Teleperformance

Teleperformance SE is a multinational company founded in 1978 with headquarters in France. They provide services for debt collection, telemarketing, customer relationship management, content moderation, and communication.[3]

Teleperformance SE
TypeSocietas Europaea
ISINFR0000051807
IndustryBusiness process outsourcing
Founded1978 (1978) in France
FounderDaniel Julien
Headquarters48.8754°N 2.3023°E / 48.8754; 2.3023,

Paris, Île-de-France
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Daniel Julien
(Chairman & CEO)
Bhupender Singh
Services
RevenueIncrease €8.154 billion (2022)[1]
Increase €994 million (2022)[1]
Increase €645 million (2022)[1]
Number of employees
Decrease 410,000 (2022)[1]
Websiteteleperformance.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Its services are operated in over 300 languages and dialects on behalf of companies in various industries.[4]

History

Expansion

Daniel Julien created Teleperformance in Paris in June 1978.[5] In 1986, Teleperformance established its first international subsidiaries in Belgium and Italy. Two years later, Teleperformance launched subsidiaries in other European markets: Spain, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In 1989, Daniel Julien and Jacques Berrebi joined forces at the head of Rochefortaise Communication, the parent company of Teleperformance International listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Ten years later, Rochefortaise Communication and Teleperformance International merged to form SR. Teleperformance. This company became Teleperformance in 2006.[6]

In 1992, Teleperformance USA was established, beginning its contact center operations in the United States. In 1996, Asia-Pacific contact centers were developed, with operations set up in the Philippines and Singapore. The Group was significantly expanded in Europe through numerous acquisitions and company start-ups in Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Finland.[7] From 1998 through 2002, the Teleperformance network expanded throughout the Americas, into Argentina,[8] Brazil[9] and Mexico.[10]

In 2006 Teleperformance USA purchased AOL's 400-employee call center in Ogden, Utah. This purchase was the 23rd call center which the company purchased until this time.[11]

In 2007, Teleperformance acquired 100% interest in Twenty4help, the European technical support leader; AllianceOne, a leading US accounts receivable management company.[12] In 2008, the group's operations and strategy were centralized for management under the responsibility of Daniel Julien and Jacques Berrebi. Teleperformance acquired The Answer Group.[13]

In 2008 a class action lawsuit was filed against Salt Lake City-based Teleperformance USA seeking unpaid wages for employees, alleging a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.[14][15] On 19 May 2010, a settlement was reached for approximately $2 million to be paid to 15,862 workers in 10 US states.[16]

In 2010, Teleperformance acquired Scottish outsourcing call center 'beCogent' for £35 million.[17] It ceased operations in December 2021 mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work.[18] By 2013 Teleperformance had six contact centers in Tunisia.[19] In 2013, Teleperformance acquired full control of TLS Contact.[20] In 2014, Teleperformance acquired Aegis USA Inc., a major outsourcing and technology company in the United States, the Philippines and Costa Rica. The transaction was approved by regulatory authorities.[21] From 2014 to 2016, Teleperformance created and/or opened fifteen new centers worldwide. In January 2019, Teleperformance announced its second premises in Cairo. In March 2015 the company announced the opening of a new offshore facility in Paramaribo, Surinam. The multichannel contact center offers support to Benelux clients in Dutch.[22]

In May 2016 Teleperformance announced the opening of a contact center in Australia. The center has 300 workstations and is located in Burwood, Victoria, about 16 kilometers outside of Melbourne.[23] The company announced in July 2016 its plans to expand to Bristol, Tennessee in the United States, creating 500 jobs within the coming five years.[24]

In August 2016 Teleperformance purchased California-based LanguageLine Solutions LLC for $1.52 billion from a US-based private equity firm, Abry Partners.[25]

Governance

Jacques Berrebi announced his plans to retire in January 2008. He ended all his operational duties as of 5 January 2009.[26][27]

In 2012, Jacques Berrebi, co-founder with Daniel Julien of Teleperformance Group, retired at the age of 70.[28]

Paulo César Salles Vasques was announced as the new chief executive officer of the group[29] and Daniel Julien remained as the chairman of the board.[21][30]

