Australian business process outsourcing (BPO) companies operating in the Philippines are looking at allowing their employees to work remotely on a permanent basis, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported.
Chris Jankulovksi, chief executive officer of full-service BPO firm Remote Staff, said in a recent event hosted by a DTI unit in Sydney that the flexible working model has been proven effective amid the pandemic.
While this arrangement allows continued operations, Jankulovksi said companies can also access wider talent pool and cut overhead costs. The employees, in addition, can also “lead more productive lives,” he said.
Businesses had to adopt flexible and work-from-home arrangements to maintain operations after mobility restrictions were put in place to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“I always envisioned that one day there will be a future where there will be local hires and remote hires as side-by-side staffing strategies for every employer. Since it’s remote, there’s nothing stopping it from being offshore, hence the idea that I saw very early on,” he said.
Remote Staff has over 8,000 remote workers catering to its 3,000 small and medium enterprise clients.
Probe Group Executive General Manager Jarrod Kagan said his company had to act quickly last year when the lockdown measures were initially implemented, not only in the Philippines but across five countries where its 32 centers are located.
The customer service management company, which has employees across Manila, Pampanga, Cebu and Naga, received internet service devices, laptops and monitors so they can work from home.
“Within 72 hours, we had 74 percent [9,250 people] working from home—that was 32 centers across five countries,” Kagan said. “But what had happened, fast forward to where we are today, it’s now BAU [business as usual].”
Earlier this month, the Fiscal Incentives Review Board approved the work-from-home arrangement for the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry until March 31 next year due to the pandemic.
The measure was greenlighted in line with the provisions of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act to address work constraints brought about by the pandemic.
Currently, over 300 Australian companies employ about 44,000 Filipinos in mining, shipbuilding, energy supply, retail trade, accommodation and food service facilities, manufacturing, transportation and storage. At least 200 of these are in the IT-BPM sector.
The DTI said IT-BPM is one of its priority sectors for its investment promotion campaign, along with aerospace, automotive, copper and electronics.
Employment in the IT-BPM industry grew by 1.8 percent to 1.32 million while revenues rose by 1.4 percent to $26.7 billion last year, according to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines.