BPA/P Organizes HRO Supplier Subcommittee
by Paul Catiang

With the goal of working towards increasing the BPO industry’s employee base to support the industry’s continual growth through education, media and an increased visibility in the public eye, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) organized a subcommittee composed of the HR and BPO support companies, like John Clements, that supply call center workers to their member firms. “At the current rate of growth, the BPO industry is expected to employ 100,000 by the end of 2005, which makes the need for a constant supply of competent call center agents and knowledge workers more urgent,” says Mitch Locsin, Executive Director of the BPA/P.

This rapidly-growing need raises several issues among BPO support companies, which BPA/P, through this subcommittee, aims to tackle. The association wants to push for amendments to the laws and regulations of the Philippines, which were drafted before the advent of offshore outsourcing in the country.

BPA/P points out the need for laws governing the unique working conditions of the BPO industry, the first of which is nighttime work. As the Philippine BPO industry serves mostly North American clients, the peak service hours fall between 10 PM and 5 AM in Manila, making the majority of call center work nighttime labor.

Legal holidays in North America and in the Philippines are also different; legal holidays in the Philippines adversely affect the local operators’ capacity to respond to normal daily calls if they are on vacation. As a result, most call center workers must work during local legal holidays.

As with holidays, calls also peak on the weekends, making it necessary for call center agents to be available during weekends. Lastly, call center work is volume based, with the calls being dealt with as they come in. As such, the work cannot be allocated or spread out over lean hours. These and additional issues need to be addressed legally to further protect and support the industry and its workers.

“Another urgent issue we need to address,” says Mr. Locsin, “is the advocacy for spoken English.” BPA/P has been trying to campaign to the government for the strict implementation of English as the medium for teaching in all schools and universities. BPA/P also seeks to initiate a nationwide, English-only campaign among the schools and universities, as well as working with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to allow elective courses on call center studies in local universities. Through career talks and media campaigns, BPA/P aims to enhance and dignify the image of call center work, as well as raise the awareness of the general public.

Next comes the need for legal recognition for BPO support companies to receive the same government-awarded benefits—tax incentives, for example—as the member firms of the BPA/P. One of their goals in this direction is for these BPO support companies to gain recognition as ICT companies, reasoning that while call center technology is a commodity that can be easily bought, the labor needed to drive such technology must be sought out, nurtured, and farmed out. The most critical component of an ICT company becomes the ability to staff.

Lastly, these BPO support companies, through their committee, will help promote a regulatory environment that will be beneficial to both the labor sector and the call center operators in the country. “As labor represents close to 60% of a call center company’s total operating expenses, it is to its benefit to maintain a very low attrition rate, which can only be achieved through the provision of a work environment that promotes employee satisfaction and morale,” declares Mr. Locsin. “This regulatory environment will be ensured by standardized English assessment, recruitment processes, and the development of an English certification process.”

The BPA/P aims to achieve these goals for its HRO subcommittee before the end of the year, and is in the process of setting up meetings with the CHEd concerning its advocacy issues.

Towards the achievement of these goals, the subcommittee, in its latest meeting, decided on three initiatives. First, they will push for the standardization of English assessment for BPO employees. Second, they will create a standardized baseline for agent training in the industry. Third, an English advocacy campaign will be launched to encourage more Filipinos to increase their English proficiency.

Sponsored by Beth G. Lui, Accenture’s Country Managing Director, this endeavor is sponsored by BPO support companies John Clements Consultants, Inc., ASIA Partnership Philippines, TeleDevelopment Services, and Viventis Search.

For any inquiries, please contact Carol Dominguez at 884-1219 or through cvdominguez@johnclements.com, or Nathan Shapiro at 636-7626 or through nshapiro@teledevelopment.com.