BPO INDUSTRY MOVING FORWARD
The reign of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has made the year 2020 the most historical year in the recent times, has put pressures in all industries, but the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector proved to have managed well during the
It’s a little more challenging with our work-from-home arrangements but we believe that anything is possible if we set our mind to it.
Lia Lynn Marcos
Human Resources, Senior Director for Asia Pacific.
The outsourcing industry continued to provide jobs to over a million Filipinos around the country, including the close to 200 thousand Cebuano workers, all throughout the lockdown.
Most companies endured the birth pains of work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, and navigating the difficult environment just to continue serving their clients from all over the world.
BPO, along with the telecom sector, has been considered “superstars” during the lockdown, apart from the obvious and heroic services of medical frontliners.
The BPO and telecom sectors served as the lifeblood of the economy while traversing through the storm strict lockdown, and terrified people.
Towards the outset of the hard quarantine rules and lingering threat of COVID-19, BPOs maintain to set an example of resilience, and fast adaptation to the new normal---catching up with the demands of the new world--- adjusting, expanding, and hiring more.
While clients around the world continue to tap outsourcing in sustaining operations, services to their clientele, thereby benefiting the BPO sector in the Philippines, the sector is also faced with mounting challenges, particularly in managing the changing work-lifestyle environment brought about by the stricter quarantine protocols.
From housing employees in empty hotel rooms, to considering the work-from-home arrangements, BPO companies have to face myriad challenges in human resource, hiring, and solve the never-been-tested WFH arrangement.
The People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) Cebu Inc. recognized the difficulties of the new terrain, however, the group vowed to work together in providing high caliber, well-adjusted talents amid changing times.
PMAP Cebu Inc., which is led also by HR professionals in the BPO sector, said in a statement that “the pandemic, we all know, has brought about uncertainties and challenges beyond our imagination. We may, at some point, become frozen, locked up in the constraints of fear and solicitude of the unknown. However, we are a people of resilience backed up by our faith in God, passion for the work we do, and purpose for the life that we have.”
PMAP-Cebu said it will continuously come up with better ways and strategies that will provide professionals the ability to cope, adapt and grow despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the WFH set up, most agents are distracted with a lot of factors, like domestic chores, sleeping, online entertainment (games, netflix, etc), these among others are just few downsides of WFH arrangements.
Moving forward, the BPO sector somehow had been able to figure out how to maneuver productive and conducive operations while implementing WFH, or allowing remote working arrangements among employees.
Call center firm Sykes has intensified its employees’ engagement program to maintain work-life balance amid pandemic.
The BPO giant, which employs thousands workers in its Cebu site, has expanded its programs for personal development, brings interest clubs to virtual platform.
“At SYKES, we encourage a healthy work-life balance by heavily investing in the training, development, and overall success and engagement of our workforce and providing them avenues to pursue their passions with fellow SYKESers. We are especially keen on continuing our employee engagement programs now that we are in quarantine, considering how the current situation is significantly affecting our employees’ everyday lives. It’s a little more challenging with our workfrom-home arrangements but we believe that anything is possible if we set our mind to it,” said Lia Lynn Marcos, Human Resources, Senior Director for Asia Pacific.
Sykes currently has a total of 20 interest clubs under its Sykes Choices (for SYKES Manila) and Sykes Involve (for Sykes Cebu) Employee Engagement Programs.
The clubs are managed by members, who hold several activities open for all SYKESers wherein they can showcase their talents and develop skills while having fun. The programs cover a wide range of interest clubs including ones for physical outdoor activities, the arts, special interests, environmental consciousness, and even emergency response.
To continue activities even while social distancing during the pandemic, the clubs were encouraged to come up with team engagement projects that can be done virtually.
SYKESers were quick to shift some of their plans to online platforms where they host activities such as live quizzes, online contests, tutorials, and e-games.
Sykes Cebu’s E-games Club recently concluded their joint project Sykes Mobile Legends Tournament 2020. The two-day, single-elimination tournament invited 40 teams consisting of five members each to compete to be the best Mobile Legends team across SYKES Philippines.
SYKES Cebu’s Volleyball Club, on the other hand, continues to promote their love for the sport by sharing content relevant to the times, like a video of routines that viewers can practice on their own at home to improve their game. Its Pioneers Basketball Team, meanwhile, also shifted its activities online. It held a live quiz where basketball enthusiasts were able to showcase their knowledge of the sport, including its history and latest trends, where the winner was able to grab a cash prize.
