Atento Hiring 2,500 More Agents and Consultants in Brazil

Spanish BPO giant Atento is reportedly adding more than 2,500 people to its workforce in Brazil.

Most new hires will be sales consultants and customer care agents in the states of São Paulo, Goiás and Paraná.

The news comes almost a year after the company stated announced plans to relocate some of its Brazilian call centers to lower-cost tier-2 and tier-3 cities in order to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Atento is offering a wide range of employment benefits including healthcare, food incentives, and childcare benefits, according to local media reports.

With more than 152,000 employees and delivery centers in about 90 cities across the country, Atento is one of the biggest private sector employers in Brazil, with its operation in the South American country accounting for nearly 45% of its global revenue as well as headcount.

It has delivery centers in little-known Brazilian states such as Santo André, Ribeirão Preto, and Porto Alegre.

Over the past couple of years, a rise in minimum wage, combined with a volatile foreign exchange market, has hurt the company’s business in Latin America. Its Brazilian operations, for example, reported more than a 10% decline in revenue for 2Q16.

To counter the weak economic climate, Atento is increasingly adding digital services to its offerings and hunting for high-value contracts in the financial services sector. Last week, it landed a deal with Itaú, one of the major banking services firm in the region, to provide back-office services.

Most of its Brazilian clients are in the telecoms, financial services, insurance, healthcare, and retail sectors.