TransUnion’s Virtual GCC Africa Prevails over South Africa’s Challenges To Maintain Employment Growth

Two years after first opening its virtual doors, TransUnion’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) Africa continues to create jobs, despite the current local challenges of load-shedding and a constrained local economy. The GCC has grown from just 50 associates when it opened in March 2021, to now employing more than 700 people with intentions to employ even more during this year – many via its learnership programme.

The GCC supports TransUnion’s global operations across a range of contact centre, business process management, technology support, and data analytics roles. It serves a range of markets for the global information and insights company in South Africa, the UK, the US, and Canada, with employees providing support services in both French and English across multiple time zones.

Every GCC employee works from home, with the business having provided fibre installations to their homes, mobile connectivity as a backup, and an uninterruptible power supply, which keep their laptops and connectivity running when the power is off.

Supporting youth employment

The GCC has made no secret of its ambition to aggressively address unemployment in the under 35 age group, according to GCC Africa Head, Shobana Maikoo.

“By the end of the year, a significant number of our new employees will be young people on a 12-month learnership, of which a third will be persons with disabilities,” says Maikoo. “They join the GCC with limited work experience or qualifications and after having successfully proceeded through our assessment processes, most will end their learnership with international work experience and a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) recognised qualification, having the opportunity to be absorbed as full-time employees.”

The GCC was originally intended to provide standard operations like back-office functions, business support, contact centre and IT support but has seen a strong increase in demand for specialist roles in the past year, including in areas like marketing, human resources, analytics, corporate investigations and procurement.

Eric Hess, executive vice president of global operations at TransUnion, said that GCC Africa’s success has seen the business evolving its GCC strategy to draw the greatest possible value by providing business continuity across time zones.

“GCC Africa has been an important driving force for our global business across more than 30 countries,” said Hess. “Its skilled workforce, sophisticated infrastructure and strong technology and digital capabilities benefit the broader TransUnion business, its clients and the consumers they serve every day.”

Apart from its business accolades, the GCC is setting new benchmarks in employee engagement, regardless of its 100% remote workforce. “Because we’re a completely virtual environment, we have forged new ways of driving and maintaining employee engagement,” says Maikoo. “Our marketing, internal communications and HR teams work closely together to ensure the right intensity and frequency of employee communication, and our monthly rewards and recognition programme – celebrated in a GCC-wide online gathering – is a highlight for everyone in the GCC.”

“Every leader is also trained in the nuances of remote leadership so that they can manage their teams effectively within the demands of their roles, and the flexibility that working in the GCC offers to associates,” she concluded.

GCC Africa is also the most gender-diverse operation of its kind across TransUnion. The entire executive leadership team and 70% of employees are female, which saw the business recognised with a Top Gender Empowered Company 2022 Award from the Standard Bank’s Top Women Awards.

For more information, visit https://www.transunion.co.za/gcc