List of BPO Companies that are Prepared During Unsafe Conditions

Here's a list of BPO companies that we know of that enables  Business Continuity Plan (BCP) or providing hotel accommodations during emergency situation or extreme weather conditions.

• DELL Philippines Inc - Proactively sends a communication to employees asking of their status and advising to contact their respective manager for update.

• ADP - BCP is done by asking the employees if they would like to stay in return a hotel accommodation is prepared and a whole day free meal. 

• Thomson Reuters - Also sends a proactive communication to employees, BCP is enabled by routing calls to other centers located in different parts of the world. The company also provides hotel accommodation. 

• ACS Xerox - Provides hotel accommodation in MIDAS, Heritage and Tunes Hotel for stranded employees with meals.

• Citibank ROHQ - Sends SMS informing employees about work suspension.

• VXI - Informing trainees that class has been cancelled. Also gives weather updats, free shuttle and free food. Bedding prepared in the office for those who cannot leave the premises. (Sent from email)

• Bank of America Continuum Philippines (BACP) - Enforces ENACT (Emergency Notification and Associate Tool) a system that calls, text/sms and email that ensure all employees are accounted for during unsafe conditions. (From the comments section)
• IBM - As part of our BCP hotel accommodations were offered. Text messages were sent to inform of work from home options. Centers were closed and people were contacted to make sure they are safe. (Received trough email from Carlo Roberto de Veas)

• GENPACT - has an active BCP too. Not only text messaging, but continuous alerts, free meals in office, shuttle deployments or Buses when water gets a little higher. Sections of the office are turned to more sleeping quarters so employees can stay if they can't go home yet.(Received trough email from Mae Ruth)
• C3 - also implements the same process see the email that we have received below from Alvin Delos Santos Laggui.
• Acquire BPO - implements Business Continuity Plan as well. One of which is for Weather Disturbance. Info is posted on Facebook and they also have communications released to all employees via SMS and other social media.

• IBM-Concentrix has activated its Communication Tree during the nonstop rain last week. Training has been suspended, free food was provided for those who opted to stay at the office.(Sent from Email)
• SPI - has highly coordinated BCP during typhoons and unsafe conditions. Received trough email from Juan-Paolo M. Suarez

•  WNS - provides free shuttle service..free meals at work, sleeping quarters or the guest house where the agents can stay for the night, comfort  room converted  so agents can freshen up during storms.
• RingCentral - an account with Acquire BPO  also has BCP.  Activating it depends on different weather conditions/situations with corresponding levels. We provide shuttle service/transportation, food allowance, double pay, and hotel accommodation. (Received trough email)

• E-Trade - Shuttle, unli food & starbucks are provided whenever there is a typhoon. Stranded employees are billeted in hotels like Somerset, New World and Citadine. Sent by Dale.

• ANZ GSO - also provides hotel accommodation to employees. Sent trough email, we are following up for photos as additional info.
• P3ople4u -  provides double pay for employee who came in to work, if there is a typhoon and also transportation service and free meal.(From the comments section)
• Altisource - Double pay incentive for employees to come to work. (From the comments section)

