Impact Sourcing
We’re firm believers in Impact Sourcing and it plays a huge role in our recruitment strategy in the UK and Cape Town, South Africa.
Where we live, or the circumstances we were born into, shouldn’t limit our opportunities to succeed and thrive – that’s something we firmly believe in at Sigma Connected.
It’s why we’re also firm believers in Impact Sourcing – recruiting, training and employing socio-economically disadvantaged people. Impact Sourcing plays an important part in our recruitment strategy, both in the UK and in South Africa.
Impact Sourcing in the UK
We partner with organisations such as BMet, PeoplePlus, and Back 2Work, that support the long term unemployed get back into work , as well as run our own community programmes. Around 20% of our new employees in the UK are recruited this way.
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Impact Sourcing in South Africa
We have a large contact centre operation in Cape Town, South Africa, where the youth unemployment rate is consistently over 60%. It’s also a country bursting with underutilised talent, but without the access or means to gain meaningful employment.
We’ve been working in partnership with Shadow Careers, a national job creation initiative, since 2020. Through this and similar partnerships, such as Youth Employment and Services (Yes) – and through directly reaching out to communities ourselves – over 60% of our South African workforce is recruited through Impact Sourcing.
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Bringing jobs to the people
We’ve gone beyond just recruitment. In 2022 we became the first GBS operation to open a contact centre in the Mitchells Plain township in Cape Town. More than 60% of our employees come from Mitchells Plain. Taking jobs to the people is an important and ground-breaking part of our plans. It cuts down on costly travel, improves work-life balance and enables us to support the community where many of our employees live.
The business benefits of Impact Sourcing
Impact Sourcing is not just a philanthropic gesture, and it’s not just box ticking. It’s a win-win for BPOs, the businesses who partner with BPOs, and for the employees and communities it supports. Here are just some of the business benefits:
- Access to an extended talent pool
- Highly committed individuals who want to break the unemployment cycle
- Low attrition + higher employee engagement = lower recruitment and training spend
- Positive economic impact on the communities in which we operate
- Helps our clients achieve their sustainability goals
We don’t just talk the talk when it comes to Impact Sourcing. Our infographic shows just how much it is embedded in our everyday way of working.
In our white paper we take a closer look at Impact Sourcing in South Africa and the difference it is making to communities and lives – as well as the many business advantages it brings too. Download the paper here.
“Impact Sourcing works. It’s a proven business model with great outcomes – and helps raise communities out of poverty.”
In this video collaboration with Ryan Strategic Advisory, Peter Ryan discusses why impact sourcing in CX is the way forward.