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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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,...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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,...

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