The opportunity of finding satisfaction and adventure in the workplace is not as difficult as one may think.
This Marc Espinosa discovered that as a new employee of C3, a leader in Outsourced Customer Management Solutions. Armed with an AB English degree from the San Agustin University of Iloilo City, he was faced with the choice of either spending his post-school life teaching in his hometown, or to embark on a journey to Manila for greener pastures.
“I wanted to become independent,” he recalls, adding that in the end, the lure of trying and experiencing new things clinched his decision to relocate. Almost immediately after arriving in Metro Manila, the driven Marc was able to find employment in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. It was not at all a surprising career choice for him then as the industry was offering lucrative pay to fill the numerous job vacancies that has since made BPOs the darling of the Philippine economy.
Considering his command of the English language and willingness to learn new things, he soon found himself on the fast track of success in the first BPO he worked for. After attaining a supervisory position, he began evaluating his next career move.
“I stayed there for five years,” he says, noting that he would have remained longer had things been better. A chance encounter with a former colleague prodded him to take the next step in seeking professional fulfillment. As it turned out, the former colleague started working for C3 and encouraged Marc to join the company. Sufficiently intrigued, Marc did some research and found the company’s profile excellent. “The word-of-mouth reputation of C3 got me thinking,” he relates, noting that the positive impressions he got from colleagues and friends weighed heavily on his decision to make such a drastic professional change.
There was, however, a catch. After attaining a supervisory position in his former company, the prospects of being a “newbie” once again was not exactly to his liking. In the end, the opportunity of working for C3 won out. “It was a chance to work in a new environment,” he notes, adding that unlike other established BPO companies, there was undoubtedly more upward mobility in C3—something that the adventurous Marc looked forward to.
According to Marc, he breezed through the hiring process. “After five years, I had done a lot of interviews and taken numerous exams,” he says, noting that he was quite confident that he would be hired.
And he was. Nonetheless, it was only after he decided to join C3 that he soon realized how different the company was from his former employer, or even perhaps with other BPO companies currently operating in the Philippines. “The training process was very different,” he shares, recalling that there were no boring PowerPoint presentations that put one to sleep. Instead, the lectures proved to be more interactive with role playing activities included in the program. This, he observes, made new employees fully grasp the company’s open and honest way of conducting business.
One aspect of the company’s culture that continues to surprise him to this day was how open employees are to one another—including their superiors.
“You can communicate your concerns to the company. You can actually say if you’re not treated fairly and you can directly reach out to your employers. In other companies, you don’t have that kind of a relationship.”
C3’s open door policy allows employees from all levels to approach even the senior officers at any time. Marc also notes that unlike other employers who cultivate a serious image, C3’s top officers keep their humor intact. “My bosses are ‘kalog’ (zany),” he says affectionately, obviously referring to the crazy and fun environment that his superiors encourage to help diffuse the stressful aspects of being a contact center representative. “It’s a fun place to work in. We are serious with our work but we have fun and work at the same time.”
Marc and his colleagues are experiencing some of the ‘fun’ activities that the company has been preparing for its employees. They just recently concluded their ‘Sportsfest’ he says, along with theme days like ‘Halloween’ that are part of the company’s calendar of activities.
In fact, caring for its employees is a responsibility that the company doesn’t take lightly. ‘C3 Cares’ is a phrase that Marc often heard at work. The veracity of how C3 truly cares is something he experienced firsthand during the disastrous monsoon rains that inundated most of the Metropolis a few months back.
“I live in Pasig City and during the ‘Habagat’ (Southwest Monsoon) our community was flooded,” he recalls. To add to his worries, the disaster took place during his training period. When the company told him not to go to work until the floodwaters had receded, it put him at ease that he would be allowed to continue training. Days later, he likewise learned that C3 had actually allowed families of stricken C3 employees to take shelter in their offices until their homes became habitable.
During regular work days, C3 sets targets that employees can realistically achieve. “In other companies, they ask you to do what is impossible. In C3 they ask you to do what is challenging, but certainly attainable,” he states, noting that the company knows how to prod excellent work by providing an environment that promotes optimum performance.
When it comes to compensation and incentives, says Marc, C3 has likewise proven to be very generous. “You get rewards for the good work that you’ve done, including incentives for referring people to the company. And not only financial incentives, they also give out trips to Boracay—which by the way is still ongoing!”
Indeed, C3 encourages friendly competition with its employees, though not, says Marc, for attaining personal scores for oneself, but for the team. “You get to earn bragging rights, which inspires other employees to work even harder,” referring to the company’s public recognition of optimum team performance. “It inspires other employees to work even harder,” he adds.
For its part, the company actually provides activities and opportunities that enable its employees to reinforce company camaraderie, as well as career advancement. These include bazaars, vacations as rewards for accomplishments, sports fests, tree planting, museum trips with family members, financial wellness seminars, etc.
Suffice it to say, Marc has already mapped his goals and is appreciative that the company has in fact instituted programs that will help its employees attain new mindsets and develop skills that will help them on the way to success. “We have C3 University,” he says, referring to the company’s free program that provides courses to enable employees to move up the company ladder.
The C3 University platform focuses on self and career development curricula. It houses all the courses under a free program which is open to all employees regardless of their tenure. Those who are willing to attend classes in their spare time for career and skills enhancement undergo particular courses that fit the level of skill that needs to be enhanced. Other various training programs are also offered like the C3 Plus and C3 Labs programs, which can also spell a faster climb up the corporate ladder.
At present, Marc has set his sights on the C3 University, but is equally cognizant of the different opportunities that can be found within the company in the near future. “Next year, they are planning to open even more new accounts,” he observes, referring to the continuous expansion that C3 is experiencing at the moment. “Who knows? I could apply. Something new could happen, I might get to interact with other people and that could be a new adventure.”
