While you were sleeping …

ON July 6, 2009, the US Agency for International Development, through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao Program, will launch two of its projects that will help cement Mindanao’s place among high-tech cities. These are the WiMax and JEEP programs that will help boost the BPO industry in Mindanao.

The BPO industry has been growing by leaps and bounds and is now considered one of the top sources of economic growth.

Last week, my call center was invited to take part in a public hearing regarding an ordinance that would require all call centers in Davao City to provide special quarters for employees. The idea sounded generally nice, but not really wise.

Special quarters

Most of the call centers in Manila spare a room or two for their employees’ comfort. The idea is for the employees to go there to rest and probably sleep since that they are working until the wee hours of the morning. Wonderful isn’t it? The companies try to find ways to take good care of their employees.

But then, that is Manila.

Such quarters are more of a necessity rather than of a luxury. Call center agents based in Manila can come from as far as Rizal, Laguna or Batangas. Going home right away after a long and tiring shift and sleeping in the comfort of your own room does sound very enticing, but it won’t be that easy.

Let’s see how 24 hours are being spent. Working for a call center means that you have to be in the office for nine hours, that’s eight hours work plus one hour for your meal break.

Consider someone who works in a call center in Ortigas who happens to live in Laguna. It would take him at least (note the word at least) three hours just to get to or from the work site. It would take roughly another three hours for the other two meals for the day. And about two hours for him to dress up and get ready for work.

And since call centers are very strict with time, he has to be on site at least 30 minutes before work.

Do the math: Eight hours of work, plus an hour meal break, plus six hours travel time, plus three hours for lunch and dinner, plus two hours personal care, plus 30 minutes before shift is equal to 20.5 hours. This leaves you with 3.5 hours at most for your sleep every day.

No special need

So really, it is a necessity for them. However, here in Davao City, people can only come from as far as Toril, Sasa or Tibungco, which are an hour away at the most. But most of the call center agents live within 15 minutes from their work place.

If I am the agent, I would think twice or thrice about staying in the special quarters and sharing it with three or more strangers, when I could go home within a matter of minutes.

Allocating special quarters may not also be cost-effective and wise. If the ordinance is enacted, I would allocate funds to build and maintain these special quarters. Building them and maintaining them can’t be covered up by petty cash funds. A special funding would really be needed.

My 150-200 seat call center is currently on the development stage. We are currently expanding our capacity to cater to more foreign clients needs. Allocating another room means losing at least 50 seats and spending a considerable amount of money on maintenance.

More benefits

And only about only 2-3 percent of my employees would avail themselves of this privilege. So if I spent P500,000 for the construction and maintenance of the special quarters for a year, only about 20 of my employees would be able to enjoy the quarters.

But if I use that money to increase salaries, all of my employees would benefit.

The ordinance would force the call centers, particularly those operated by small entrepreneurs like me in Davao City, to divert funds from much-needed employee benefits or facility/equipment upgrade to building and maintaining these special quarters.

I applaud the law makers of Davao City for looking after the welfare of the BPO professionals within the city. But there is no need to regulate them.

To make matter worse, the proposed ordinance says that if there is no “napping quarters” found in the call centers, our business permit may be canceled. The quarters, I believe, will just be an added cost to doing business and may even be another layer of bureaucracy that may just result in corruption.

We, as entrepreneurs, are always looking for better benefits that our employees would really appreciate. It is always nice to benchmark things so that we could see the advantages and disadvantages of every move. Making comparisons also allows us to see if certain moves or proposals would be feasible or not.

(Joji Ilagan Bian is an advocate for the development of the region. She is chair of Joji Ilagan Foundation (www.jojiilagancareercenter.com); president, Philippine Call Centers Alliance and Mindanao Tech Voc Schools Association; Mindanao representative, Export Development Council. E-mail comments jojibian2@yahoo.com.) –Joji Ilagan-Bian, Philippine Daily Inquirer