Hard-living youngsters drive Philippine outsourcing

By Karen Lema
Reuters
Last updated 05:13pm (Mla time) 03/02/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines' outsourcing industry is generating billions of dollars in revenues but executives fear employees are turning to caffeine, cigarettes and booze to deal with unsociable hours and demanding customers.

"I worry when I go to the call centers that we are spawning a generation of chain smoking, coffee addicts or worse, chain smoking beer drinkers,” Rosalie Montenegro, senior vice president of the Call Centre Business Group under Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) told Reuters on Friday.

"It is a reality, because the social support has not kept up with the growth of job creation."

Around 200,000 people are employed in the Philippines' outsourcing sector, many of them hired straight out of college.

Quick access to a monthly salary -- entry level wages have risen as much as 69 percent since 2003 -- and an open office plan full of twentysomethings creates a hectic social life.

But the strange working hours -- 9 pm till 6 am to cater for the US market -- is wearying and going for a post-shift drink to unwind means boozing at daybreak.

Aside from modern offices, Montenegro said investments must be made in what she calls "social infrastructure" to promote the well being of the industry's employees, who are often spotted nabbing a quick cigarette outside their offices.

"We need to invest in social wellness of our kids because the next generation should be the highest focus going forward," she said.

COUNTRY CLUB

Montenegro said PLDT, the country's biggest phone company and a medium-sized player in the outsourcing sector, was considering building a country club for its call center agents.

Montenegro said she hoped other outsourcing companies would support such a facility.

She said health and wellness providers, like spas, gyms and fitness centers should also be encouraged to extend their operating hours to cater to the needs of stressed workers.

The Philippines, with a large pool of English speakers and a strong cultural affinity with the United States, is developing as a viable alternative to India in the global outsourcing market.

It earned $3.6 billion from outsourcing in 2006, up 50 percent from the previous year. The government estimates revenue could jump to $12.1 billion by 2010 as the industry diversifies.

Big outsourcing players from the United States such as Sykes Enterprises Inc., Convergys Corp., PeopleSupport Inc., Accenture Ltd. and eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. already have branches in the Philippines.

Last year, the world's largest maker of personal computers, Dell Inc., opened its first call center in the country and recently opened a second contact center.

"The Philippines is working very hard to achieve it's '10-10-10' vision of $10 billion dollars, 10 percent market share by 2010 and this is not going to happen by dreaming about it but by having a solid strategy," Montenegro said.

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