BPO sector striving despite COVID-19, says Hill
MINISTER without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC), Senator Aubyn Hill last Friday congratulated the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector for its performance during the current novel coronavirus pandemic.
“I am really pleased to report that there is one business sector in Jamaica that stood out during this period for its resilience, strength and growth. It is the BPO sector, which is part of the Global Services Association of Jamaica,” Hill told the Senate.
“There are others, like the construction and service delivery sectors, that also showed buoyancy but my focus just now is just how exceptionally well the business process industry performed over the very difficult last year and a half,” added Hill.
He noted that the markets served by the Global Services Association of Jamaica companies include Canada, the wider Caribbean, China, the United States, several in Europe and the Philippines.
Growth plans for this sector include nine new sites across Jamaica by existing players, and there is a new investor who is about to establish a 70-seat facility in the Montego Bay, St James.
According to Hill, as of June 30, 2021 the BPO sector employed 44,000 people, compared to 38,400 at the corresponding time in 2020. That is approximately a 15 per cent increase in jobs – year over year – when the economy was shrinking during the same period.
“I am extremely pleased to tell
Jamaicans that in the year to June 30, 2021, the BPO sector brought in US$780 million to the Jamaican economy,” he reported.
Hill, who was making his presentation in the Senate’s annual State of the Nation Debate at Gordon House, noted the negative results from the pandemic since its arrival in Jamaica in March 2020, pointing out that “almost everything changed for the worse” during the period.
“My colleague, Senator Don Wehby, who opened this year’s State of the Nation Debate last month, spoke about the work Jampro is doing with the Global Services Association of Jamaica – especially training young people to meet the demand of members of the Global Services Association of Jamaica. Today, I want to tell this noble Senate, and the nation, how resilient and strong the business process industry has been during this recent, most difficult period,” he added.
Hill pointed out that there are 87 operators in the sector, both domestic and international, occupying 105 sites across the island, with 10 of these operators being Fortune 500 companies.
“The pandemic has caused us to make a close review of the activities in Jamaica’s global services business, and especially in the BPO sector of that association. In the process, we have decided to look at how best to make work-at-home operate more smoothly, efficiently and mutually beneficial for all stakeholders,” said Hill.
He explained that, in that review, it was noticed that the working arrangement between the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority (JSEZA) and the members of the Global Services Association of Jamaica’s was less than efficient, and needed a thorough reworking.
Hill told the Senate that many operators in the global services sector find the JSEZA to be overly bureaucratic, often inefficient, and that it takes too long to get responses and decisions.
“For instance, operators say it takes up to eight days to get approval to move equipment from sites to work-at-home facilities. JSEZA quarterly reports often ask for information that is not regularly tracked. The operators want us to look at giving them their own legislative arrangements, possibly separate and apart from being under the JSEZA,” said Hill.
He added that the new chairman of the JSEZA board, Chris Levy, fully understands the Government’s commitment to making the necessary changes and he, and his board, will be given the authority and responsibility to do what is best for JSEZA, the entities, the people it serves and Jamaica.
“Clearly, Mr President, as Prime Minister [Andrew] Holness has been saying, we want our colleagues in Government to move swiftly up the service mindset and efficiency ladder, even as they keep to accounting accuracy, transparency and integrity guidelines,” he said.
“I have been negotiating with the Ministry of Finance since that time and, just before the end of June and the last six-month extension, Dr [Nigel] Clarke and his team at the Ministry of Finance agreed to a longer one-year extension of the work-at-home policy,” declared Hill.
“This longer extension allows investors and operators more planning and operating time, something for which the operators had been pressing,” he added.