In October 2017, after the resignation of Paulo César Salles Vasques, Daniel Julien, who remains executive chairman of the board, was also appointed by the board of directors as group chief executive officer.[31]

In June 2023, Bhupender Singh was appointed as Teleperformance Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer.[32]

Awards

Controversies

A group of labor unions filed a complaint documenting unsafe working conditions, monitoring, surveillance, union busting and retaliation against employees in ten countries in April 2020. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, workers in the Philippines, including those supporting Amazon's Ring camera contract, had nowhere to sleep but at their workspaces and were unable to meet social distancing requirements. The Financial Times was able to verify this with video and photos, including in a Cebu City office. After the working conditions were made public, the company promised to make improvements, but NBC News reported after six months the company was providing intermittent shuttle service, not properly sanitizing working spaces, and sending workers home without pay if they were quarantined.[34][35]

While Amazon required support contractors to be onsite, Netflix's contract with Teleperformance allowed employees to work from home.[34][35]

In Colombia, the union Utraclaro, part of the UNI Global Union, has organized Teleperformance employees, including moderators. In 2021, after the union submitted its demands for the company to protect freedom of association, Teleperformance filed a lawsuit against the union in a labor court.[36] In November 2022, the Ministry of Labour launched an investigation into the company.[37] After the investigation, shares in the company dropped by 34%. In April and May 2023, the company signed agreements allowing workers in Colombia, Romania and Poland to unionize. The company also stated, in its 2023 first-half results, that the Colombian government had closed its investigation with no findings against it.[38][39]

Workers in Colombia, including those working on contracts for Amazon, Apple and Uber, are remotely monitored by the company, including by AI-enabled cameras and voice recording using its own TP Cloud Campus platform. The company stated 240,000 employees in 52 countries were using the platform by mid-2021. Workers in Albania, including those working on Apple content, were protected from webcam monitoring at home through their Data Protection Commission.[40][41][42][43]

Corporate culture

Teleperformance has been repeatedly criticized for privacy violations, surveillance, as well as extremely stressful working conditions for its workers.[44][45][46]

Content moderation

Teleperformance employs content moderators for platforms including TikTok, with moderators in Tunisia and Colombia reviewing explicit content in order to remove it from the platform.[47][37] Its "Trust and Safety" branch and moderation program were launched in 2019.[48] After an investigation by Forbes reported that the company retained material with child sexual abuse, Teleperformance and TikTok were criticized by the United States Senate Committee on Commerce and by shareholders.[49] In November 2022, the company announced that it would exit "the highly egregious part of the trust and safety business." However, it reversed its decision in March 2023.[50][47]

