NYSE-listed Startek, which had earlier merged its businesses with Indian BPO firm Aegis, is to recruit another 3,000-4,000 personnel globally this year as it increasingly adopts digital and automation technologies.

Following the addition, the company’s global headcount will rise to about about 43,000-44,000 personnel across 46 campuses in 13 countries. The Business Process Management (BPM) firm would hire personnel be across its centres in India, APAC, and Americas.

“In 2021, we believe sectors such as Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), e-commerce, emerging tech and healthcare will benefit by migrating products and customer processes online and enhancing customer experiences on digital channels. This will further create around 3,000-4,000 additional jobs globally,” Rajiv Ahuja, President at Startek, told BusinessLine .

“E-commerce and consumer durables companies are digitising their supply chain, and we are now seeing a pivot to cater to these emerging markets. The pick-up in demand from semi-urban and rural areas is also translating into an increase in volumes of customer inquiries, supply chain management and back-office services,” he added.

Startek is now leveraging digital and automation across most of its global BPM programmes and then converting it into a “force multiplier” (amplifying effort to get more output), rather than leading with pure labour arbitrage as a single most significant value proposition.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Startek’s businesses were not impacted much as its exposure to sectors such as travel and hospitality have been “relatively low” compared with other BPM companies. More than 70 per cent of its business was driven by sectors considered essential and non-discretionary such as telecom, cable and media, BFSI and healthcare among others.

In 2020, Startek hired an additional 2,000 people across its centres in Tier-II and III cities in India. The pandemic has caused a surge in demand across domestic e-commerce, food-tech, BFSI and consumer durables companies, which necessitated the hiring across these cities, he added.

In India, the firm employs 18,000 people across 17 BPM centres.

In 2018, BPO firm Aegis, a portfolio company of private equity firm Capital Square Partners, had signed an agreement with US-based Startek to merge with the latter in an all-stock transaction.

 

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