Vaco launches digital operations center in San Francisco
Vaco Holdings, a Nashville-headquartered professional services firm, has opened a 50,000-square-foot digital operations center in San Ramon, CA.
Located at Bishop Ranch, the new facility is Vaco’s second East Bay location and will serve as a hub for 1,000 employees providing outsourced services in content moderation, trust and safety, curation, and digital targeting for social media.
Vaco says the center will be exclusively dedicated to a single client – “the third-largest social media platform in the world.” According to Statista, WhatsApp and Instagram are tied for third place, with 2 billion monthly active users. Either way, it’s a Meta brand company.
“Vaco is committed to providing world-class digital outsourcing services to our clients as part of our ongoing dedication to the digital content space,” said Jimmy Jhanda, managing partner of Vaco’s San Francisco office. “There’s a strong demand for reliable, skilled providers in content services, and this new facility demonstrates Vaco’s commitment to fulfilling that need.”
The San Ramon facility is Vaco’s fourth global digital operations center. The firm plans to open several more in the next two years.
“Content review is a delicate process, and it requires diligence, reliability, and accountability – all of which can be difficult to sustain without the right partners in place,” said Atul Bhave, Vaco managing partner and senior vice president of managed services. “The industry faces high rates of burnout and turnover due to the heavy psychological toll associated with reviewing sensitive content all day, which is why this facility is so important. We remain vigilant in looking for meaningful ways to support and connect this community of people.”
Outsourced content moderation for social media platforms has attracted negative media attention in recent years. The Verge in February 2019 published a report on the unsavory working conditions at Cognizant outsourced facilities serving Facebook, where contractors received low wages ($29k annual salary) to view and remedy flagged content – including hate speech, murders, child pornography, and other graphic content.
Following the negative press, Cognizant in October 2019 announced it would exit the content moderation business. Facebook in May 2020 agreed to pay $52 million to compensate current and former content moderators who developed mental health issues on the job.
“This new digital operations center is about Vaco’s commitment to excellence while meeting the needs of our clients and our team members,” said Haseeb Wahedy, Vaco client partner and engagement director. “We’re creating opportunities for more people to work with some of the biggest companies in the world, but we’re also presenting our clients with significant cost savings when it comes to housing these key members of their extended teams. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Vaco Holdings comprises staffing firm Vaco, management consultancy MorganFranklin Consulting, executive search firm Focus Search Partners, and healthcare IT consultancy Pivot Point Consulting. The group has more than 10,000 employees across offices in the US, Canada, and India.
