Most employees, if not all, experience uncertainty in their work lives, with the pressure to climb the corporate ladder and realize their full potential. Michael Kerr, author and president of Humor at Work, says that this is due to their fear of both failure and success, of looking stupid, and of the unknown. However, these fears, once conquered, can lead to endless possibilities and to reaching heights beyond one's expectations.
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| Corporate Events Manager Maria Carmela Esquivias in one of the company's quarterly events for senior team leaders at TELUS McKinley West in Taguig. |
TELUS International Philippines Corporate Events Manager Maria Carmela Esquivias’ 15 years at the company is a testament to this. After a significant amount of time leading call center operations, Esquivias successfully moved further along her career path after challenging herself and following what she believes to be her calling – the diverse and colorful world of events management.
TELUS International Philippines is best known for supporting individuality, diversity, equality, and inclusion among its team members. Over the years, the leading business process-outsourcing (BPO) company has celebrated these through several employee engagement efforts that ensure a ‘caring culture.’
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| Esquivias receiving her 15-Year Service Milestone Award |
Taking the Lead
Esquivias came to realize that her passion extended to creating and hosting corporate events. Starting out as an agent, Esquivias moved up the career ladder slowly but surely, and eventually landed herself the role of Operations Manager. She was then offered a new role on TELUS International Philippines’ Corporate Culture team after being recognized for her active participation in company events.
Equipped with strong management principles and tons of determination, Esquivias set on to conquer this new territory. “I want to be an example and a representation of how one can grow inside the TELUS International family,” Esquivias shares. “It’s a way for me to share the culture that I’ve come to appreciate inside the company.” Juggling conflicting requirements and working long hours are a given in the world of events management but as demanding as it may sound, Esquivias carries her role out with grace, hard work, and grit.
Esquivias has helped realize one event after another without a day feeling like work. Her time on the Corporate Culture team has exposed her to various company events like the annual CSR volunteer activity TELUS Days of Giving (TDOG), the annual company sports fest TELUS Healthy Living Cup, site wide theme days, special interest group activities, and CSR events.
“The leader I had was very supportive of my intentions to try out the role in the Corporate Culture team, and I’m glad that TELUS International Philippines gave me an opportunity to excel in the post I wanted to explore,” she shared. “I took the challenge as I was very eager to work on events.”
Moving up and beyond
In 2012, Esquivias became TELUS International Philippines’ Corporate Events Manager and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, she has taken the lead in creating activities that promote the team company culture and mounting a significant number of TELUS International Philippines’ big-scale events like the Town Hall celebration, TELUS International Philippines’ major get-together event for more than 6,000 team members.
She also emphasized that the company’s focus on its team members’ needs is what sets her experience apart from that of other event management professionals in the industry. “From the efforts provided by my team to the activities done by the entire organization, TELUS International really sets the bar high when it comes to mounting unique and well-planned events,” she shares. “From a personal perspective, I think the way that TELUS International Philippines puts their team members at the heart of crafting each event definitely makes the experience all the more unique.”
Elai states that her achievements, such as the recently received 15-Year Service Milestone Award, is not just measured by the success of the projects she handles but by the camaraderie and teamwork that her team, together with the whole TELUS International Philippines community, fosters. “Without the utmost support of the whole team, the significance of those events would not be this meaningful. This is the main reason why I keep doing what I do and pushing myself and the team to put our best foot forward,” Esquivias concludes.
Putting passion in perspective
To better support the growth of team members and aspiring leaders like Elai, TELUS International Philippines created a Coaching for Excellence program designed to ensure everyone receives proper mentoring and leadership support. The coaching program also helps the company better understand the true calling of each of its team members – an excellent opportunity for job-seekers, be it fresh graduates and job-shifters alike – to channel their diverse passions in the right place. There’s also the Learning@TELUS International Roadmap, a series of learning programs and certifications directed towards developing team members’ leadership skills and nurturing homegrown talent.
TELUS International Philippines’ Vice-President of Brand, Marketing and Culture Warren Tait further affirms the company's commitment to creating a caring culture that fuels their team members' dedication and hard work. “We believe that passion brings out the best performance in everyone and that’s also the message that we want to communicate. We at TELUS International Philippines strive ensure that our team members are in a place where they are realizing their full potential.”
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