BPO

The passage of the E-commerce Act in year 2000 marks the commencement of the meteoric rise in the Philippines of a major industry related to ICT. This is the Business Process Outsourcing industry comprises several “sub-industries” such as call centers, medical transcription, legal process outsourcing, web development and back-office outsourcing.

I remember during this time, many call center companies have sprouted in the business districts of Makati, Ortigas and Libis in QC which were renowned for massive recruitment of workers usually those who were fresh from college. Many workers were attracted to these jobs because of the highly competitive compensation package that awaits the successful applicant. Some call center companies even gave signing bonuses for the new hires. Moreover, most companies have very brief hiring procedures that take only a day or two, i.e., from the time the applicant submitted his/her resume up to the time that he/she signs the employment contract.

Be that as it may, there is also a bad side to this story. Even though these companies attracted workers by hordes, they also suffered high attrition rates. This fact may be attributed to the peculiar working schedules in these companies. Almost all call center companies operate 24/7 which means that some employees will be assigned to work from 10 o’ clock in the evening up to 6 o’ clock in the morning. This is necessary because they need to approximate the working hours in western countries particularly the US where most of their client companies are located. Many call center employees cannot stand the difficulty of working in the wee hours that some of them got burned out while other got hospitalized. These are some of the hidden risks that come with working in call center companies.

I know this for a fact because just last month, my 24-year old neighbor-friend was rushed to the hospital because she suffered a mild stroke while working at 2:30 in the morning. She was assigned in the 10pm-6am shift for 3 and a half months straight prior to the incident. Luckily, my friend was able to recover but the doctor strongly advised her not to work in evening shifts anymore. But how could she possibly do that? She could only heed that advice if either the company allows her to change shifts or find another job. The second option is next to impossible at this point in time when finding a decent job may be likened to finding a needle in a haystack.


Raymond Roque
06-78143