Beneficiaries’ milestones celebrated through annual meet and greet with executives

Top BPO company in the Philippines Sykes Asia, Inc. has recently announced 30 new scholars as recipients of its annual SYKES EDGE (Educational Grant for Employees’ Dependents) Scholarship Program that extends financial support to dependents of SYKES employees. Apart from the monetary grant, the SYKES Executive Team conducts an annual meet and greet to celebrate the scholars’ milestones and further encourage them to persevere in school and continue reaching their dreams.

Since its inception in 2017, SYKES EDGE has helped nearly a hundred employee dependents achieve their dreams of finishing their education. Now on its third year, the scholarship program picked 15 grantees from Cebu and another 15 from Manila. The scholars received Php25,000 financial aid for their education, as well as exclusive SYKES merchandise and school supplies to prep them for the academic year.

SYKES employees, also referred to as SYKESers, are given the chance to nominate one dependent─from either children or siblings─ to the educational program. Students in elementary, junior and senior high school, and technical-vocational education are all eligible to apply.

“Education is one of our primary advocacies, and we value its importance and capability to open doors of opportunity. SYKES’ sustainability development model focuses on the contribution of our business towards the improvement of social well-being, resulting to social mobility and reduction of poverty. As Filipinos, it is part of our culture for education to be an aspiration for our loved ones, and since most of our employees are financially supporting their family members’ education, we wanted to pay back their loyalty by helping them achieve their goals through SYKES EDGE,” said Cecile May Venancio, Branding and Communications Director of SYKES APAC.

SYKES EDGE representatives headed by Sykes Asia, Inc. Senior Vice President and General Manager John Sneed (leftmost) give Unaizah Marie Magdalera (fourth from left) and her mother Joannaly Magdalera from Cebu the scholarship grant and school materials for school year 2019-2020.

Unaizah Marie Magdalera, 17, one of this year’s SYKES EDGE scholars in Cebu, says that one of the reasons she wanted to apply to the program is to help her mother, a SYKES employee, in fulfilling financial responsibilities to their family. She shares that her mother, a single parent, is financing both her and her sister’s education. “With this opportunity, I am able to help my mom with the finances, especially with my studies. With this scholarship, my mother will be able to allot her salary to other important matters,” she said.

Currently in Grade 11, Unaizah is enrolled at the University of Cebu Senior High School, pursuing the Humanities and Social Sciences track. She reveals that she is planning on taking up Psychology in college as she wants to better understand people going through mental health issues and be able to help them overcome their illness.

Meanwhile, Angelo Tesoro,18, a SYKES EDGE scholar from Manila, considers education to be the key to everything in life and sees it as more than gaining knowledge and honing skills. “Aside from being more knowledgeable and equipped to accomplish things as an individual, I want to finish my studies to make my parents proud and make my degree a stepping stone to give back to them what they deserve,” said Angelo, who emphasizes that his parents are constantly supportive of everything he does.

Angelo aims to be a teacher in the future to impart knowledge, academically or otherwise, and influence the youth with life lessons that they can use in the long run. In his own way, he aims to shape the generation after him, which he believes holds the hope to our world.

“This scholarship will certainly strengthen my opportunity and will help me accomplish my current goal, move on to the next, and eventually become a Professional Licensed Teacher,” Angelo explains.

As a top BPO company in the Philippines, SYKES shows its appreciation and gratitude to its employees in more ways than the mandatory benefits expected of a company. With SYKES EDGEopening every year, financial assistance is provided to more SYKESers, which better expands the BPO industry leader’s employee benefits. This unique advocacy inspires more employees and students to always strive towards their goals.

“The SYKES EDGE Scholarship Program serves as a tool for deserving Filipino students to educate themselves and uplift their lives. We hope that they take this opportunity and use it as an inspiration to, in turn, pay it forward to people in need when they achieve success,” said Venancio.

Outside the EDGE program, SYKES is also actively participating in educational support activities including educational facilities renovation, computer donation drives, student tutorials, and school supplies sponsorships. Prior to the program, the multinational BPO company has been providing scholarships to students in various educational levels through partnering with NGOs.

Widely regarded as a top BPO in the Philippines, SYKES excels in more areas than simply providing good customer service and customer satisfaction. Over the past two decades, the organization has spearheaded CSR programs in different sectors across the country, whether through educational programs, disaster relief operations, or any other efforts that extend assistance to people in need and communities in  rural areas, orphanages, and public schools, among others.