Salary cap for call centers pushed

CALL centers would have to freeze salary increases to remain attractive to clients, amid a recent study showing that salary inflation of about 10 percent is among the highest in the Philippines, an industry official said. Benedict Hernandez, Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) president, told reporters that annual salary adjustments may no longer be sustainable in the long run, as labor costs will become more expensive and may turn off potential clients.

“We have to temper [salary increases]. If we don’t control this, cost becomes too high. The Philippines [as an outsourcing destination] will be too costly. We can’t be competitive if cost is not competitive,” he said.

The CCAP official said, “salaries and benefits of call center employees will not be going down,” but additional incentives will now be performance-based.

The executive said the sector would hire an additional 45,000 workers this year.

He said contact centers account for about 80 percent of the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry’s total seats.

“We’re still going to hit between 15-percent and 20-percent growth this year, about the same growth rate as last year,” Hernandez said.

While the slowdown in the global economy has created a “temporary speed lump” to the remarkable growth enjoyed by the sector in the previous years, he said the crisis has pushed the country’s call centers to look for markets other than the US as well as improve their efficiencies.

“[The global economic slowdown] accelerated interest among more nascent market geographies, such as the UK, Australia, Canada and Singapore,” he said.

Oscar Sañez, Business Processing Association of the Philippines president and chief executive officer, earlier said the whole BPO sector is expected to post between 20-percent and 30-percent growth this year.

To help contact centers in the country “navigate through the global crisis,” CCAP will be holding its Annual Call Center Conference and Expo 2009 on July 15 and 16 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.  –Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Reporter, Manila Times