Last Friday, Oliver Camino, COO and co-founder of Foundever, accepted the IAOP® Global Impact Sourcing Award (GISA) during the awards ceremony taking place in Chicago. The award recognizes our long-standing commitment to providing equitable and inclusive job opportunities in less advantaged or remote areas and seeking potential associates who might be excluded from the job market. It’s always exciting to win an award, but even better if it’s for doing good in the communities where we live and operate.
Impact sourcing has always been an important part of our organization. We’re hiring and providing career opportunities to people who otherwise have limited prospects for sustainable employment. This is beneficial for the associates themselves, but also for their families and the communities they are part of. Impact sourcing isn’t limited to geography. What’s important is the positive impact it has on communities, be it in the U.S. (where roughly 60% of associates come from distressed communities) or other parts of the world.
Kick-starting careers
But our involvement goes further. We support impact sourcing through various initiatives and programs such as talent development and work experience programs to help people in less advantaged areas develop skills they need to start a career in the field of CX.
Our language academies are a good example. The first one was set up in Costa Rica in 2007 to support individuals with their English-language skills, especially adapted for jobs in the customer experience industry. We hired over 1,400 language academy participants from distressed communities in 2022, giving them the opportunity to begin a career in CX with Foundever. This year, we’re planning to hire another 1,600 candidates. Another initiative in this country is our tech academy that helps members of the local community — whether or not they’re our employees — to build confidence and expertise around technology.
In the Philippines, our largest market, we also offer language training and have helped over 26,000 individuals improve their English skills, develop computer literacy and build management skills. The initiative has grown to such an extent that we now have partnerships with 150 universities across the archipelago. Moreover, we successfully hired 4,000 individuals from distressed communities in 2022 and aim to bring this number to over 6,000 in 2023.
Another initiative is our partnership with tent.org, a nonprofit that mobilizes the business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of refugees all over the world. In 2022, for instance, Foundever hired 700 Venezuelan refugees in Brazil, improving living conditions for them and their families.
Global social impact
“As a global player with over 170,000 associates in 45 countries, we consider it our duty to make a positive impact in the communities we operate in,” says Olivier Camino. “It’s what defines us and gives us a sense of purpose.”
We aim to expand this positive social impact beyond the company itself, by prioritizing suppliers that intentionally hire and provide career development opportunities to people who might otherwise have limited opportunities for formal employment.
At Foundever, we’re strongly committed to doing good and helping our associates and communities. We want our associates to thrive and be their best in every conversation, because we know that a great customer experience starts with a great employee experience.
Read more about our focus on inclusion and global impact sourcing through our strategy for Environmental, Social and Governance.