Aegis to ‘right-shore’ 5,000 new employees in US

Essar-owned company on a hiring spree in the US.

By American Bazaar Staff

WASHINGTON, DC: Even as promised jobs in India by multinational companies are petering out, with the recent pullout by Posco and Arcelor-Mittal from big manufacturing projects that were to come in Karnataka and Orissa, respectively, Indian companies seem to be shoring up their US operations through a hiring spree.

In the case of the $39 billion conglomerate Essar-owned Aegis, a global outsourcing and technology services company, the term would be more ‘right-shoring’ which the company likes to use when it talks about its international hiring.

Aegis is now tapping into the business that is coming up through the upcoming Obamacare health care reforms, by adding 5,000 personnel in the US at its 9 call-center locations where they have operations, in a move the company says is to “expand our engagements with existing clients.”

Aegis global chief executive Sandip Sen said in a statement that in 2011, the company had joined the jobs4america coalition and pledged to hire more than 4,000 workers in the US over the next two years, which he said the company has already accomplished.

“In addition to creating these jobs, we are creating opportunities at many levels in our organization,” Sen said.

Aegis has operations in 56 locations across 13 countries with more than 73,000 employees. The company services over 300 clients from verticals like banking and financial services, insurance, technology, telecom, healthcare, travel and hospitality, consumer goods, retail and energy and utilities.

An affiliate of ABC News in Killeen, TX, said that Aegis is planning to add 1,400 jobs to its Killeen location over the next four months. Another 1,800 jobs will also be added to their Irving location, also in Texas.

According to Aegis, the job responsibilities for those positions will be “presenting the options available to consumers so that they can make informed decisions regarding their health care.”

The Joplin Globe reported that Aegis plans to hire 300 people for its Joplin call center in Montana over the next four months.

Kevin Nolan, head of Americas marketing for Aegis, said they currently have about 400 people working at the Joplin call center.

“These are a couple of health care client engagements,” Nolan said of the new positions. “Some of that is going to be seasonal, so that is full-time temporary.”

Nolan said many of the jobs for which the company is hiring are tied to open enrollment for Medicare, which begins every fall and lasts through the winter, but the company does not release the names of any specific clients, reported the Globe.

Earlier this month, Aegis won an award from the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce for being the overall best Indian company in the US, for its aggressive growth strategy in the US, at an awards function in Mumbai. It was also awarded as the most Innovative Indian company in the United States.

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