Is Call Center Service in the Philippines Nearing End?

Call Center Agents

It was a week ago when I got the chance to talk with a friend about his current job in Manila as call center agent. He said that his current employer, an outsourcing company based in the Philippines is much concerned about the reelection bid of President Barack Obama in the US presidential election.That if Obama wins, outsourcing jobs in our country like call center jobs is nearing end.

What is a call center?

According to Wikipedia, a call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving or transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. An inbound call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outbound call centers are operated for telemarketing, solicitation of charitable or political donations and debt collection. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.

Is the call center jobs in the philippines really nearing end?

The Obama government is supporting the Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill filed in the US Congress which promote "insourcing" by cutting tax, of call center jobs by American firms and penalizing companies that deal with business process outsourcing (BPO) firms overseas. Now that Obama wins his 2nd presidential bid in the US, what happens next to our local call center agents.

What are the provisions set in the proposed US bill?

Among the provisions set in the proposed US bill are :

• It will penalize US companies for $10,000 a day if they fail to report to the US Department of Labor their relocation to an offshore location witin 60 days.
• It will require them to inform the US Department of Labor 120 days in advance their offshore plans.
• It will require call center operators who answer calls to identify their location and caller will have a choice of choosing a US-based operator.
• It will ban US Call Centers operating outside the US from seeking federal grants and loans for five years.

Is the Philippine government ready for this?

The Philippine government should be readied and have alternative jobs for around 600,000 Filipinos working as call center agents if the enactment of the in-sourcing laws in the US takes place.

"The Philippines surpassed India in call-center employment. Local BPO operations employ around 600,000 Filipinos with 70% employed in call centers. As much as 90% of listed available jobs in the Philippines are those for call center positions. Local call center agents receive an annual average pay of $3,600 compared to the annual pay of $30,000 for American workers." Source

The Aquino government should take this threat against the local BPOs now that Obama has laid down a firm policy against outsourcing. The US economy is still struggling and Obama thinks that it is one reason that would help strengthen its economy.

To our call center agents, let's just pray a revision on Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill in the US must be done so that it will not hurt outsourcing jobs in the Philippines and let's just hope the Philippine government should raise this issue to the US and come out with better law that is really beneficial to the US economy.

What do you think?