MANILA, Philippines - Over time, the quote “the children are our future†has become a cliché. However, there are still some who understand what it truly means.
One of them is outsourcing services provider EXL Service, awarded as one of America’s 100 Best Small Companies by Forbes for two consecutive years (2010 and 2011) and NASSCOM Top 15 BPO companies for 2011. EXL Service recently partnered with non-profit organization Children’s Hour to offer help to Centex (Center of Excellence) Elementary School, a school for bright underprivileged children in Tondo, Manila.
EXL employees volunteered for an immersion day through Children’s Hour’s High Five activity where they donated learning kits, assisted teachers, fed and interacted with kindergarten children. “Out of these kids we see future leaders,†remarked Glenn Bautista, vice president for human resources at EXL, who was one of the volunteers.
The EXL board of directors also visited the school to meet with the principal and interact with the kids. The students’ chorale, in turn, performed for them. “The board was very impressed not only because of the intelligence displayed by the kids, but also because of the optimism, hope, and pride they showed,†said Bautista. EXL senior vice president and country head Jaideep Pradhan signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the CSR activity, supported by the presence of EXL’s chief communications officer and global CSR head Shruti Jain together with the board of directors.
According to Centex kindergarten chairwoman Maira Sapararan, apart from the need for funds and school supplies, the children at Centex yearn for unique learning experiences such as field trips and interaction with other people.
Joanne Thursday Uy, assistant vice president for employee engagement, said, “EXL’s vision for corporate social responsibility is to support education.†They chose to support Children’s Hour because it was closest to what EXL is currently doing, the company’s vision and their interest in assisting Filipino children.