Future looks bright for BPO business

Executives from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry see further growth in employment opportunities for Filipinos amid the global economic slowdown, results of an industry survey show.

Meanwhile a ranking Labor official clarified reports that the 500 jobs cut at Accenture represents a tiny fraction of its 16,000 workers in the Philippines.

In an online poll jointly conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Out­source2Philippines and TeamAsia, 95 percent of respondents said they expect more jobs would be generated by the local outsourcing industry this year.

Around 50 percent of the respondents said their workforce requirements would go up by about 15 percent.

According to the survey, among the outsourcing sectors that project the biggest rise in the number of employees are those engaged in complex services, including back-office processes, information technology (IT) services and infrastructure management and website development, with average workforce increases seen between 11 percent and 15 percent.

The survey was conducted from February 5 to 22, covering 158 respondents, TeamAsia reported.

Gigi Virata, the association’s research director, said in a statement that local outsourcing workforce is expected to ramp up as foreign firms turn to BPO service providers to save on costs amid the global financial crisis.

Jobs at Accenture

Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday clarified the report written by Agence France-Presse and published in The Manila Times regarding the retrenchment of 500 workers of Accenture, a US-based outsourcing firm.

“The 500 workers they are saying were already laid off effective February 16. As of March, there are no reports that the company would be laying off workers. They [Accenture executives] usually comply with the one-month period [to notify workers that] the department requires,” Baldoz explained.

She added that the published news report also erroneously reported the 500 jobs represent half of Accenture’s workforce, which is actually about 16,000.

Baldoz also said that the number of dismissed workers from out­sourcing firms is “not high,” adding that the workers retrenched by Accenture came from its IT section.
— Ben Arnold O. De Vera And Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Manila Times