The Philippines is now No. 1 for BPO

According to IBM’s latest Global Locations Trend Annual Report, released recently in New York, the Philippines beats India in business support functions like shares services and business process outsourcing.

Following India in IBM’s ranking of BPO leaders were the United States, Poland, China, Britain, Columbia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Australia, Egypt, Chile, France, Canada, France, Singapore and the Netherlands.

Currently, there are 600,000 Filipinos employed in the country’s BPO industry, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

It is a great opportunity for us, Pinoy BPO workers, as we will have more choices of employers that will give the best benefits or stay will our companies and enjoy career growth. This new development will give us more of the global stage, where our skills will be recognized and rewarded.

It will be a great 2011 for the Pinoy BPO workers!

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Magna Carta for Call Center Workers

The unprecedented growth of the call center or the BPO industry has employed Pinoy BPO workers nationwide and provided an opportunity for Filipinos to showcase their skills in a global setting setting without leaving home.

The Pinoy BPO workers made it a billion-dollar industry for the Philippine economy and deserves to have protection from abuses in the workplace.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed Senate Bill No. 2604 or Magna Carta for Call Center Workers Act to to guarantee a good working environment for every Pinoy BPO worker.

According to the Senator's website, the bill seeks to guarantee call center employees the following rights: the right to organize and join labor organizations; the right to a safe and healthy working environment; the right to at least a one hour continuous meal break in the middle of every eight hour shift; the right to privacy; safety for night shift employees; and the right to be informed of the terms and conditions of their contract.

I want to stress that there are more abuses are being committed by BPO employers. I'm particularly against training bonds, HMO coverage after six months, forced overtime and many more other issues.

I will continue to discuss these topics in the following months and I support the Senator in her bill to forward the rights of the Pinoy BPO workers.

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'Dress Down' Must Be the Policy During Bad Weather

Some BPOs or Call Centers in the Philippines still require its employees to 'dress up' from Mondays to Thursdays. It is enforced to make their employees 'look professional' when within company premises.

I have no problems about this regulation but I think it's impractical and illogical to 'dress up' if there is a weather disturbance within the day. An estimated 90% or more of Pinoy BPO workers are still dependent on public transport to go to and fro the office. It is much of an inconvenience for us when we thread flooded streets, chase buses and jeepneys just to get to work on time during a typhoon.

I think it's a must for BPO companies with dress code policies to automatically declare a 'dress down' day when their is a public storm signal hoisted by PAGASA. Of course if your company is located in the Visayas and public storm signal is in Metro Manila, this will not be applicable.

I praise a BPO company somewhere in Buendia Avenue that dispatched transport vans hourly to key points in north and south Metro Manila to make sure its employees get to work safely during the time Super Typhoon Juan brought heavy rains in the metro. And of course employees get to 'dress down' as they where informed 6 hours earlier before their shifts.

That same day I texted my superior if we can go 'dress down' because Metro Manila was placed under Typhoon signal # 1 by PAGASA. I received the most ridiculous text response to date: 'No, because we have client visit today and we need to dress up'.

I later received another message just less than 2 hours before my shift that says 'Got a message from management allowing us to dress down'

Too bad some of my co-workers already left their homes at that time I sent the message across. My friend responded, 'Damn! I'm now in an FX, why didn't you texted me earlier?'

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Personal Outsourcing?

Big US companies utilized technology and outsourcing to make it possible for us, Pinoy BPO workers, to provide customer care, technical support and sell products for a living. But have you heard of personal outsourcing?

This could be the next trend in outsourcing. An ordinary individual can use present technology to 'outsource' work, to have time to do other things. In this scenario, let's say an American accountant may find someone offshore to do the Excel sheets for him to make his work easier and faster and just pay a few dollars for it.

Odesk is the leading website for online jobs and as I heard, it is also a marketplace for personal outsourcing. Similar websites followed suit and is also now providing stable part-time jobs for us Pinoy BPO workers.

This could be an opportunity for us Pinoy BPO workers to earn extra. I could only imagine that the time will come that a fifth grader in the US may outsource his homework for a dollar.

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Salary Disputes Again and Again

In an industry that uses and boasts of cutting edge technology, real-time processes and high performing workforce, salary discrepancies continues to haunt our hard working Pinoy BPO workers. It has been happening and it's a fact for many years now.

