How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - GraceKennedy’s Call Center at CSO to open November 2015

“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.