Thank you for calling

Call CenterLAST week, news came out of an anti-outsourcing bill proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer. The bill, pending approval of the US legislative body, suggests to have US-based companies be charged with a 25-cent tax for every call made to a call center based outside the US. The main goals of this bill are to encourage employment of US-based staff and discourage the outsourcing of US contact center operations overseas since most, if not all, of them opted for outsourcing for cost-effective reasons.

If the bill is passed, as a result, businesses in the Philippines will likely be hurt. The Philippines have thrived on BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing) since 2000, creating jobs and opening lines for various investments in the country. BPO, which is a form of outsourcing which entails the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider, are usually divided into two categories, the back office outsourcing (which includes internal business functions such as human resources, finance, or accounting) and the front office outsourcing which includes what is commonly referred to in the country as “call centers.” These call centers will be the ones severely affected if the bill is approved.

Though it may not automatically mean the end of the BPO sector here in the Philippines, as well as in other Asian countries (US firms will merely opt to decrease their manpower requirement or have the employees cut back their duty hours); but it will mean less business which will eventually amount to increassed unemployment rate.

According to the official data released last February 4 of this year, a total of 446,000 were employed in the BPO industry in the country by the end of 2009, compared to a measly 2,400 back in 2000, when BPOs were just starting out.

Since then, the BPO sector in the country has boomed tremendously. With its growth, it has also fueled the developments in the real estate and tourism sectors, as more employers seek out more office space, more employees seek out residential space and tourists sprout because of increased employment rates.

At the start of 2010, official reports said that the BPO employment is expected to shoot up to one million and generate revenues of between $10 billion and $13 billion. Industry officials are confident the country will even overtake India as the world’s top BPO destination.

The proposed bill already received criticism from various groups both in the Philippines and in the US. But the labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) headed by TUCP secretary general Ernesto Herrera is confident that this bill will “not see the light of day” as reported in Philippine Daily Inquirer a day after the news broke out.

While the bill awaits approval, this means yet another challenge for everyone involved in the BPO sector, especially those working at call centers. Even with almost half a million employed in the industry, many still regard a job here as “temporary.” Some have gone so far as saying it is not even a “real job” as in a day’s work, all these people do, after all, is answer calls.

Not many realize the hard work and patience that the job of answering calls entails. Not to mention the extensive training these employees to go through to be able to gain the skills and the basic right to answer calls.

In a way, the proposed anti-sourcing bill is a show of disrespect for all the hard work these people have put into their jobs all these time. It is like the US disowning the fact that these people have longed been the unsung heroes of many of their companies, where many BPO industries helped lay out the foundation of operation procedures of international standards; thus, this is all the more reason why the US legislative body should carefully consider both sides before approving the bill. (AJPress)

( www.asianjournal.com )