My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Xerox's Call Centers in Kingston for 860 employees

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Xerox's Call Centers in Kingston for 860 employees

Hello Call Center workers at Accent Marketing, Fullgram and Xerox!

I’ve got news about the Call Center world that’s way more interesting than the trend among Teenagers (ages 13 to 17) and Millennials (ages 18 to 28) wearing modern African Print clothing as reported in the article “Youth Get Trendy With African-Style Fashion”, published April 29, 2015 by Curtis Campbell, The Jamaica Gleaner.

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Albeit this is an interesting development, it pales in comparison to what in the next section after the title, as its big news for the Call Center World!

Xerox sets up three Call center in Kingston - 860 jobs coming from the Largest Call Center in Jamaica

Xerox, operators of that very famous Call Center in Pormore, Newport East as well as in Montego Bay, has decided to open an additional three (3) Call Center in Kingston as reported in the article “Xerox To Open Three New Call Centres In New Kingston”, published Sunday May 10, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.

The New Call centers in Kingston are to be located at the following locations:

1.      10-16 Grenada Way
2.      7 Haining Road
3.      1C-1F Pawsey Road

Xerox, which currently has five sites in Montego Bay and two in Kingston, is set to start operating at these locations some time in 2015, most likely by the end of the Third Quarter of 2015.

The locations are being leased, not purchased, as according to Xerox Vice-President for Corporate Communications Kevin Lightfoot Xerox is not in the business of owning property, quote:  “Our global policy is not to own buildings; we are tenants, not specialist in being landlords. We already have leases on seven buildings in Montego Bay, including the new 25,000 square feet Barnett building, and the future 50,000 square feet second Barnett building at the new Tech Park which is due for completion in the first half of 2016. We continue to assess our property needs in Jamaica as our client growth continues, and would take on any appropriate additional property that is required”.

Xerox Three New Call Centers are Huge – Suggests future expansion after initial 860 employees

According to Xerox Vice-President for Corporate Communications Kevin Lightfoot, these locations are pretty huge, suggesting future expansion may be on the cards.

1.      The 10-16 Grenada Way is about 33,000 square feet and will employ up to 450 persons
2.      The 7 Haining Road is about 13,000 square feet and will employ up to 25 persons
3.      The Pawsey Road is about 21,000 square feet and will employ up to 385 persons

Folks looking to jump ship from their current jobs may being luck, as the new facilities will create some eight hundred and sixty (860) jobs, assuming three (3) shifts rotating among approximately 287 seats. This is in addition to the four hundred and fifty (450) jobs at their location at Barnett Tech Park in Montego Bay, where they took up 25,000 square feet of leased space.

All these expansion will bring their total workforce to approximately seven thousand (7000) people, to quote Xerox Vice-President for Corporate Communications Kevin Lightfoot: “Between our new operations in Montego Bay and in Kingston, we'll be adding almost 2,000 additional jobs, which will grow our workforce to about 7,000. These facilities will support expanding services to current clients and new clients”.

Three New Call Centers in Kingston - Security and Accessibility are key as they expand

Xerox is the largest BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) provider in Jamaica according to Xerox's Country Manager Leroy Reid. Xerox is a Global business.

They came to Jamaica back in September 2009 when they purchased ACS for US$6.4 billion in cash and stock as reported in my blog article entitled “Convergyns and Aegis Communications Call Centers Coming – FDI powered Call Center Renaissance in Jamaica thanks to our Good English”, as they diversified out of their main business and expanded their International footprint.

Xerox's many businesses include:

1.      Global business services
2.      Technology and document management
3.      BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)
4.      Printing equipment
5.      Hardware and software technology for managing information

Their operation stats are very impressive as well:

1.      180 countries
2.      160 Call Centers
3.      55,000 Customer Care Agents total
4.      2.5 million daily interactions
5.      30 Languages at their various facilities

So for them, security and comfort of their staff is a priority, something which I know all too well, having worked there myself when they were launching the Amazon Kindle fire in the fourth Quarter of 2011 as reported in my blog article entitled “Amazon Kindle Fire is now No. 2 behind the Apple iPad 2 - Deathrace to London Olympics 2012AD”.

At the time, I go to do hands on with the Amazon Kindle Fire and actually did my own reviews on the Geezam blog entitled “Amazon lights a Kindle Fire as a Gladiator worthy of the Apple iPad” and “Amazon Kindle Fire vs the Apple iPad – The Stats Wars worth Reading About”.

During those crazy months dealing with disgruntled customers, I remember Xerox making sure that we have free Staff Transportation to and from work from designated drop points in Kingston.

This will also be the case at these three (3) Call Centers, as Xerox Vice-President for Corporate Communications Kevin Lightfoot green-lighted security and access to transport as being priority to creating a safe and secure work environment, quote: “Xerox has extensive property specifications to which we adhere, including meeting our stringent environmental, health, safety and security criteria, to achieve a good employee working environment. We also consider good local transporting links, available manpower to service our clients' requirements, and where we can provide cost-competitive service”.

The Salary isn’t bad either, now averaging about JA$300 per hour, which is good money for anyone, making me consider applying when they put out their advertisements for Call Center Agents.

So dear reader, keep your eyes peeled out for the Sunday Gleaner, as they're bound to place an Advertisement in the Gleaner announcing a Job Fair seeking to employ Call Center Agents at these facilities sometime before September 2015.




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