In the coming months of the remainder of 2020, the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment is reporting a resurgence of the business process outsourcing industry in the country as industry leaders have already posted thousands of additional seats to fill up manpower requirements.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Sunday, June 14 said the Covid-19 global pandemic and the subsequent global economic recession will force other countries to outsource more jobs in the industry—a good size of which will go to the Philippines, particularly in Clark, Cebu, and Metro Manila.
The positive outlook followed a meeting with IT-BPO industry leaders where officials noted that the industry continues to provide employment opportunities despite the crisis.
“We received information that some big companies have already given notice for their requirements, one of which needing at least 4,000 seats to be filled up before September,” Bello said.
The labor chief’s optimism was confirmed by Rey Untal, President and Chief Executive Officer of the IT Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), who said companies continue to hire to fill the demand of the industry.
IBPAP, which counts the biggest players in the country among its more than 300 members, is the driving force of the industry in the Philippines which now employs over 1.3 million employees.
“The industry indeed continues to hire (despite the pandemic),” Untal told labor officials in a meeting over the weekend.
The meeting was prompted by a recent online survey of a BPO employees’ group which reported that four out of 10 BPO workers are either in floating or ‘no-work-no-pay’ status during the lockdown.
Untal said his group is taking the initiative to intervene and discuss the issues raised by the workers with the country heads of concerned BPO companies.
DOLE, which has issued several guidelines for employers to protect jobs and prevent layoffs and retrenchments, is also appealing to the employees, who are still on a leave of absence, to return to work to help the industry continuously provide services in these difficult times.
