Little over a week after declaring plans of an expansion, Emerge BPO, a Business Process Outsourcing Company, has announced that it will be laying off some staff from its local operations.
The company, which has been operating in Guyana since 2008, in a press statement related that the decision to reduce its staff in Guyana follows a request from one of its international clients, however, the company noted that it will maintain its operations locally, as well as in Canada and the USA.
“Emerge BPO continues to be transparent with its employees and will do everything it can to assist with referrals and placements to help make the transition for all affected employees as smooth as possible, including providing full separation remunerations, and other benefits. The company shall continue to do all in its power to minimise these jobs displacements,” Emerge stated.
It was previously reported that the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Heidi Solomon-Orlick, and its Vice-President of Operations Dalgleish Joseph, told the Sunday Stabroek that it was in the process of developing a new Georgetown campus that would significantly increase its capacity ahead of expected growth in the industry.
“We have our two accounts that have been with us for quite a long time. One account has been with us for over 10 years and our other client has been with us for about six years. Of course, our goal is… to grow with those clients, but really, as an organisation we are starting to pivot and we are looking at putting a very international focused effort on bringing additional companies into Guyana and partnering with companies that we can support from a BPO perspective,” Solomon-Orlick said.
She explained that part of the reason for their investment in the new campus, which was expected to be completed by the end of the year, was anticipated growth, and she noted that they were trying to get ahead of the curve. She added that the anticipated growth in the industry is independent of the development of the oil and gas industry, although she pointed out that it would assist the growth of the BPO industry through securing more exposure for the country.
She said the campus would be located on Camp Street in the recently-constructed IPA building, where they rented five of its six floors. The 9,000 square feet area would have a state-of-the-art recruitment centre, which Solomon-Orlick said would be “super hip and super colourful,” since they were targeting a millennial workforce of 1,500 to 2,000.
She emphasised that the fact that Guyana has not been on the radar of larger players in the BPO industry works to their benefit, since the country has been resonating with prospective clients that they are currently in discussions with about their business.
“The fact that it’s the only English-speaking country [in South America]… no accent issues as you would have in other places like India… Its eastern time zone and the fact that there is going to be improved infrastructure coming from the oil and gas industry will be a big thing,” she explained, while noting that it is also 30 to 35% cheaper to do business than any other near-shore destination that clients would normally outsource their business to.
The first floor of the campus was scheduled to be completed by the end of the July, and the company was expected to move over 120 people from its current building on Middle Street to the new campus.
