 100 individuals for each town to join the recruitment caravan.
She said those who will be privileged to be accepted for the job will be serving at the Puerto Princesa SITEL site.
Gutierrez said Sitel will never have any problem if there would be an influx of workers, for they can always freely expand even allowed to accommodate up to an additional 1,000 to 1,500 more slots.
Gutierrez said this is a way of partnering with the communities within their own ecosystem.
She said Sitel will be the one to bring the jobs to the areas that will help the applicants save their resources.
“Kasi alam mo kung nag-a-apply ka pa lang ng trabaho, magkano agad ang pamasahe pa-Puerto. Kung wala kang kakilala doon saan ka titira. So ‘yong ganoong mga inconveniences tatanggalin natin sa equation,” said Gutierrez.
“[A caravan] is a combination of the roadshow that we did today and at the same time screening, all in one day. Ayaw nating sayangin ‘yong pagpunta nila doon,” added Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said those who will pass the screening could enter the phase of training of which they call the “SITEL Academy”.
She said the SITEL Academy is for the “near-hire” individuals or those who have the highest potential suit for the job.
SITEL Academy
Dy said the Sitel Academy is a mix of different programs specifically designed for a certain pool of individuals who qualified under the first screening.
“We customize the curriculum for the different types of people that we have,” said Dy. He said SITEL Academy is a two-to-five weeks training program, free and subsidized, and with a historical pass rate of over 55 percent.
Benefits of SITEL Academy
Gutierrez said the academy will harness the potentials of its students will help increase the literacy rate in the province.
She said that even if a trainee was not hired at the end of the academy curriculum, his/her skills have been surely appraised making him/her equipped for other possible employment in the future.
The positive response of town leaders and representatives
Attended by around four municipality representatives and leaders, SITEL got a positive response from these LGUs.
Mayor Marsito Acoy of Sofronio Española town told Palawan News in an interview Wednesday this offer of SITEL is going to be beneficial to his own constituents.
“Sa ngayon kung ‘yan ang offer ng SITEL , wala naman sigurong chief executive or mayor na tatanggi doon sa sitwasyon na ‘yon. Iyan ay isang malaking bagay para sa amin na magkaroon ng employment ang mga constituent namin, unang-una siyempre sa amin maraming nag-a-apply na mga kabataan na nag-graduate na ng college, so hindi sila matanggap lahat,” said Acoy.
Acoy said he will offer to his people in his town the opportunities for employment in SITEL.
Acoy said he already gave it as an assignment to his second-in-command, vice mayor Rona Chou to introduce to those who are looking for jobs in their area the opportunities offered by SITEL.
“Ang marami ngayon [sa amin] is mga 20 to 25, mga fresh graduates. Taun-taon maraming nagra-graduate unang-una doon sa amin kasi meron kaming PSU, so iyon po taun-taon maraming graduate. Isa sa mga iaaalok natin, makikipag-ano (usap) ako sa director ng PSU na ipaabot sa magsisipagtapos ngayon baka willing sila so ‘yon meron na silang pupuntahan,” said Acoy.
Daniel Magbanua, LGU and tourism consultant of Sofronio Española said the opportunities provided by SITEL is a privilege for people in Southern Palawan.
He said employment is one of the greatest needs of people in the south, most especially for young professionals.
“At least maganda ‘yong commitment ng Sitel, meron silang social responsibility commitment to the people in Southern Palawan, and I think this was the first time ever na nagkaroon ng ganoong klaseng set-up. Nagha-hire na, halos lahat ililibre pa, so malaking edge to help the people,” said Magbanua.
Mayor Gerandy Danao of Narra town told Palawan News in an interview Wednesday after their meeting he went to SITEL in Puerto Princesa to ask their help in employing his constituents who are looking for work.
He said his request is for SITEL to place a satellite office in Narra to cater to the workforce without leaving their hometown.
“Ako ang lumapit ngayong September lang. Tinapat naming ngayon [ang meeting] kasi kami ang host ng palaro natin sa Civil Service, kaya tiniming ko rin na nandito ‘yong mga [ibang mayors]. Nagpapa-plano kami ngayong baka sunod na linggo magmi-meeting na kami uli dahil ang mga aplikante imi-meeting na naming para ma-train na sila,” said Danao.
Danao said he expects more than 500 interested applicants only from Narra. Dy in his presentation said SITEL was founded in 1985 with more than 150 offices worldwide, more than 400 clients, and exceeding 75,000 associates.
He said the Puerto Princesa site started in 2016 and with 2,000 associates.
Dy said SITEL is offering an improved Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) benefits for its employees, promoting corporate social responsibility, building strong its human capital, and is continuously developing its community skills and partnerships.
“All Is Well” Health Benefits for Sitel Employees
All Is Well is the new and improved HMO benefits by Sitel, which guarantees the wellness of its employees.
Under All Is Well is unlimited medicine-cost-reimbursement under prescribed and formulary medicines, with additional P10,000 for prescribed medicines for principals.
The Maximum Benefit Limit (MBL) for agents and entry-level employees has increased from P100,000 to P120,000 per illness per year.
Employees are also given the privilege to voluntarily enroll their parents’ age 66 to 80 and additional qualified dependent incorporate rate under All Is Well.
Solo parent employees have now the chance to include their parents as part of their qualified eligible independents.
One-Time bereavement assistance amounting to P100,000 is also included.
The New Clinic Management (NWC) will have an automated tracking facility that shall remind and monitor the associate’s medicine requests.
A standard optical benefit of P2,500 for principal associates is also in the list of privileges.
Under All Is Well, the pre-existing condition from the date of enrollment of both the principal and dependents are covered.
Maternity coverage for associates and spouse include P25,000 for cesarean section each for a maximum of four procedures; P20,000 for normal delivery for a maximum of four childbirths; P15,000 for miscarriage for a maximum of four incidences; and P15,000 for dilation and curettage (DNC) each procedure for a maximum of four procedures.
The age requirement to enroll a newborn dependent was now adjusted from his/her full term to three months old, to only full term to one month.
Under All Is Well, the same gender partner and domestic and common partner of an employee are now covered.
Associates with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive will also be covered.
