**First Relief Update**
The first call center that I helped launch for Dell over in the Philippines was with an outsource partner called Ambergris — located in Ortigas Center, Manila.
Only days after Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines, TIP team members tirelessly prepare relief goods for their affected teammates.
A year before I left Dell, Ambergris got bought out by Telus – the Toronto-based telecom. Scores of my Filipino friends from the “Ambergris days” still work at that center. One of them, who I’m working directly with to coordinate the distribution of $1,000 of our relief funds, just sent me an interesting email he received.
It looks like the information was originally intended for employees at the Canada-based Telus call center. It then got passed along to the Manila-based Telus call center… and then forwarded to me.
The purpose of the email is to provide a quick summary of the relief ops taking place in the Manila center (formerly known as Ambergris).
I wanted to share this update with you because the first $500 that we sent in relief money went to this relief operation. A second $500 will be going there as well. Hopefully more will be going as well.
With the exception of one person, I used different names to protect the privacy of the call center employees in this update.
Here’s the message:
Picking Up the Pieces after Ketsana — Team members begin the journey to recovery
October 23, 2009
Carlo, senior team captain Telus International Philippines (TIP), had never been so scared. As Typhoon Ketsana pummeled homes throughout his Manila neighborhood, he feared for his ailing father and nieces and nephews. As they waited for rescue, he didn’t eat for two days so his family would have enough.
The emotional trauma also still lingers for Vera, customer service agent, TIP.
“We practically had no food for three days, other than a small supply of noodles we had to carefully ration, not knowing when we would be able to escape,” Vera recalls. “There was also the constant fear of drowning. The water rose by the hour and we had absolutely no chance of escaping our second floor because the windows were blocked by grills.”
Making a difference for Manila team members
More than 1,000 team members from TIP were affected by Typhoon Ketsana, a storm that swept through the Philippines on September 26.
The view outside the front door of a house during Ketsana
In just 24 hours, Manila was saturated by more than 300 mm of rain, the most rainfall in a single day since 1965. The government declared a state of emergency and requested international aid as heavy flooding submerged the densely populated area and a subsequent storm, Typhoon Parma, threatened the northern regions of the country.
On the Monday after the storm, Telus International was one of the first organizations in Manila to broadcast using text messages and local media, requesting that team members call in to confirm they were safe and if they needed assistance.
Through these open lines of communication, TIP leadership was able to determine that more than 300 hundred team members had been left homeless and an additional 500 had suffered some level of material or property loss.
“Just when I thought no one cared about our plight, we got a text from Telus asking us about our condition and offering to give us whatever assistance we need.” Vera adds, “I broke into tears because I felt the sincerity and genuine concern my own company has for me and my family. My husband, who works for another call centre, was overwhelmed with all the help Telus was extending to its team members.”
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, TIP provided team members with food and transportation from transport hubs to Telus facilities, while arranging for emergency accommodations for team members left homeless. Telus has also provided emergency cash advances to team members in dire need.
“We have given away more than 1,000 relief bags so far, which speaks to how many team members have been very badly hit by the storm,” says [name withheld], vice-president of Human Resources at TIP. “Today we are focusing our efforts on helping with rehabilitation.”
This rehabilitation includes getting team members’ homes cleaned, providing secondary assistance and shelter until people can find a new place to stay, and assessing furniture and appliance needs to get team members back on their feet.
Making a difference for Manila team members
While Telus in Canada has provided support for our team members, many Manila-based team members have also gone above and beyond in helping their local colleagues cope with this disaster.
Family members of one of our friends at the call center make their way to work, wading through the flood waters.
TIP team members Marge and Nanette opened their homes to three of their teammates after Ketsana. Marge hosted the team members for two days and Nanette for a week until the flood subsided.
Nanette adds, “It’s the least that I could do as their support person. These agents never missed a shift even while Ketsana was flooding the city; they even signed up for overtime work to cover for those team members who could not make it in. Offering my home as their temporary shelter was just an extension of our teamwork, circumstances aside.”
Canadian team members continue to reach out
The spontaneous outpouring of support from Canadian-based team members has been impressive, with various fundraising initiatives taking place in Consumer Solutions, Business Solutions, Partner Solutions and Business Transformation and Technology Operations.
Here are some more photos of call center employees packing the typhoon "survival kits" for their fellow agents in need.
“We’ve seen support from teams in Canada that really want to help their colleagues here in Manila,” says [name withheld], director for Client Care TIP. “The team here is overwhelmed by the support and what it means to be a member of the Telus team. We’ve been guiding team members and others to direct their fundraising contributions to the HSBC bank account collecting money to help our Manila team members.”
While Ketsana’s destruction was swift, the recovery effort will take years.
“The damage caused by typhoon Ketsana across Metro Manila was significant and has materially impacted the personal lives of many of our team members,” confirms Javier Infante, president Telus International Philippines.
“However, spirited teamwork was truly alive in Telus as we witnessed team members volunteer their time in packing relief bags and offer up their homes as temporary shelters to team members who needed help.
Others helped in the rehabilitation efforts by repairing flood damage and cleaning up team members’ homes. On behalf of the Telus Philippines team, I want to thank every member of the Telus team – in Manila and other parts of the world – who reached out to help financially or otherwise. This is spirited teamwork at its best.”
This update was signed from a Nicole [last name withheld]. I’m guessing she’s an employee for Telus Canada. The photos above were provided in both Nicole’s email and in a separate email I received from a friend on site in the Manila center.
I’m working directly with a few people on site in this Manila call center in Ortigas Center to get the relief funds we raised to right place. One of them is the VP of Human Resources mentioned above.
From an outsider looking in at this update, a lot of the talk about ‘teamwork’ may seem like a bunch of corporate PR mumbo-jumbo. If I didn’t personally know Javi and know that his words are genuine, I might think so too.
But part of what made it so rewarding for me to work with Javi and his employees at the Manila Ambergris/Telus call center was the exact “spirited teamwork” that he’s talking about.
When the agents above are saying how proud they are to work for that company, I believe it: the call center culture in general — and specifically at sites like Amergris/Telus and eTelecare — seem more like working with your family than a cold corporation. And for me, that’s one of the biggest reason I’m trying to raise funds… because over 300 of my “family” at this call center just lost their homes.
I want to thank you again for your prayers, your donations, and for your volunteering to help spread the word about this cause through email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Our $1,000 contribution to this relief project sure doesn’t seem like a lot when looking at how much these people just lost – but it’s $1,000 that they wouldn’t have if we didn’t step up and help out. And according to my brother Dave’s calculations from the USDA announcement yesterday that $8.5 million will help feed 438,000 people over 60 days, it could cost as little as $0.32 cost per day to feed one person. That sounds like a stretch to me… but even if the real number is 10 times that figure, it would cost $3.20 a day to feed someone. If that’s true, then our $1,000 contribution could feed 312 people for one day — or one person for 312 days. However you look at it, your contribution is helping… and you can see how we still have work to do.
So I encourage you to continue spreading the word if you can. The easiest thing you can do to help right now is to share this web site or this post with anyone else you think could get involved. How? At the bottom of each post there’s a “Share this” button that lets you share it to social media sites or send by email in a matter of seconds. Please take a few seconds to pass this along. Thanks again.
-Greg
P.S. The best way to stay updated on our relief efforts is to sign up for our email mailing list. Instead of having to come to this web site to check for updates, I’ll email them to directly to your inbox (no more than once a day). Sign up right here.
