What does it mean to be a Green Call Center

Does any business have the right to call itself “green”? If we are really a green call center and put the environment first, shouldn’t we just shut off all the lights and computers and let the tarsiers live in our building? Can any business that uses power, requires people to leave their homes, and burns fossil fuels to get to the office say it is eco-friendly?

At this level, the answer to these questions is probably no. But I like to think we are doing all we can to be a green call center and an eco-friendly business.

We set up our call center business in the Philippines because we like the country, and we see an opportunity to give Filipinos the same chance to make a living and support their families as people in the US have. The economic advantages of having a call center in the Philippines are hard to deny. Still, we also looked at ways to set up a business here that can grow without creating an oversized carbon footprint.

We set out to create a green call center that is both client-friendly and eco-friendly.  We have found that it is possible to make a contact center sustainably without damaging the environment or needlessly burning fossil fuels. As a Filipino green call center, we take a top-down and whole-community approach to protecting the earth. 

As an eco-friendly US citizen, I find it hard to deny the irony of our situation.  On one hand, people in the US use far more fossil fuels and have a bigger carbon footprint than any other society in the world.  But on the other hand, Americans are more aware of green living and know more about protecting the environment than many people in the developing world.

It is not unlike the great US paradox of obesity.  The US has more obese people than any other nation yet still is obsessed with diet fads and exercise. Now that there are green oil companies and green plastic garbage bag manufacturers, we decided that becoming a green call center was not a hypocritical endeavor. 

We have done our best to set up a community in the office where we think about how our business decisions affect the environment.  Are we a green call center?  Are we an eco-friendly call center?  We keep trying.