“They
will be able to have access…by the end of this month (November). We anticipate
that, very shortly…there will be another floor that will be (another 50,000 sq.
ft….by early in the New Year (2016); and then, eventually, the entire 200,000
sq. ft. will be available”
Science, Technology,
Energy and Mining Minister, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, commenting on GraceKennedy
Limited Call Center in CSO (Central Sorting Office)
Call
Center expansion seems to be an undeniable force for employment in Jamaica and
GraceKennedy Limited is a part of that trend.
They're
are now plans in place for GraceKennedy Limited to occupy some 50,000 sq. ft.
of the 200,000 sq. ft. of space at the CSO (Central Sorting Office) on East
Street by November 2015 as reported in the article “Central
Sorting Office to Accommodate BPO Operations”, published November 24, 2015
By Douglas McIntosh, The Jamaica Information
Service.
 |
Guess
they can't wait for the completion of the US$256 million dollar complex in
downtown Kingston which will be completed by March 2016 as announced in the
article “GraceKennedy
To Break Ground On US$25m Downtown Complex Next March, Shuffles Team”,
published Sunday September 27, 2015 by Camilo Thame, The Jamaica Gleaner.
This
is close to the Jamaica Gleaner Company, which is located at the corner of
North and East Street, just a few meters away. According to Minister Paulwell,
GraceKennedy Limited aims to create some 5,000 jobs, with FLOW to provide the
first account with some 400 seats or 1200 jobs, based on a three shift system,
quote: “We negotiated with Flow and a commitment was given that those 400 seats
would be brought to Jamaica from El Salvador (and) they have confirmed…that,
that will be done. So, it is just a matter of the building out of the space to
accommodate those jobs”.
This
would fulfill their promise to provide some 200 Call Center Jobs by December
2015, replacing their Spanish Speaking Call Center agents with Jamaicans as
noted in my blog
article entitled “@LIMEJamaica's
200-seat Call Center by December 2015 – Going with the Flow and JCF’s Real Time
Emergency Call Centre heralds entry into BPO”
Meanwhile
the CSO staff will be relocated to facilitate the build-out of the Call Center
as GraceKennedy moves in and sets up shop, to quote Minister Paulwell: “There
are some initiatives for a large space for them to be accommodated, and that is
being pursued. We want to make sure that the transition is orderly… (and) that
the staff… is not too inconvenienced. We have to ensure that they are
comfortable, and that where they eventually go, will be suitable for them to
carry out the work of the postal services. So we are trying to manage the
transition very carefully”.
So
why is GraceKennedy going into the Call Center Business?
Gracekennedy’s Call
Center in CSO – Going for Growth in the rapidly expanding BPO Sector
One
would have expected that this would have been something Xerox would do, being
as they're expanding in the New Kingston area since May 2015 as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Xerox's Three New Call Centers in
Kingston for 860 employees for Future Expansion”.
After
all, they're clearly investing big in the Call Center sectors, even teaming up
with ACCT (Advanced Call Centre Technologies) to build dormitories for their
workers in the newly-opened Barnett Tech Park in Montego Bay in May 2015 as
noted in the article “Barnett
To Invest In Dormitory Housing For BPO Workers”, published Wednesday May 6,
2015 by Avia Collinder, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
However,
Call Centers are a rapid growth area and like Remittances, Mobile money and
Exports to Africa and the US of A as noted in my MICO Wars blog article
entitled “How
GraceKennedy will achieve 20% growth in the USA via Amazon”, GraceKennedy
is pushing into the increasingly expanding BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)
sector.
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