THE C CIRCLE

Everything that we have is temporary.

26 September 2009 is a day Filipinos will never forget. It is already a history that is inked in our lives. About 150 people have died and nearly 500,000 people have been affected by tropical storm “Ondoy” that caused heavy downpour and massive flooding in Metro Manila particularly in Marikina, Cainta, and Pasig.

I did not give much thought of the typhoon Ondoy when PAGASA forecasted it a few days prior the 26th since they said it will not cause much trouble. Unfortunately, since PAGASA did not have sophisticated technology to accurately forecast a storm, the people were wrongly informed.

And so the 26th of September came. There was already a heavy downpour when I woke up at around 9 in the morning. During that time, I thought it was just one of those “crying days of the heavens”. However, when I realized that only after about 4 hours, flood was already evident on the streets and it is quickly rising, I told myself, this is already something.

I turned on the TV and tuned in to a news channel. I was shocked when the newscaster broadcasted how massive the flood is already and started to show videos and pictures of the areas and people who were greatly affected by the typhoon.

A young girl is carried to safety through floodwaters

Residents help a woman get off the flood

People in Cainta wait for rescue on top of their submerged houses

According to the news, typhoon Ondoy delivered 410 mm of rainfall which is 20 mm higher than the average rainfall in a month.

If there is one thing I realized in this calamity was that we are powerless when we are faced with mother nature. I just hope that people, not only in the Philippines, will start to be more caring of mother earth. After all, this is the only home we’ve got.

On September 9^th, i-Elev8 Contact Solutions celebrated the birthday of one of its well loved Managers – Mac Herman.

Everybody had their own share in making Mac’s special day an event to remember.

The HR and Training Departments came up with a wacky idea. They collected video greetings from people from the streets who Mac does not even know. Fats connected with his sister in Canada via Facebook just to get her greet him while I stole his best girl friend’s cellphone number just to be connected to her and ask her to come up with a surprise birthday video greetings for him which we succeeded in doing!

We also collected Mac’s photos and put all of them in a powerpoint presentation with one of his favourite songs – We Are A Family (OST from the movie Dream Girls) as the background music.

While Mac was watching the videos, he got teary-eyed.

After the video and greetings presentations, it’s time for the agents to show what they have prepared. The MT/GT/CEP Teams, led by their Manager, Fats, did a dance number to the tune of different dance music. The night shift agents (US Mortgage, Federated, and CEP Outbound) also showcased skits and dance presentations.

To make the celebration of Mac’s birthday wackier, games were also played and everybody willingly participated – even without prizes!

i-Elev8’s President, Sir Ernie Lee graced the occasion.

I would like to greet my friend and office mate, Albert P. Dagnalan, a happy happy happy birthday! Albert and I have known each other sometime in 2000 (I hope my memory serves me right). We have been office mates in a marketing company located at Rufino Tower in Makati City. He was my superior then being our VP for Operations. However, after a while, for some reasons, I left the company.

I have not heard from him since then. We totally lost communication. But as fate would have it, we bumped to each other one time at Robinson’s Galleria. During those times, I was actually looking for somebody who can head our HR/Admin Department. I was putting up i-Elev8 Contact Solutions together with Sir Ernie Lee and Mark Herman then.

Now, it’s been 2 years and 1 month and i-Elev8 Contact Solutions is still going strong. And Albert? Well, this is now his 3rd time to celebrate his birthday with us. And every birthday that we celebrate here is really worth remembering. It’s nice to know that for every year that is being added to our lives, we are celebrating it with our extended family - our i-Elev8 family!

Again, Albert, Happy Birthday to you!

i-Elev8 Contact Solutions is the freshest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company in the Philippines. They started April of 2007 in a small office in Greenhills, San Juan enough to house 15 agents. After just 4 months, they grew to 30 seats that is why they had to move to a bigger office. They transferred to Tektite Tower also in Ortigas. And on their 6th month, the 30 seats grew to 50. And another transfer has to happen. This time around, they transferred to a 500-square meters office in FTI Taguig that can house 150 seats.

The management of i-Elev8 Contact Solutions has a combined 20 years of experience in running both inbound and outbound accounts as well as transcription services. The services they offer are:

• Customer Care
• Technical Support
• Sales
• Market Research
• Back Office
• Transcription

Lately, i-Elev8 Contact Solutions put up a website that offers professional writing services. They cater to people from different parts of the world who need A+ quality papers.

i-Elev8 Contact Solutions put so much importance on their people. In fact, aside from the efforts of their Human Resources Development in keeping up with beneficial and productive means to keep their people happy, they conduct a no-holds barred ‘Monthly Tea Time’ wherein the one hosting the event is none other than the General Manager. In this event, the call center associates have the chance to talk to a representative from the higher-up. This also serves as an avenue for the management to assess their employees as well as to determine on which area of the company they have to work on and improve more.

If you’re looking for a place where you can grow professionally and personally; where you can develop your talents, potentials and identity, then i-Elev8 Contact Solutions is the place for you.

i-Elev8 Contact Solutions is located at the 2/F, New Administration Building, FTI Complex, East Service Road, Taguig City, Manila, Philippines.

Mr. Ernesto Lee, President of Agri-Bio Phils. and I-Elev8 Contact Solutions is one person that I truly respect. I can still remember the day that I first met him. The date was August 26, 2006 when I applied as trainer in one of his companies - Leettrafe, Inc. (Phils.). I was really nervous then because it was my first time to be interviewed by a Chinese looking executive.

I came to his office 30 minutes earlier (my interview time was set at 4:00PM). I was dressed in semi-formal and have practiced well the possible questions I think I will be asked about during the interview.

His secretary walked me to his office. I was greeted by him and asked me to take my seat. He browsed my CV and started to ask me questions. After about 15 minutes, he said “Okay…You’re hired. You can start tomorrow.” I felt extreme happiness not only because I got the job but I got the job that I enjoy doing the most - trainings!

Sometime February 2007, in one of our meetings, he asked me to start a call center. I was stunned. I told myself, how could somebody this successful trust me a lot? That day brought me into the realization that I have to live up to his expectations and that I have to do everything I could not to fail him.

Currently, I’m still under his wings and enjoying working for him. The stress and pressure brought about in running a call center is nothing as compared to knowing that I am working for somebody I truly respect, a very down to earth person, my boss, my mentor - Ernesto Lee.

I-Elev8 Contact Solutions is truly blessed to have Quality Assurance Officers like Remy, Anna, Harmon, Cath, and Aleli. Confined in their “aquarium”, these hardworking “mermaids” tirelessly listen to recordings of the agents everyday and make sure that no single “bad” recording will get through our Clients.

Being a Quality Assurance Officer is not an easy task. Ensuring that the standards set by the client and the company is met at all times is physically and mentally draining! Although you do not see them standing all day long (like the sales ladies in department stores), sitting for 7.5 hours with their headsets on, listening to hundreds of recordings everyday, each recording having an average time of 6 minutes, carefully analyzing every word they hear and judging if the recording is good or not - GOSH! I would present myself to stand all day long as a Promo Merchandiser in a department store than be in their position. And not to mention, the countless days that they have to extend their working hours just to finish their QA tasks!

These are just some of the reasons why I salute our Quality Assurance Officers. And I’d like to thank all of them for their unwavering faith, understanding, concern, and dedication to their work and the Company.