The government needs to “level the playing field” between the gig economy and the IT and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry in terms of complying with government regulations, according to the top official of a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm.
“The mere fact that as the legitimate player, we need to contend with a lot of regulations coming from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), coming from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), coming from the National Privacy Commission (NPC), coming from the local government units (LGUs), whereas the freelancers don’t need to contend with that,” Haidee C. Enriquez, CEO of MicroSourcing said at the IT-BPM Summit on Wednesday in Makati City.
In line with this, Enriquez stressed that there is a lot more that “we should be doing in this industry.”
The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) earlier noted that it is targeting to create up to 1.1 million direct jobs by 2028.
Of the 1.1 million jobs target, IBPAP said 54 percent will be in the countryside, which the organization said will bring the sector’s total headcount to 2.5 million by 2028.
However, Enriquez pointed out the threat that the industry is facing when it comes to attracting jobs in the countryside.
“A lot of the people who are enticed to move into freelancing or gig economy workers are those in the countryside because not a lot of BPO players are not present in their particular location,” the MicroSourcing CEO noted.
Further, the industry practitioner stressed that “How then as an industry can we add to the 1.1 million when internally we already have a huge ‘leaking barrel’…How can we make that much …that one of the things that make us great and economically powerful industry is the fact that for every one job created in the industry, 2 to 3 more indirect jobs are created elsewhere?”
Enriquez also noted that the freelancers are there to stay. With this, she said, “we’re not saying completely obliterate.” Instead, she made a call on the government to level the playing field.
“It is not a level-playing field and as an industry we need to really be intent, purposive, and act with urgency on addressing these issues so that we make this a level-playing field,” the industry practitioner said.
Moreover, she raised concerns on the taxes that the gig economy workers allegedly “do not pay” to the government.
“We have not as an industry actually measured how much for example corporate taxes and income taxes that by the way the gig economy workers and their so-called employers are not paying to the government…,” Enriquez noted.
“At the end of the day, we recognize that the industry needs to be really front and center in making sure that we are addressing this issue. Our hope is that the government will be at pace with us as we embark on that journey,” she added.
Through the lens of the government and in response to the remarks made by Enriquez, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Assistant Secretary Paul Añover stressed, “When we talk about the gig economy, we’re also looking here at why they’re not being absorbed by the IT-BPM industry.”
The Labor and Employment official added, “Maybe it’s also market forces so we also look at the individuality of the contract.”
For DOLE’s part, he said they recognize the need for social protection of workers. “These are the things that we do look at seriously. And with regard to regulating the gig economy, this is something that we studied with much care.”
With this, he said, “we cannot be reacting as well, knee jerk to this, because for these individuals, we also look at the deliberateness of their decision.”
To help address the issue on the IT-BPM side, Añover recommended, “Something that we also have to look at is how we recruit talent.”
The DOLE official said the industry should zero in on a skills-based approach because apart from looking at the entrants, it is also important to look at who is already there and who had already developed “significant” experience but who just needs to be reskilled.
Meanwhile, Payoneer’s 2023 Freelancer Insights Report revealed that despite the fears of a global economic slowdown, 46 percent of the freelancers saw an increase in demand for their work.
The study noted that over two thirds or 68 percent of the freelancers it surveyed believe demand will continue to grow into 2023, in line with the findings from US-based freelancing platform Upwork report that 45 percent of the companies plan to hire more freelancers in the near future.
In response to the rising cost of living, the results of the survey showed that 55 percent of respondents have taken on more work, and 32 percent have expanded their client base to new countries. (Full story here:https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/04/19/more-businesses-projected-to-rely-on-freelance-labor/)