Sykes is known for its firm support to employees in all aspects to promote professional and personal growth, no matter the circumstances. Despite the interruptions brought by the pandemic, the firm is determined to maintain employee engagement in this difficult time to encourage work-life balance, while also empowering communities through its various CSR activities.
Likewise, Qualfon Philippines is implementing closer engagement with employees who are remotely doing their jobs, in order to sustain productivity, interest and focus in their jobs.
As this point, most BPO companies are embracing the WFH arrangement. In fact, some are resolved that this work style will be part of the new normal, and may last for quite a while, if not becomes permanent working arrangements.
“WFH may continuously be implemented, even part of t he new normal operation,” said Cebu ITBPM Organization (CIB.O) former managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr.
Sa-a guessed that BPO firms, as well as agents may have already adjusted to the WFH setting this far. Although, some companies are gradually bringing back their employees to their respective sites.
Meanwhile, Performance 360 founder Michael Cubos said that while WFH is doable especially for small and medium BPO firms, problems in weak productivity has become a challenge for management.
Under the WFH set up, most agents are distracted with a lot of factors, like domestic chores, sleeping, online entertainment (games, netflix, etc), these among others are just few downsides of WFH arrangements.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
The government through the Board of Investments (BOI) recently reached out to stakeholders in the American region in a bid to showcase the Philippines’ capability to handle more services amid the pandemic.
Together with stakeholders in the Philippine IT and business-process management (IT-BPM) industry BOI managing head, Dr. Ceferino Rodolfo led the webinar organized by the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Mexico City, held jointly with the Manila-based Foreign Trade Services Corps, the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), BOI and the private sector representatives.
The webinar tacked how the Philippine IT-BPM industry, capably continued supporting the IT-enabled back-office requirements of overseas businesses in North America.
During the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the country, the IT-BPM sector provided virtually uninterrupted support to global clients, especially those in the health-care sector, which operated at a 90 percent capacity.
Rodolfo credited the Philippines’s solid economic fundamentals for cushioning the impact of the pandemic on the country’s recovery efforts.
He shared that the Philippines recorded strong pre-Covid economic growth performance averaging at 6.6 percent and posted a relatively low average inflation rate of 3 percent from 2016 to 2019, and a strong fiscal position with a highest revenue-to-GDP ratio revenue (16.1 percent) and lowest debtto-GDP ratio of (39.6 percent) since 1997 for 2019.
The prospects for Philippine growth show a sharp V-shaped recovery by 2021, with a growth range of 7.1 to 8.1 percent and expanded opportunities for the IT-BPM sector.
“Our registered approved investments have actually risen. In the first half of 2020, our record shows that we are 112 percent higher in terms of approved investments compared to the same period last year. Most of these investments have gone to infrastructure, energy, and transport—very important sectors when you look at the modernization of the Philippine economy,” Rodolfo said.
He also cited the 60,000-kilometer nationwide fiber-optic network nationwide, manufacturing support facilities, a third telecom player, and satellite-based connectivity solutions with high-degree local manufactured content as strategic projects that will support the projected rebound in 2021.
Meanwhile, IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) President and Chief Executive Officer Rey Untal highlighted that 2019 was a strong year for the IT-BPM industry, growing by 5.8 percent in full-time equivalent (FTE) headcount and 7.1 percent in revenues, despite the challenges “Growth in 2019 was driven, in part, by incumbent third-party operators that continued to expand. We saw a bit of expansion in health care,” he added.
“Likewise, we saw a number of multinational global in-house centers [GICs] investing and/or expanding in the Philippines. Lastly, if we look at the creative sectors, specifically animation and gaming, they’ve had their fair share of growth as well.”
Untal credited the government, including the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), BOI, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), for including the BPO sector as among those recognized by the government’s Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force as essential businesses that were allowed exemptions during the ECQ period brought about by geopolitical developments and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence/intelligent automation.
He acknowledged that such action allowed the sector to operationalize two work streams: the on-site skeletal model, as well as the work-from-home capability,”
Meanwhile, Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP) President Rogelio Salazar Jr. shared that 80 percent of health information management system (HIMS) businesses achieved on-site productivity levels, with GICs achieving 80 percent to 90 percent productivity and quality levels within three to four weeks from the start of the ECQ period.
Salazar also said that the HIMS segment of the IT-BPM industry is expected to post the highest revenue and FTE headcount growth range for 2019 to 2022, showing its strength as a high-value contributor to the national economy.