Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plans of building a residential quarters for call center agents who are single parents has been accepted by Qualfon, a call center company which agreed to his conditions.
Qualfon is a global provider of call center, back office, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services.
The mayor said he only wanted to deal with one company for this project. Among his conditions are putting single parents on the same shift and make available buses to take them to and from their workplace to their quarters.
The mayor said he wants to build a community where single parents working in call center companies can live together, secure in the knowledge that their children are being cared for while they are working.
Osmeña thinks it is a wasted life if single mothers cannot find work while they are away from their children and a loss of productivity.
“Many single mothers would go back to their provinces because they cannot survive here in the city or they’re operating their sari-sari store because they cannot be separated from their baby or something like that. It’s wasted. It’s wasted life, the way I look at it so were going to have a community,” said Osmeña.
His plans take into consideration safety and transportation issues, and by deciding to hire Qualfon’s buses to transport the call center agents to and from their workplace to their residence, it would ensure their safety.
“They will all take the same bus in Qualfon. I decided to hire all of them so that we only have one employer. They will all ride the bus and they will all have the same shift. So the issue of transportation and safety is addressed,” said Osmeña.
He plans to build a building, and put them in separate rooms but with one common kitchen.
Osmeña said they will make it economical by constructing one kitchen for everyone and all meals will be prepared by non-call center agents.
There will be separate dormitories for girls and boys. The building will also include a playroom, study room, day care and the like.
He said the children will be safe as they will be cared for by social workers.
“It will be very transparent. We will put it on social media so other single mothers will see: what do you think of this? So they will now have a chance to be with their baby and if they’re not with their baby, she’s being fed, she’s being bathed, she’s being cared for,” said Osmeña.
The mayor said, a donor is donating a 500 square meter lot inside IT Park for the residential quarters, which would be advantageous for the call center agents since it is within walking distance to their workplace.
“So, at first we have to organize, we have to recruit. And from these recruits we will screen, they will be qualified by Qualfon and then they still have to undergo maybe six months of consultation,” said Osmeña.
The consultation period will include asking the opinions of the qualified residents what they think of each room. Osmeña said he will also invite all kinds of advisers for better suggestions for the rooms.
He added other companies like Arca Land will subsidize the early operations of the residential quarters.
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