Keeping fit and awake ... with sweet pleasure

The mushrooming of call centers in the different metropolises in the country has given rise not only  to livelihood opportunities to hundreds of thousands of the country’s workforce, but also to a new and upbeat graveyard-shift lifestyle. When you visit a huge call center on Ayala Ave. in Makati City at 9 p.m., you will be amazed at how busy the office is, with agents literally coming in at every hour as if it were 8 a.m. At the same time, batches of workers are ready to call it a day, from 2:30 to 6 a.m. as if it were the end of an 8-to-5 workday.

I found myself a cozy nook at the office lobby to continue observing these call center agents. I wondered how they kept themselves awake and efficient all night long. I noticed a group of yuppies swarming over a blue-and-white booth, where I discovered there was free-flowing coffee and tea to be had. Hmmm! That’s it! Coffee or tea was the answer to keeping them wide awake. And what was in that canister where they picked up their share of blue packets? Ah… Equal, the favorite, great-tasting low-calorie sweetener that is accepted worldwide. It figures that coffee or tea would keep them awake, and Equal would keep their calorie intake in tow even if they drink three or four cups of coffee or tea during the night. That was what the sign in front of the booth meant: ”Do it for yourself… Do it for your coffee/tea.” It actually meant keeping awake and fit… with sweet pleasure!

At that moment, I met Francisco “Kiko” Savellano and Iris Lising who noticed my curious self. They work with the organizational development team of the center’s human resource department. Kiko explained the presence of the Equal sampling booth at the lobby. It was part of their HRD’s employee engagement activities and projects, which encourage the workers “to do better.” The treats of coffee and tea sweetened with Equal were a joint effort of the call center and Equal.

“Coffee, tea, and Equal are deemed fit for our employees who work till the wee hours of the morning,” Kiko explained. “The so-called graveyard shift is necessary because the center caters to daytime operations in the USA.”

At this point, Kiko revealed the magnitude of the outsourcing business known as call centers. For instance, their company alone employs about 9,000 people with three offices on Ayala Ave., Makati, and one each in Cebu City and Baguio City. Their employees are given orientations in American culture, and then trained to speak with an American accent. Then they are given specific training seminars in the particular company accounts’ services or products they are to handle.

Lunch Break at 2 a.m.

No wonder, call center agents work at night in the Philippines, since it corresponds to the daytime working hours in the USA.

“Here, our one-hour lunch break is on the fifth hour of work. So if you come in at 9 p.m., your so-called ‘lunch break’ would be at 2 a.m., and your 15-minute coffee breaks would be on the third and seventh hours, or at 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.,” Kiko explained.

“Of course, we do have pantries, vending machines, coffee shops and other concessionaires in the building to cater to our employees’ break time needs,” he added when asked where their employees normally go during breaks.

Kiko and Iris had to attend a meeting. As the call center agents came for their coffee or tea, returned to their posts afterwards or called it a day, I was able to have chat with some of them.

Jon Bello sat with us briefly while he sipped his coffee with Equal. Jon, a 35-year-old lawyer, used to work with a Makati-based law firm. He just recently joined the call center’s legal department for “a new experience.” Jon had to rush off to go back to his post.

Coffee Minus the Calories

Then I approached Ma. Meliza “Mel” Vitorio, who works as an analyst with the center’s quality assurance team. She gave me an example of her shift’s coffee breaks. She normally takes three cups of coffee: at 10 p.m. when she starts to work, at 1 a.m. during “lunch,” and again at 4 a.m., for her other 15-minute coffee break. “I love coffee; in fact, I take coffee again when I wake up at home. And I do take it with Equal. I think it’s best with coffee. It is sweeter, with less calories, so it is healthier, and mas masarap (tastes better). So with Equal, I can enjoy the sweetness of coffee as often as I want without having to worry much about gaining weight or adding inches to my waistline.”

Her co-worker Ma. Theresa “George” Bernabe added, “We need to stay awake during the graveyard shift. I also take three cups of coffee during work.”

Fun at Work, Pleasure on Coffee Breaks

For Marylina Vista, a 28-year-old telesales agent for a travel agency, a call center job spells F-U-N. “You get to speak to different types of people. In the process, you get to learn about yourself, too — a lot of personality challenges. I also get better pay, like twice as much than my former jobs … so I enjoy my job even if I lack sleep!”

Marylina, who has been in the center for a year now, takes four to five cups of coffee during her graveyard shift.

Hasmin Navoa is used to the graveyard shift. After graduating from college, she worked for another call center. She is now assigned to a financial and software client of the center as a team captain, a supervisory level.

“I am used to sleeping late, so the graveyard shift is not a major issue for me. I take coffee when I need to stay awake during work hours,” Hasmin stated matter-of-factly. She thinks coffee drinking becomes “a more pleasurable experience” when taken with Equal low-calorie sweetener.

Lemuel Estigoy, an assistant team leader (supervisory level) for a big US-based credit card company, has been with the call center for a year now. His previous job was also with another call center. He intimated that he takes three cups of coffee during work hours to wake him up. He normally takes it with sugar and cream from the vending machine. After savoring his coffee with Equal, he revealed a discovery, “Its not too sweet. For me, its sweetness is just right. And I don’t need the cream, because my coffee tastes better even with Equal alone.”

Manny Vargas, single, is an E-rep for the same credit card client of the center. On the job, he enjoys talking with different kinds of people. He says the pay is good … twice as much as his previous job. To stay awake, he takes two cups of coffee at 11 p.m., another cup at 4 a.m. during his “lunch break,” and another cup at 5:45 a.m. As he sipped his coffee with Equal, he found out that the taste of coffee comes out naturally when sweetened with Equal.

It was 11 p.m., and Reynaldo Bilan, Jr., 36, who works with the IT Department, was preparing to leave for home. A network engineer, he joined the center as a systems integrator. As he sipped his last cup of coffee for the night, he commented, “I love brewed coffee. And Equal has a sweetness that is just perfect with strong brewed coffee.”

For Jenna Tabunda who works with a travel account, her call center job was hard … at first. She said she could not imagine herself working all night for nine hours! Jenna enthused, “But now, it’s routine, I’m getting used to it.”

And taking Equal with her coffee is not new to Jenna. “My father is diabetic and he always takes Equal with his coffee. For me, I enjoy my coffee better with Equal because it removes the bitterness of coffee. And Equal’s sweetness is not cloying.”

At 2:30 a.m., my photographer and I were starved. Time for “lunch?” There were fast-food chains in the building ready to serve delicious value meals … and more hot coffee! Well, this time, we had tea with Equal after our lunch, for another “pleasurable experience!”