Back in 2006 when I was just starting out in the industry, I experienced my first holiday pay dispute. It was not credited for at least 3 months after I filed to correct the discrepancy.

After 4 years, now in 2010, I experienced yet the worst and the most ridiculous paycheck. Payroll issued me a 30.82 pesos check for one cut-off. I felt so humiliated and shocked. This payroll personnel who handed me the check just didn't know what it is all about and I just don't understand why this guy was just not sensitive enough to even apologize, the very least.

A check with right amount was released the day after. For me, this is just a reflection of what kind of culture the company have and this is a very serious matter that the company needs to address immediately.

I knows there's no perfect BPO company out there but as they say, mess up with anything, but not with our salaries. MAHIYA NAMAN KAYO.

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Typhoon Basyang and the Call Center

It's work as usual for Pinoy BPO workers even if a typhoon directly hit Metro Manila and nearby provinces weeks ago. That's not really surprising as call centers and buildings have back-up generators working even if the whole metropolis was groping in the dark because of blackouts.

It's just so funny when I heard a story of a friend of mine that she was tagged 'AWOL' when she failed to contact her supervisor that she will not be able to make it to the office because of strong rains and winds brought by the typhoon. I understand that it is a company policy to do so but with extra ordinary circumstances, it should be at least be dealt with consideration. And personally I do not recommend going to work with winds up to 120kph blowing outside as commuting will be extremely difficult and dangerous.

With an empty phone battery and blackouts, winds and rains everywhere, just contact your supervisor to avoid 'AWOL'. Okay fine.

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Teleperformance Closes Dell Accounts in MOA

It's now the end of the line for former Dell MOA regular employees that were absorbed by Teleperformance last year as XPS support and Solution Station software support (formerly called Dell on Call) will cease operations by June 25th.

Agents affected will be on 'floating' status pending if other accounts are ready to train and admit them. I see this no pay scenario for the agents unnacceptable. Teleperformance acquired these Dell agents and retained their regular status because they are an asset to the company not a liability. These agents chose to stay and trusted Teleperformance to give them career stability. This company should pay these agents their compensation regardless and treat people like people and not as machines that is being set aside if they're not earning money from them.

Nevertheless, experiencing the evils of the industry will not dampen the spirits of the Pinoy BPO worker. Move on and forward!

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Local Outsourcing, Good or Bad?

While most of the outsourcing activities are coming from the US, some of our local companies have taken advantage of Pinoy BPO industry boom.

Popular local fastfood chains like Mcdonalds, Jolibee and Chowking have their 24-hour delivery hotlines centralized and are using call center services for these. It resulted to a better business for them because it made it easier to dispatch the order from the nearest branch and delivered promptly to the customer.

Local telecommunication giants have expanded their customer services and utilized call centers to answer their customers' inquiries. Banking is done better through a telebanker if one wants to avoid the long lines in bank branches.

While the benefits are there for the local companies to outsource, it not the case for local employees that were laid off because of outsourcing.

It has been reported that more than 3,000 Philippine Airline employees will be affected by the first round of retrenchments because of outsourcing catering, ground and call center services.

Retrenched employees will be given separation pay equal to a month’s salary for every year of service, but I think there's more to it than money. For the retrenched call center employees, a free comprehensive call center training should be given by PAL to prepare them to be competetive and possibly be hired in international call centers. I believe that PAL's moral responsibility is to make sure that their retrenched employees that have been loyal to them for many years, will be prepared to be absorbed by the rest of the Pinoy BPO industry.

Well, there's always two sides in a coin and I hope all best for us Pinoy BPO workers.

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The Elusive Pinoy BPO Job

It has been reported that out of 100 applicants, only 6 applicants passes to get the elusive Pinoy BPO job. This is a very poor rate considering that the jobs available in the Pinoy BPO industry is estimated to double as expected employment will be close to 1 million this year 2010 from 400,000 of last year. Here's my view of what's going on:

Poor College Education. It is an ongoing concern that is beleaguering our youth and hampers them from getting a job, not only in the Pinoy BPO industry but also in other fields. It is very annoying that these students are paying high tuition fees and when they graduate, they aren't even conversational in English. I don't believe that the Filipino youth lacks talent, but are only succumbed to the wrong belief that a piece of paper called a diploma will get a job easily. It is an advantage to be a graduate, but not an assurance. A skills-based education with rigid and updated techniques are a must to equip our youth for the workforce.