• QBE Insurance Group (BGC) - They send out sms to inform employees. They also shoulder transportation costs to and from the office as well as provide sleeping quarters in extreme cases. (From the comments section)
• CONVERGYS - once BCP is activated, workforce, managers or TLs will contact all agents to make sure they are safe. If it's too dangerous to go home, agents will be encouraged to stay in the office. Lounge, shower rooms, and free food will be provided. (From the comments section)
• TELUS Internatonal Philippines - deploys Noah's Arc, it's a shuttle service made available at different locations. We also have text blast to inform team members situations around the metro. In checking our direct report's statuses, we call them. We also have snooze box where team members can sleep comfortably within the premises (always available not just during calamities). There were also food distributed to those who were stranded in the office. And last Ondoy, those who were greatly affected was given free accommodation at Discovery Suites in Ortigas, including team member's entire family.(From the comments section)
• Maersk Global Service Centre - provides free food, tshirt, slippers, additiomal 300 pesos and hotel accomodation at Discovery and Oakwood hotels. (From the comments section)
• DSM Manila LLC (but we fall under KPO). BCP includes free food and drinks the entire day, unused meeting rooms being converted into resting areas, company vans that take employees home and/or hotel accomodations. Our emergency messaging system is available, but supervisors/managers normally act ahead of this by proactively asking their team members' status and no one's head gets chopped off for missing work during days when the weather was extreme.(From the comments section)
• Shell Business Operations Manila (formerly known as Shell Shared Services Manila) - have a SNS notification system that immediate informs the employees whether BCP has been lifted or invoked. They can contact us through mobile phone, viber, email... If it happened that employees are stuck at the office, free meals are also given. We also have interim transportation that brings employees right at their respective door steps every 12:15 am, 1:15 am, 3:15 am and 5:15 am. In case of typhoon and the driver thinks your place is in a flooded area, they will not allow you to proceed going home and risk your safety. They would, instead, bring you back to the office where they know you are going to be safe. We also have employee lounges for men and women and shower areas. Most of the teams strictly follow that BCP clothes must remain in our cabinets. Shell is the has the most exaggerated HSSE (health, safety, security and environment) rules. From making sure that employees only ride cabs with seatbelts, and implementation of life-saving rules. (from comments)
• HINDUJA GLOBAL SOLUTIONS (HGS) - Received trough email. 
• Shore Solutions. FB and text updates, shuttle services, food provided free and premium paid. 
• EXL - provide Shuttle service ni different pick up and drop off points, Hotel accommodation / sleeping mats,  toiletries and of course free méal. (From Email)

• HSBC GSC PHIL - has BCP call tree or sms for their employees also meals/snacks were provided, shower rooms are available, sleeping quarters are always available for their employees and we also have internet kiosk and some wifi areas. (from comments)
• Sitel Philippines -  Provides shuttle services for stranded employees and food to those who are in our offices. They also have a partnership with metro dorm in home depot should employees would like to stay. During last years habagat, they also have provided toiletries to stranded employees and company shirts also. 
• AtoS Information Technology, Inc - also have the Stay On Site or S.O.S program that employees can avail in situations like heavy rains, typhoons or flooding. It provides employees who are going to report on that day free meal stubs. And for those employees who are stuck in the office and cannot go home, they are offered with a choice of enlisting in the S.O.S list and they provide mattresses, pillows, blanket, towel and toiletries. Employees will stay on site and in case that the volume of calls gets high enough due to some being absent we will be contacted and asked to login to handle the queue but we can ask to log out if the queue has been cleared. O.T pay and  Php1,000 as an incentive on top of our O.T is provided just by signing up regardless if you are gonna be asked to login or not. Double meal stubs are provided. (Sent via email from Jake Evangelista ) 
• Ingram Micro - has a text brigade to all employees informing weather update, what to prepare and what to expect. They also provided 150 pesos meal allowance for the day and 500 pesos additional transportation allowance for those who bravely went to our office. (Sent via email by Conrad Presbiterio)
• Henkel Asia Pacific Shared Centre - ensures safety of its employees during calamities. Most of the employees are advised to work from home. Those who couldn't go home are given free food and a safe place to stay such as hotel accomodation. Attached is a screenshot of text messages we receive. (Sent via email by Michael Jay Rabanez)

• Minacs - encourage safety of employees by enforcing BCP. Transportation is provided located in different strategic locations. (Sent via email from Francis Valdellon)
  