References
  1. "2022 Annual Results - Press Release" (PDF). Teleperformance.
  2. "comptes-conso-2022-vf-def" (PDF). 23 February 2023.
  3. "Teleperformance". Forbes.
  4. "About us". Teleperformance.
  5. "La France championne du monde".
  6. "An Interview with Daniel Julien, Chief Executive Officer, Teleperformance Group Inc".
  7. "SR Teleperformance S.A".
  8. "Company Overview of Teleperformance Argentina SA".
  9. "Teleperformance abre nova unidade no Nordeste e irá gerar mais de 3.000 empregos".
  10. "Teleperformance Opens 17th Center in Mexico, with $6 Million Puebla Investment".
  11. Buffardi, Michelle (23 October 2006). "Teleperformance USA Buys AOL Call Center". EE Times. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  12. "French Call Center Giant Acquires Debt Collector AllianceOne". Inside Arm. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  13. "TELEPERFORMANCE ACQUIRES THE ANSWER GROUP". Chief Marketer. 24 December 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  14. Thomas, Chris (10 September 2008). "Only on 12: Teleperformance facing class action lawsuit". WRDW12. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  15. "Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit Against Teleperformance". Newsvine. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  16. "Salt Lake City-based Teleperformance USA pays almost $2 million in back overtime wages following US Department of Labor investigation". US Dept of Labor. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  17. "BeCogent call centre firm sold to Teleperformance". BBC. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  18. "Teleperformance to close Airdrie contact centre base". 25 March 2021.
  19. Aizicovici, Francine (4 April 2013). "Teleperformance et ses pratiques sociales "à l'épreuve" pour neuf mois". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  20. "TELEPERFORMANCE ACQUIERT 100% DE SA FILIALE TLSCONTACT". Capital. 29 January 2013. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  21. Robert, Martine (10 July 2014). "Teleperformance mise 610 millions sur les Etats-Unis". Les Echos. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  22. "Teleperformance: Announces Expansion of Global Footprint to Paramaribo, Surinam". 4-Traders. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  23. Cusi, Veronica Silva (26 May 2016). "Teleperformance Expands Global Footprint to Australia". Contact Center World. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  24. "Teleperformance to expand in Bristol, TN; Creating 500 jobs within 5 years". News Channel 11. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  25. Ricadela, Aaron (22 August 2016). "Teleperformance of France Buying LanguageLine for $1.52 Billion". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  26. "TELEPERFORMANCE: Jacques Berrebi organizes his retirement". Market Wired. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  27. Barnard, Patrick (1 January 2008). "Teleperformance Chairman to retire". Customer Interaction Solutions. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  28. "Teleperformance: Jacques Berrebi présente TP". YouTube.com. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  29. "Teleperformance nomme Paulo César Salles Vasques directeur général". Les Echos. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  30. "Teleperformance vise une nouvelle année de croissance en 2014". Les Echos. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  31. "GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE". 13 October 2017.
  32. "Teleperformance Appoints Bhupender Singh as Deputy Chief Executive Officer" (Press release). Business Wire. 19 June 2023.
  33. "Teleperformance PH wins at 2020 Festival of Media APAC Awards and Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards". www.gadgetsmagazine.com. 16 October 2020.
  34. Lee, Dave (1 April 2020). "Amazon contractors enduring 'subhuman' conditions in Philippines | Financial Times". ft.com. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  35. Solon, Olivia; Glaser, April (15 October 2020). "High risk, low pay, little choice at Amazon Ring call center, fearful workers say". NBC News. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  36. McIntyre, Niamh; Bradbury, Rosie; Perrigo, Billy (20 October 2022). "Behind TikTok's boom: A legion of traumatised, $10-a-day content moderators". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  37. Perrigo, Billy (10 November 2022). "TikTok's Subcontractor in Colombia Under Investigation for Traumatic Work". TIME. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  38. McIntyre, Niamh (19 April 2023). "Teleperformance signs 'historic agreement' allowing Colombian workers to unionise". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  39. "BPO major Teleperformance reports €3.96 bn revenue in first-half". www.infotechlead.com. 29 July 2023.
  40. Walker, Peter (26 March 2021). "Call centre staff to be monitored via webcam for home-working 'infractions'". the Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  41. Solon, Olivia (8 August 2021). "Big Tech call center workers face pressure to accept home surveillance". NBC News. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  42. "Teleperformance SE : Record Growth in First-Half 2021 Revenue and Earnings; Full-year Guidance Raised". businesswire.com. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2023. Consolidation of a hybrid business model thanks to the deployment of the TP Cloud Campus platform – a remote, cloud-based customer experience management solution – in 52 countries at end-June vs. 32 countries at end-2020, and nearly 240,000 employees working from home
  43. Walker, Peter (26 March 2021). "'Missing from desk': AI webcam raises remote surveillance concerns". the Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  44. Lavelle, Moira. ""For them you're not a human being": Meet the migrants answering phones for Big Tech". restofworld.
  45. "Is Portugal the new 'India of Europe?'". dw.com.
  46. Walker, Peter. "Call centre firm tells UK homeworkers they will not be watched with webcam". The Guardian.
  47. Berthelot, Benoit; Ren, Henry (19 March 2023). "TikTok's Moderators Still Review Child Abuse Despite Vow to Exit". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  48. Levine, Alexandra S. (4 August 2022). "TikTok Moderators Are Being Trained Using Graphic Images Of Child Sexual Abuse". Forbes. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  49. Levine, Alexandra S. (17 November 2022). "Top TikTok Moderator Exits 'Highly Egregious Part' Of Content Moderation Business Over Investor Outcry". Forbes . Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  50. Berthelot, Benoit (23 March 2023). "TikTok's Moderator Reverses Vow to Exit 'Egregious' Content". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
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