Campaign launched to make call centre agents healthier

European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines launched a four-month Call Center Olympics

Manila:  The European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines launched a four-month Call Center Olympics starting April, to help agents of business outsourcing companies (BPO) reform themselves from unhealthy lifestyle.

The European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP), with the help of various sports groups, has sponsored Olympics in basketball, volleyball, bowling, badminton, table tennis, billiards, fun runs and darts from April to July, the ECCP said.

This will help BPO employees start healthier lifestyle, said the ECCP, adding this year’s event was planned for 3,000 call centre agents from 20 call centre agencies that were not named.

The fourth Call Center Olympics will be held in Metro Manila’s sports venues, ECCP said, adding that in the future, other sports groups are expected to help increase Olympic sites to benefit almost all of the 600,000 people who are working as call centre agents nationwide.

The Olympics began after the labour department urged BPO companies to promote workers health and wellness.

Earlier, the labour department called for the establishment of occupational safety and health programs and the formation of a health and safety committee in BPO companies.

Each BPO company must maintain an in-house medical staff, one safety officer, an occupational health nurse and an occupational health physician, the labour department said, adding that BPOs must look after the special needs of pregnant, older, and disabled employees.

Urging BPO companies to truly look after the welfare of call centre agents, the International Labour Organization complained that 42.6 percent of Filipino call center agents suffer from eye strain, fatigue, neck, shoulder and back pains, sleep disorders, and voice problems.

They are symptoms of burn out, the ILO said.

Health concerns were pointed out as one reason why turnover rate in Philippine call centres was estimated at 60 percent to 80 percent; part-time workers stay on the job only for 10 months.

In 2010, a call center agent went on TV and shared his story why he contacted HIV.

BPO companies want their employees physically, mentally, and psychologically fit, Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Call Centers Association of the Philippines (CCAP), told the Inquirer at the launch of the Call Center Olympics before week end

“Companies spend large amounts of money to make sure that their workers stay fit,” he said, but confessed,

“Unfortunately, we could not force everyone to join (BPOs wellness programs).”

“Only 20 to 30 percent of our workers exercise and have healthy diets,” he added.

Observers said BPO workers have unhealthy lifestyles due to casual sex, chain smoking, drinking, drugs, unusual working hours and other work-related hazards.

Working at BPO companies is stressful because BPO companies, due to competition, urge performance and productivity from call centre agents.

The BPO industry contributed more than $11 billion in direct revenues in 2011, second to the $20 billion sent by overseas Filipino workers to their relatives in the Philippines in the same period.

In 2010, 350,000 Filipinos worked in BPO companies, labour sources said.

The industry is expected to triple revenues from $250 billion to $256 billion by 2016, its workforce to 900,000 employees in the same period. –Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief, Manila