Business Process Outsourcing firm Sutherland Global Services plans to hire about a thousand additional workers from the province of Ilocos Norte as they open a new operational hub here.

During a courtesy visit at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session hall on Monday, Deepak Nair, country manager of Sutherland, said Ilocos Norte province has a huge potential for business.

“We are hoping to employ in the next few months a thousand people as we are partnering with the Mariano Marcos State University for the training of our needed workforce,” he said as Sutherland continues to expand in the provinces, particularly in this northern part of Luzon.

Sutherland currently operates 61 delivery centers in 144 countries.

In the Philippines, it has 10 centers in different parts of the country, including in Metro Manila, Tarlac, Clark, and the Bicol Region.

The company works with businesses across a broad range of industries, including banking and financial services, insurance, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, media and entertainment, technology, travel and hospitality, and logistics.

Rona Leigh Cheng Bueno, head of the Ilocos Norte investment office, said Monday the provincial government is assisting Sutherland on its business transition as the company plans to set up its own office at the provincial government-owned, nine-story Dap-ayan Center in downtown Laoag which is nearing completion.

“For now, some of Sutherland’s newly-hired personnel from the province are working from home,” said Bueno as the company conducted a recruitment activity at the Laoag City Hall covered court last January 26 to 27, 2023.

Meantime, Sutherland and the MMSU have been training Ilocanos in responding to the increasing demand for qualified customer service and technical support associates in the country. (PNA)