Young people these days pursue professions that value their passions and continuous learning as essential ingredients to their overall growth and development.
TELUS International Philippines (TIP), a company that actively champions their team members’ careers, provides an avenue to fuel this thirst for knowledge and pursuit of passions: the TELUS International University (TIU).
TIP has instituted various programs and initiatives to continuously train and educate team members while allowing them to discover themselves within the company. These include degree courses, linguistic programs (including Japanese, French, and Mandarin, among others), and short courses on a variety of interests such as fashion design, performing arts, information technology, and culinary arts. Apart from providing professional development training necessary for team members to move up the career ladder, TIU provides learning experiences that can be beneficial for their careers both inside and outside TIP.
Moreover, TIU gives team members the opportunity to complete their education through subsidized tuition and classes taught onsite. It also serves as a platform for team members to pursue their own interests through partnerships with various learning institutions. Supplementing these are other services that ensure completion of courses signed up for, including special discounts and flexible payment terms, shuttle services for select campus classes, guidance counselling, and exclusive access to TIP libraries. TIP has even opened up TIU short courses to team members’ families and friends.
“We put a premium value on work-life integration at TELUS International Philippines. The caring culture that we foster and cultivate helps us become better in what we do and an important part of that is creating a work environment that is conducive to continuous learning,” said TIP Manager for Learning and Development, Frederick Estacio.
“We always look for various and equal opportunities for our team members to maximize their potential both personally and professionally.”
One of the most popular short courses that TELUS International University offers is a coffee barista course, in partnership with the Center for Culinary Arts, Manila. With the coffee culture firmly embedded in Philippines, many Filipinos have taken interest in coffee making, which has become not only valuable skill but also a competitive craft.
“Coffee has become an important element to jumpstart our day, or for most of us working in the BPO industry, our nights too,” said Estacio. “Knowing the craft behind brewing good coffee not just elevates the coffee drinking experience for our team members, but even presents a possible livelihood opportunity for team members who are looking for entrepreneurial pursuits.”
Aside from the coffee barista course, TIU and CCA offers the other culinary courses to TIP team members including basic and advanced cooking and baking tracks, as well as baking and pastry arts. At the moment, all of these short courses are held at CCA Kitchen, Farmers Market in Cubao. CCA also offers fundamentals in culinary arts and fundamentals in baking arts course in all of their campuses.
“Our partnership with TELUS International Philippines has had a very successful run and we are looking forward to expanding the offerings we provide their employees in other facets of culinary arts,” said Veritas Luna, Ph.D., Chancellor for Education at CCA, Manila.
As one of the pioneering leaders in the BPO industry, TIP currently has over 14,000 team members and has committed to growing their pool of talent by over 40% by 2020. TIP is widely present in Metro Manila with sites in Quezon City (Araneta-Cubao), Pasig City (Ortigas Center), Makati (McKinley Exchange) and Taguig (McKinley West, and Market! Market!).