Jason Lock
Two foreign executives of Transcom, a leading global outsourcing service provider, are bullish about the growth of the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines, which has created a new middle class.
New Zealand native and Transcom executive Jason Lock has been in the Philippines for five years and says he has grown to love the country like his own. Lock, who holds the position of senior vice president for Transcom’s client delivery for North America and Asia, says his intention was to work for only two years in the country, but ended up staying much longer, which he enjoys to this day.
His decision, according to Lock, was influenced by both professional and personal reasons.”There’s nowhere else in this industry like anywhere else in the world, not China, India, US. This is where the action is. This is the forefront of all innovation, and change and growth and excitement if this is your chosen industry,” he says.
Lock has been with Transcom since July 2009. Prior to that, he worked with a different business process outsourcing firms in the Philippines. Lock says he decided to transfer to Transcom because of the company’s potential for growth at the time.
“This company Transcom had all the hallmarks of an organization that had lots of key things in place and look like they will expand and grow. I was excited to come here and build something,” he says.
Lock believes the Philippine BPO industry will continue to grow. “The Philippines is unique in the world. Nowhere else in the world have you got such a large, English speaking, well educated, service-oriented, labor force, community, culture that can, because of the exchange rate, provide service to the rest of the world,” he says.
Lock considers the Philippines as his second home, especially as his daughter, his “little Filipina”, was born at the Makati Medical Center in 2010. “I love living in the Philippines, as a country that has so much to offer to the world,” he says.
Lock says his wife who works at the New Zealand embassy and his two boys also love their stay in the country.
He says he feels the responsibility, being in a privileged position, “to give back to the country that has welcomed us.” He and his wife are involved in numerous charitable organizations and promotes rugby as a sport in the country. Lock in fact coaches a team of 75 Filipino young kids from ages 4 to 16 called the Makati Young Mavericks.
“Rugby is one of my personal passions. It’s almost like a religion in New Zealand. We’ve gotten involved in the youth development of rugby in the Philippines and I coach a team comprised of 95 percent of Filipinos,” he says.
Lock handles the operations at Transcom Center Building in Frontera Verde, Pasig City, which houses around 4,000 employees.” He believes in Transcom’s mission of putting the needs of people first to propel the growth of the company. “The organization has always had a philosophy of putting its people first and the view that if the people are happy, our company will be successful. We invest heavily in facilities, in different programs, charities, community outreach programs,” he says.
“We focus on family. I love it when we have members of the same family or friendship groups working in the organization. Transcom feels that it’s the way to go. If you’re working with people that you care about then it becomes an extension of home. If you can create big friendship groups, you’ve gone a long way to create an environment that feels like home,” he says.
Transcom organizes family day events, when it opens the company and its facilities to the family members of its employees. Transcom also sponsors events for the kids, hires rock bands and holds other fun-filled activities that make the day memorable.
Lock also recently led the donation of 50 “trisikads” or pedicabs to the city government of Bacolod where Transcom has a facility.
Meanwhile, Neil Rae, who joined Transcom in 2004, as a key account manager and has since accumulated significant experience in the organization, sees “something special” in the Philippines.
“Part of the reason is not just tech, not just process, it’s truly our people, and our commitment is to be here in the Philippines,” he says.
He says Transcom’s investment in the Philippines “represents a passion and commitment and dedication” to this industry that ultimately is the reason it has grown. The executive says the Philippines is among the top five countries with the highest level of customer experience among English-speaking countries. “It’s the excellence in customer experience that you can get [in the Philippines],” he says.
Rae is now the regional general manager and executive vice president for North America and Asia.
He says Transcom goes beyond compensation to look at its employees’ personal and professional development.”You optimize it by respecting and understanding the people by empowering the people locally to become our future leaders. It’s not bringing expats into the organization. This is about building something, future leaders. Filipinos leading Filipinos to show the true success,” Rae says.
Rae says Transcom’s strength lies in its employees where the company has put premium in caring for its employees.”To me, there is a direct correlation between our staff and our people and the level of customer experience we deliver. I firmly believe, and the organization believes that we need to focus in first on our people,” he says.
“How we care for them, that’s the most important thing. And this is something that I view as our number one priority in differentiating our organization in the Philippines from other organizations,” he says.
Rae says the BPO industry has created the new middle class in the Philippines. “It’s more than just a job. If you compare the Philippines to North America, it’s a career here. It’s created the middle class.
It has created something so powerful, I have not seen it globally. There’s a lot of factors, social, economic but if you strip that, it’s truly the people,” he says.
