Cebu City wants to lead in KPO

The Cebu City Government reportedly will focus its call center training program on its 5,000 college scholars as it wants to improve and increase the pool of highly skilled workers with technical knowledge so Cebu can lead in the booming knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) sector.

KPO or Knowledge Process Outsourcing as the name suggest, is a knowledge-related outsourcing that need highly specialized skills. KPO services include: Investment research services, Business research services, Data Analytics, Market research services, Valuation and Fairness Opinions, Legal research services (also known as Legal Process Outsourcing), Patent research services and Business Operations Support, Analytics & Management.

KPO is yet another great opportunity for us Pinoy BPO workers to explore!

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Bohol wants BPO in 2011

In a PIA Press Release, Governor Edgar Chatto says Bohol is now ready to accommodate at least 10,500 seats for call center and BPO agents.

I welcome every move of the provinces to develop its potential for BPO, as it will ultimately create more jobs. It will decongest urban areas, instead of the educated workforce coming to Metro Manila to seek jobs, it will be possible for them to create their careers in their own province.

Cebu has made this possible as Cebu’s Asiatown IT Park, the country’s second largest IT industry concentration, currently has around 15,066 BPO employees with an estimated total annual compensation of more than PhP1.4 billion.

A cleaner air, affordable living expenses and easy access to the workplace is what I think are the advantages of the BPOs located in the provinces. Pinoy BPO workers, its time to explore the provinces again this 2011!

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The Philippines is the new India?

For many years now India-based BPO companies have found the Philippines as a favored destination for their expansion. In the past years, IT giants like Infosys has set-up base in Taguig City with more than 1,000 seats and Wipro with 2 sites, Quezon City and Cebu City with combined work force of approximately 1,300.

Now joining the boom is Tech Mahindra, the 5th largest software exporter in India that has a wide variety of services ranging from IT Strategy and Consulting to Systems Integration, Application Development & Maintenance, BPO, Infrastructure Management, Civil Services, Network Transformation Solutions & Services, Value Added Services and Product Engineering. Their first office is at 36th Floor Discovery Suites ADB Avenue Ortigas Center Pasig City.

Also setting foot in the Pinoy BPO scene is Tata Consultancy Services, the information technology services, business solutions, and outsourcing arm of the $72-billion Tata Group of India, now has found home in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Pinoy BPO workers can now show what we got by working side by side with the best BPOs in India. May this 2011 year be all the best for us Pinoy BPO workers!

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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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