International Volunteers Day, declared by the United Nations, falls in December. But at TELUS International Digital Solutions Philippines—the technology division of TELUS International Philippines— “we give where we live” is a philosophy and practice lived all year around. The spirit of volunteerism is alive in team members, especially for TELUS Days of Giving initiatives and IT next-gen mentoring programs.
Within the fourth quarter alone, employee volunteers supported the Department of Health’s Brigada Eskwela program by refurbishing classrooms in a Tondo High School; sponsored and planted saplings in Bulacan’s Mt. Balagbag with the local farmers association in partnership with Maynilad; donated blood through the Philippine Red Cross and Kith Foundation; contributed to the Luzon Earthquake relief efforts of Caritas Manila and Philippine Business for Social Programs by raising funds for affected children and families, among other initiatives.
Culture of giving back matters to employees
For Deutchemarc Edwards D. Fleras, who recently joined the Talent Acquisition team in August this year, a company with advocacies and potential opportunities for volunteerism was part of his criteria for choosing an employer. “I certainly looked up the culture and people and saw the regular socio-civic projects and how engaging and fun these are. Having been involved with my managers, mentors, and teams and working closely with tech professionals on such projects also leads me to new industry knowledge and insights. I have even found myself sharing our corporate practice of ‘giving where we live’ as a volunteer in my local community.”
Marlon Abogado, Senior Recruitment Lead since May 2021, is a returning employee and said he rejoined precisely because of the volunteerism culture. “The outreach, social and community service programs make it inviting for us, team members, to carve out the time in our work schedules. Not only are we inspired to join programs like these, cultivating volunteerism also promotes camaraderie among colleagues. Participation is truly its own reward and we all take pride in giving back to communities. I used to be part of a non-government organization that promotes free education, so initiatives like ‘Code your Career’ align with what I value.”
Marlon elaborates that under the ‘Code your Career’ program, employee volunteers partner with trainers and become mentors for student interns from universities across the country in a 12-week course for future software engineers, programmers, and IT professionals. “This makes them job-ready. They may even be invited to join us, but regardless of whether they pursue an IT career with us or elsewhere, it is fulfilling for me to be part of someone’s journey in the industry–that at one point I helped identify and coach IT talents just starting out in their careers,” he added.
These volunteer events and programs unite thousands of the organization’s global team members around their shared cause of ‘giving where we live’. “We’re proud of the scale of impact we’ve created with our partners around the world, but more so of our local involvement,” said TELUS International Digital Solutions Philippines, Vice-President, Nalakumar “Nala” RS. “Those who will join our over 3,000-strong team members in the Philippines–dedicated to TELUS International’s technology division–will find that delivering what the tech industry needs in today’s highly-competitive market also includes mentoring and coaching the next generation of IT professionals. Internship programs such as Code your Career, for example, skill-up the Filipino youth on tech support, IT system analysis, software development, cloud infrastructure, cloud application management, data analysis, cybersecurity, and more. Helping bridge the industry digital skills of the Filipino IT workforce is also ‘giving where we live’ and contributes to nation building.”