Narayan AmmachchiBanking and insurance company Prudential Financial Inc has struck a deal with BPO provider HGS USA to launch a technology and call center service in El Paso, Texas. The main aim of the project is to create jobs for military veterans, who number more than a million in this U.S. state.
Local reports say Prudential’s call center will be housed inside an HGS facility in eastern El Paso. HGS will be tasked with training military veterans in call center operations, while the University of Texas and El Paso Community College have also reportedly agreed to provide IT training to veterans.
Texas has the second largest number of veterans (1.6 million) nationally, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, with 48,000 living in metropolitan El Paso. In addition, Fort Bliss, which is located in El Paso, introduces over 6,000 veterans per year to the job market.
The US call center industry is growing like never before. Considering the last study from CallCenterCrossing, a large number of companies are hunting for customer care agents and thousands of positions are still vacant across the United States.
The outsourcing industry has contributed greatly to helping veterans land a job. BPO firm Expert Global Solutions alone has hired more than a thousand military veterans in the last two years.
In a separate statement, Texas governor’s office has stated that it will grant Prudential $1.15 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund for creating so many jobs for the local community. About half the jobs in the delivery center will be technology jobs and the other half will be call center jobs.
“With this new business, Prudential is continuing its commitment to provide meaningful training and employment to veterans, military service members and their families and people from diverse backgrounds,” said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld.
U.S.-listed Prudential has more than $1.1 trillion of assets as of December 31, 2013, and has operations across the world, including in Latin America.
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