MAKING THE PHILIPPINES’ ICT WORKFORCE WORLD-CLASS
by Tully Moss

Five years ago, when offshore outsourcing was in its infancy, the Philippines was one of only a half dozen significant offshore destinations. But the Philippines now competes against 30 or more countries hungry for a slice of the outsourcing pie.

For the Philippines to sustain its position in this far more intensely competitive environment, the country needs to address two critical questions: 1) What’s the strategy? 2) How do we execute it?

Although developing an ICT (information and communications technology) strategy is beyond the scope of this article and ideally should involve a consulting firm working closely with industry and government to develop a vision of the future, we can indicate what some of the questions are that business and government leaders should be asking.

Key among these questions is: What does the Philippines want to be when it grows up? With which BPO (business process outsourcing) functions does the Philippines have the best shot at developing a competitive advantage? Industries such as health care, retail, banking, IT services, and insurance are projected to have high demand for global sourcing. Which of these sectors should the Philippines be focused on and what should the Philippines be doing to optimize its position within these sectors?

Once these questions have been answered and the strategic direction has been set, issues of execution will need to be addressed – and issues of execution have a lot to do with developing a world-class ICT workforce. These are issues such as: How much breadth of functions and industries should the Philippines aim for? Which skill sets are required by the industries and BPO functions the country is focusing on? Which languages – in addition to English – would be appropriate ones for the Philippines to emphasize?

What are the implications for education? What should the Philippines be doing to ensure that its educational system is focused on skill sets that play to Filipino strengths and that are likely to be in high demand? Given its limited financial resources, how can the Philippines ensure that its students have the tools and equipment needed to develop the skills required by ICT employers?

Beyond these basic issues, for the Philippines to truly advance, it will need answers to the following, knotty questions: How can managerial depth be developed? How can the Philippines ensure that it is creating intellectual property – as opposed to merely being the servicing arm of multinational corporations? How can an entrepreneurial culture be built?

In the absence of a long-term strategy, we need to start where we are today. Beginning with the country’s strengths, a major reason the Philippines has done as well as it has is that it has a relatively strong value proposition:

• An intelligent workforce with a good work ethic
• Low cost labor, telecommunications, and real estate
• Best-in-class customer care (a result of the empathetic, caring, polite, happy Filipino personality)
• Second highest share of offshore IT-enabled services workers
• Investment votes-of-confidence by major U.S. and European multinationals

Although this is a relatively strong value proposition, the Philippines also is perceived as having limitations. Its educational system is perceived as being average, the language skills of its workers below average, and its employee retention as being among the worst. These issues are interrelated.

The primary reason for the Philippines’ high ICT employee attrition is that there is greater demand for workers with English language proficiency than there is supply. This is driving attrition rates well north of 50 percent. It is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to manage a business and sustain quality levels with attrition rates this high.

If left unattended, the attrition problem could radically curtail the Philippines’ opportunities in offshore outsourcing. Continued high levels of attrition could lead to a slackening in quality which in turn would lead to dissatisfied customers, negative word-of-mouth, and diminished opportunities for the country.

With customer care and call centers accounting for two thirds of the BPO workers in the Philippines, English language proficiency is the core issue the Philippines needs to address in the near-term. To redress this language issue, there needs to be a radical shift in how English is taught - and that shift needs to occur now. Improved English language capability is critical for the Philippines to realize its potential

Fortunately, there are two very good firms within the Philippines, Future Perfect and John Clements Consultants, that have been collaborating to develop an effective approach to this language issue. Their respective messages can be distilled into a four-part program for addressing the language issue:

• Assess needs that are specific to ICT
• Develop a communicative English program
• Train the trainers
• Develop networks of English language training centers

A key theme to what they propose is that English language training must be specific to ICT, specific to the type of ICT activity (call center, email support, transaction processing, etc.), and specific to individual ICT companies.

In developing such a program, Future Perfect recommends…

• Language benchmarks for the industry that are related to specific BPO functions: inbound/outbound calls, email support, middle and senior management, etc.
• Valid and reliable language assessments that are relevant to the purpose and replicable
• Research-based training programs based on analysis of the language used and needed in different transactions
• Qualified English language trainers

John Clements Consultants, with which Future Perfect has partnered, recommends the development of what it calls a communicative English program. In this approach, communication exercises and role-playing are designed for pairs and small groups. The classroom must be student-centered, not teacher-centered, the objective being to minimize teacher talking time and maximize student talking time. In this approach, 90 percent of the classroom hour is taken up with students practicing speaking and only 10 percent with the teacher explaining or giving directions.

At the college level, the communicative English program John Clements Consultants recommends would involve a minimum of one hour per week in conversational English – all four years that a student attends. Other features that a college-level program could include would be:

• A campus-wide, English-only policy
• English teachers trained in a Polishing English course
• These teachers in turn running Polishing English courses for all faculty

At the high school level, John Clements recommends that one third of English classroom time be dedicated to conversational English and that there be enforcement of English-only zones (for example, classrooms and the library).

Implementation of such a communicative English program might raise touchy issues. Training the trainers would effectively mean telling those who already think they know English that their language skills need improvement. Establishing an English-only program on Day One – and sticking to it – would likely be resisted. Training other teachers also might be a challenge. Resistance could be especially strong when oral assessments of teachers would be made. Establishing English-only classrooms and campuses would take effort. And correcting the English of students could be culturally challenging.

Mapua University, however, is showing that it can be done. Mapua is known for its technical training, but has recognized the importance of English language proficiency, particularly if it is to reach its objective of being the premier technical college in the Philippines. Mapua has worked with Future Perfect to develop a tailor-made, Mapua English Language Test (MELT) program. MELT provides intensive faculty and staff training. It requires that each student take four-and-a-half hours of English language training per week over four quarters during the student’s first three years at Mapua. MELT also enables Mapua to assess both the entry and the exit level English language proficiency of its students. With these capabilities that MELT provides, Mapua believes it will differentiate its graduates.

By paying attention to the English language basics needing immediate attention, Mapua and other institutions will help ensure that the Philippines remains competitive in the field of thirty or so countries vying for a slice of the outsourcing pie. It will take more than Mapua, however, for there to be a significant impact. The entire country – all of its public and private educational institutions – needs to be engaged in upgrading students’ and teachers’ English language skills. The outline of what needs to be done is being provided by private sector firms such as John Clements Consultants and Future Perfect, and educational institutions would be well advised to consider adopting their programs.

Beyond addressing the English language issue, the Philippines needs to develop a clear-sighted, carefully thought out, fact-based strategy for how it can optimize its position in global business process outsourcing. This could require the research skills and coordinating efforts of a consultant and will need the critical input and involvement of key business and government leaders.

TULLY MOSS
President
The Magellan Alliance
Monroe, Connecticut U.S.A.
203-261-7731
www.magellanalliance.com

To see FuturePerfect's presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce, click here.