The Business Process Outsourcing industry in the province registered a 20 percent growth for the first half of 2021.
This is according to an organization of BPOs, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, academic institutions, Information and Communications Technology professionals, and some agencies in government involved in the industry.
The ongoing pandemic has brought a number of opportunities and growth in the province’s BPO sector.
“For most of our member companies, we are seeing work being shifted to our Dumaguete sites from other locations. With the NCR + being the hardest hit, BPOs are finding it hard there to get employees to be focused on work and keeping their operations stable,” said one of the industry leaders in the local front.
In terms of monetary value, the 20 percent growth can translate to around P28-M per month added to the economy of Dumaguete City, the province’s capital where most of the BPO sites are located.
The figure is based on the computation wherein an entry level BPO employee can earn P12,000 as an average salary. The amount is multiplied to the total number of BPO employees in the city. Currently, all member-companies of ICT Dumaguete have an accumulated number of 12,000 employees.
Companies also entertained applicants from industries that were badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic like the hotel and resort businesses, former Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) who opted to come home to Negros Oriental.
“The number one constraint right now is space. We have a lot of members who are saying they are running out of space to house the expansion. We are also hoping to get our local developers to respond to this opportunity,” said another industry leader.
Despite this development, ICT Dumaguete secretary Charry Mae Bacong revealed that the local BPO sector encountered challenges during the pandemic.
“Most of us experienced temporary floating status. But after Enhanced Community Quarantine, we actually had to get everybody back in. The good thing is we’ve even hired more people to join the BPOs,” Bacong said.
Moreover, BPO companies here have also adopted the Work from Home setup to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace.
However, a challenge the industry faces under this current setup is the intermittent power service interruptions.
Member-companies of ICT Dumaguete have appealed to the government to include BPO or call center employees in the COVID-19 vaccine allocation.
“As one of the province’s contributing and key contributing economic frontliners and employees earning for the family, we are also posing a big risk to our loved ones at home when we go out to work. We forwarded a request that in some way we would be able to support, we ask for our employees and family members to be vaccinated or would be part of the priority,” ICT Dumaguete vice-president Ellen Villarmea said.
On May 27, the officers and some members of ICT Dumaguete met with Gov. Roel Degamo where they raised their concerns.
“Gov. Degamo is supportive of our appeal. He will try his best to lobby allocation for the BPO employees,” Villarmea said.
Qualfon, Inc. Director for Community Relations Joslyn Andreai Hartzell clarified that the group does not intend to skip the hierarchy of prioritization, but just to ensure that economic frontliners will be guaranteed a vaccine allocation.
“Ato bang i-skip or ato ba kuhaan ug allocation ang supposedly allocated for A1, A2, A3? – No. What we are asking and what we are trying to do is we organize ourselves as an industry na moingon mi we are 12, 000 strong economic frontliners. While duna moy allocation for A1, A2, A3 please also give an additional allocation for A4 (Shall we skip or divert allocation from A1, A2, A3? – The answer is no. What we are asking for and what we are trying to do is we organize ourselves as an industry and make an appeal that we are 12,000 strong economic frontliners. While you have an allocation for A1, A2, A3 please also give an additional allocation for A4),” Hartzell said.
“This is not going to affect the allocation for the province.Economic frontliners means it’s the economic engine of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental. Kanang 12,000 ang effect ana sa downsteam nga jobs is 30,000 jobs. Kung dili nato i-keep na safe ang ato economic engine unsa mahitabo atong 30,000 in addition to 12,000? Ang amo request is to make sure that we keep that engine safe para magdagan ang ato province (The 12,0000 affect 30,000 downstream jobs. If we don’t keep this economic engine safe, what will happen to the 30,000 in addition to 12,000? Our request is to make sure that we keep that engine safe so that our province can go on economically),” continued Hartzell.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges and opportunities for the local BPO industry.
However, with the proper interventions, the growth which was recorded during this period may increase by year end.
The pandemic has brought new opportunities and growth for the industry in Negros Oriental. Companies are poised to take on these challenges. If this is done right, the 20 percent growth may even go up to 30 to 35 percent by year end. – NWI