The Teleserye Mentality. I can't just think of any term, so I invented one. Media is a big business and the youth are deceived to believe that it is real life. Instead of wasting time watching pinoy reality shows, teleserye, koreanovela, chinovela and all other such alike, it is better to surf the net and take time to learn what's going on and be informed. The knowledge in the Internet is so vast and diverse and you use it for your own benefit and it is the future. TV will give you an addiction that will lead you to nowhere, so spend minimal time with it and don't be a couch potato.

Severe Lack of Government Support. I have been talking to call center job hunters and they say that they are very, very interested to learn to get employed only that they've been told that TESDA don't have the budget anymore lately and the supposed free call center trainings are stopped. This is a very clear reflection of what our present Government is. Now it's up to you to think and ask: what's up with this?

The Sharks are Everywhere. 100 hours of call center training? They'll ask for a fee and once they get your cash, your out on your own. Please don't entertain this unscrupulous businesses and think that they can even help you get a job. Everything can be done through hard work, determination and get the right people to help you. If the help you get is for free, without asking you for anything monetary or in favor, then you get the hint that they are the right people to help you.

Nevertheless, there is still hope. I urge my fellow Pinoy BPO workers to help others to get the Pinoy BPO job that will change their lives for the better. Please email your suggestions and reactions to info@pinoybpojournal.net. Thank you and see you around!

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We Started to Share!

It is a monumental first step for us in My Call to Share to be able to stage our very first project, the Free Call Center Seminar for Job Seekers. It is a start of something bigger, wider and ambitious: to be able to reach out to our community and share the knowledge that we have, without any monetary or financial gain in return. I can only imagine if a lot of people, especially Pinoy BPO workers would start sharing, put in some effort to help, it will make a lot of difference. Gandhi said: 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world'. And I believe that we at My Call to Share started the change, and we will relentlessly continue to make that change spread among us, Pinoy BPO workers. Thank you so much for your support and hope we will see you in our next activities!

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The Venue

After choosing from a number of locations, our first My Call to Share ( in collaboration with Pinoy BPO Journal Forums) Free Call Center Seminar for Job Seekers was finally decided to be held in Ortigas Center. I was cheerfully assisted by Celia Cruz, Librarian and Information Specialist of Ortigas Foundation Library, to reserve a seminar room for our project. I was convinced that the place was perfect for our lecture and is a very relaxed and cool place right in the heart of Ortigas.

I'm so excited as the trainees are! Please send your resumes now to freetraining@pinoybpojournal.net to register. We are not a recruitment agency and we are not affiliated with any BPO company nor represent them in any way.

See you!

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My Call to Share

My Call to Share 5-point Declaration:

1. We are a volunteer organization composed of Pinoy BPO Workers and have the will of self-determination. Never to receive monetary gains or favor from any political, religious or corporate entities and never be used for any political, corporate nor religious objectives.

2. We recognize that change is achievable if we act together and volunteering individual effort without asking for any money or favor in return.

3. We take pride to be a Filipino, aiming to culturally transform and to eliminate negative social practices that has been holding us back as a people to succeed.

4. We believe there is unity in diversity, never to discriminate people because of their sex, race or disability.

5. We will continuously share beneficial knowledge and give back to the community, and this is our main purpose and goal.

*****

I'm delighted to present the first project of My Call to Share and Pinoy BPO Journal Forums for 2010!

Free Call Center Seminar for Job Seekers

When: February 6, 2010 (Saturday)
Time: 9:00am - 2:00pm
Venue: Ortigas Foundation, 2/F Ortigas Building, Meralco Ave. Pasig City

We are all set to prove that WE WALK OUR TALK. Genuine service is that is POLITICS-FREE.

***Trainees will get FREE training manual, FREE English tutorial audio CD, FREE snacks.***

Interested participants may email their resume to freetraining@pinoybpojournal.net for evaluation.

Thank you so much for your support!

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