• FIS Global - has the following preparedness plans: (Via comments section)
• Emails sent out every hour about the typhoon or any disaster, traffic, possibility of flooding, difficulty to commute to and from work
• Free meal
• Stay back arrangements
• Shuttle services to and from key transportation locations
• Email / text advisory to prioritize safety.
• JPMorgan Chase and Co. - also has  BCP in place. They sent out SMS alerts and a call tree will be activated to alert employees to stay at their homes or to not leave the site if it's dangerous for them to go home. Calls will be routed to other service centers and these centers will inform them of our situation as well. They provide free food, premium pay, and Net Plaza has spacious rooms that are being converted into sleep areas. (Via comments section)
• Capital One Philippines Support Services Corp - sends proactive sms as well. Even a personalize facebook message from an HR employee asking about current situation of employees. HR tells employees not to go to work if its that risky. Absenteeism will not be taken against the employees. (Sent trough email from Mark Fonacier)
• Wells Fargo - has BCP in place too. Provides free meals, toiletries, clothing, blankets for those team members who stayed in the office. They're even recognizing each team members who decided going to work despite of bad weather trough GC's and certificates. (Via comments section) 
• Startek - already sent an email that they have the same process in place. We are awaiting confirmation on how they implement the company BCP.
• Chevron Holding - work is suspened early and employees who were stranded get free meals and booked to hotel. Employees were booked in Raffles when they got stranded in the office after working on a night shift last Friday, Sept 19, 2014. In addition, Cvx also do contact tracing every 4 hours via  automated Notify system so that employees may update the company with current status. Safety is a priority of Chevron not just during storms but in every day work.
• iQor - Clark, Philippines employees are given hotel room accommodations, free meal and double pay during typhoon calamity. (Via contact form)
• Accenture -  provides hotel accomodation and to my knowledge an extra pay for those still opt to go to work, email blasts and sms (if employee registers their number in the system). (Via the comments section)
• Brady Philippines - updates their Facebook page and posts updates, leaders text agents of updates/instructions per BCP PhoneTree, Free Meals via GCs are given to employees and in case office sleeping area is unable to accommodate all, conference rooms become contingency makeshift sleeping areas and are prepared accordingly for those stranded/unable to go home.(Sent via Facebook Message)
• Harte Hanks Philippines - also provides shuttle service, weather updates (email and SMS blast), free food, and lodging to those stranded in the office.  Recently, there is also a buy-back program where you can buy back missed hours for the overtime you will render assisting operations during extreme weather. (sent from email)
• Talent2 Shared Service Center (SSC) - Communication tree has been activated early morning last Sept 19. This communication has been sent out to our key stakeholders and leaders within Talent2.
  
  
  "Tropical Storm Fung-Wong (local name: Mario) has intensified and has brought torrential rain overnight with the Southwest monsoon. Classes at all levels have been suspended today as many of the city streets are flooded and are impassable to vehicles. 
  
  
  Given the situation, we have declared BCP mode for the SSC. Transport arrangements are being arranged for the mission critical resources that need to report to the office. The rest have been advised to stay home and safe and report back on their safety, and carry out the BCP steps as required by the respective domain processes."
  
  
  Safety is priority during such incidents. Employees are encouraged to work at home instead. We provide assistance to those who reported to work (to and from the office) by providing a transport service at strategic points. For those who are not able to avail of the service will have their transport reimbursed. Their meals during the BCP incident are reimbursed as well. Employees who are unable to go home due to flooding in their area are provided with hotel accommodations.  (Sent from Email by Desi Bumatay) 
• Stellar BPO -  The company have a BCP committee who identifies if a condition warrants a call for the team to be activated. A  proactive text blasts is sent to employees, activate dress-down policy, and provide free meals, shuttle services, change of clothes, and extra sleeping areas in the office. In extreme circumstances, we even provide monetary assistance to affected employees and/or their relatives (Ondoy and Yolanda). Before a typhoon event hit the country, Stellar BPO periodically send updates so our employees are prepared beforehand. (Sent trough Email by Charlie Maigne C. Castro)
• Expert Global Solutions (EGS) - Unlike before EGS has now implemented BCP check out the sms blast that was sent to us by Emerson Sidayen. 

 

• 24/7 - has a Facebook page Twentyfourseven Sos that updates employees about the weather situation. (sent from email)
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• Transcom - sent us an email on how BCP is enforced. They have an excel sheet to account the number of employees, status of UPS and transportation. See email below. 
• Bayer Business Services Philippines Inc - Call Tree has been activated to prioritize the safety of the staff see the full details below sent by Sir Reynaldo of Bayer Philippines. 
  
• United Health Group - sends email and proactive notifications trough email. (Sent from email)
  

These are the current BPO / In-House companies that we know of so far that can ensure safety of its employees. The list does not come in any particular order.

If your center has the same process implemented please send us an email at thecallcenterfocus@gmail.com so that we can update the list please include if you want your name revealed or not alternatively, you can leave a comment. The inputs are very important since it could help other employees as well. Together let us build a community created by Call Center Employees for Call Center Employees.