BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING firm StarTek is hiring 240 more employees before year’s end, to add to its existing 860-strong workforce.

In a statement Tuesday, StarTek managing director Ed Mallari said the company aimed to fill 1,100 seats this year, as it also targeted to expand its customer base.

“Aside from our goal of filling 1,100 seats by end of the year, we are working to acquire new clients for this facility,” he said. “We have had a great year, increasing the number of clients we service and full-time employees.”

With StarTek’s 7,200-square-meter Makati City facility almost filled to capacity, StarTek senior vice president for business development Mary Beth Loesch said the BPO firm was now looking at setting up other facilities, most likely in nearby provinces.

“We’re evaluating expansion options. Those options include provincial locations as well as locations throughout the National Capital Region,” she said.

StarTek in May secured a five-year contract to provide various customer support and technical services to American telecommunications company Cincinnati Bell.

For customer management, StarTek will help Cincinnati Bell with sales, installation, care, technical support and retention programs.

For the technical support side, services to be rendered include hosted information technology infrastructure and application services. These cover interactive voice response, virtual queuing, voice over Internet protocol phone service, workforce management and quality assurance.

StarTek has around 9,000 seats spread over 20 sites in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and the Philippines, with agents providing high-value voice and non-voice services to its clients.