TELUS International’s Digital First Responders Contribute To Making the Internet Safer for All

TELUS International (NYSE and TSX:TIXT), a leading digital customer experience (CX) innovator that designs, builds and delivers next-generation solutions for global and disruptive brands, today announced the appointment of Dr. Lucy Rattrie as a Global Director of Workplace Wellbeing. Dr. Rattrie is a leading chartered psychologist, researcher and author with experience in psycho-social stress management, psychological health and safety and sub-clinical interventions within workplace wellbeing, having worked with the private sector, United Nations and government.

Joining TELUS International, Dr. Rattrie has become part of a well-established global team of mental health and wellness providers that includes Dr. Brenda Spencer, Clinical Psychologist, and other clinical wellness counselors. The industry-leading and award-winning programs they develop and deliver support the company’s more than 60,000 team members around the world, which includes customer support representatives and content moderators, as well as its global AI Community of more than one million data annotators and linguists.

“We are so pleased to welcome Dr. Rattrie to our dedicated and globally diverse Wellness Team,” said Jeff Puritt, president and CEO, TELUS International. “Caring for our team members will always be our priority focus as we understand the need to provide a wide range of resources, programs and benefits for them to access, and in many cases, for their family members as well. Dr. Rattrie will be building upon our strong foundation in this regard, focusing on preventative wellness practices and developing a psychological health curriculum that will help educate and further empower our team members to take charge of their personal health and wellbeing needs alongside the strong support of their leaders.”

A Growing Need for Digital First Responders

Content moderators and the companies that perform this important and valuable work play a critical role in ensuring safer digital spaces and more reliable online experiences in today’s age. This is especially the case as more brands have established and grown their digital identities amidst the pandemic, and individuals are increasingly participating in the creation and consumption of user-generated content, which can be in the form of text, images, videos and audio.

“Unfortunately, as the number and popularity of social sites, forums and online communities have grown, so too have instances of fake reviews, copyright infringements, false news and disturbing content,” said Puritt. “As far as we have progressed with artificial intelligence and machine learning to support widespread efforts to remove it, the job in many cases ultimately must be completed by humans who understand nuances and can make the necessary judgements and inferences that an algorithm cannot. This is why content moderators, whom we respectfully refer to as ‘digital first responders’ are at the core of what we do. They are committed to protecting the general public from seeing this type of content in order to help them feel and stay safe in our digital world, and ensuring they do not experience its potentially detrimental effects on their mental health.”

“TELUS International is able to recruit individuals through word-of-mouth and referrals for content moderator positions,” continued Puritt. “We have no doubt this is because we are recognized as a best-in-class employer in the industry. This is due in great part to our caring culture and commitment to giving back, our significant investment in the health and wellbeing of our team members and award-winning sites located around the world, and our genuine interest in our team members’ feedback and suggestions about how we can continually improve their employee experience.”

“At TELUS International, we are mindful of and very sensitive to the challenges associated with undertaking the important work of content moderation in an ever more digitally-enabled world,” continued Puritt. “Just as cars enable us to enjoy and experience life and the world around us, their use is not without risk. The risk/reward ratio is deemed acceptable by society, provided we ensure that cars are manufactured safely, that they are operated with care and that users obey the rules of the road. Enforcement of these considerations are critical.”

“So too does the Internet give us remarkable access to information, where knowledge is power, and we have the ability to complete fantastic things with the speed of light,” continued Puritt. “Yet here as well, accessing and leveraging this capability must be guided by clear parameters. The identification and enforcement of such is the best way to ensure we all may continue to benefit from its value.”

“While it is not our role at TELUS International to establish these policies, it is indeed our responsibility to ensure that our participation in and support of this ecosystem is undertaken responsibly and professionally; and we take that responsibility very seriously,” concluded Puritt.

About TELUS International

TELUS International (NYSE & TSX: TIXT) designs, builds and delivers next-generation digital solutions to enhance the customer experience (CX) for global and disruptive brands. The company’s services support the full lifecycle of its clients’ digital transformation journeys, enabling them to more quickly embrace next-generation digital technologies to deliver better business outcomes. TELUS International’s integrated solutions span digital strategy, innovation, consulting and design, IT lifecycle including managed solutions, intelligent automation and end-to-end AI data solutions including computer vision capabilities, as well as omnichannel CX and trust and safety solutions including content moderation. Fueling all stages of company growth, TELUS International partners with brands across high growth industry verticals, including tech and games, communications and media, eCommerce and fintech, healthcare, and travel and hospitality.

TELUS International’s unique caring culture promotes diversity and inclusivity through its policies, team member resource groups and workshops, and equal employment opportunity hiring practices across the regions where it operates. The company is building stronger communities and helping those in need through large-scale volunteer events that have positively impacted the lives of more than 150,000 citizens around the world and through its five TELUS International Community Boards that have provided $4 million in funding to grassroots charitable organizations since 2015. Learn more at: www.telusinternational.com.

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