Call centers should hire home-based workers—expert
By JESUS F. LLANTO
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
Philippine call centers are urged to try home-based operations to curb high attrition rate and increase employee satisfaction.
During the Annual Call Center Expo 2008, an expert on business process outsourcing (BPO) urge Philippine call center companies to hire work-at-home agents or home-based employees to solve the high turnover rate in the industry.
William Dieu, senior research analyst from callcentres.net, said that companies can lower attrition rate and foster high agent satisfaction if they will allow home-based operations.
"The Philippines should think about the benefits of hiring home-based agents," Dieu said. He added that working from home also allows employees to save on transportation cost, especially now when prices of fuel are soaring.
Dieu said that only nine percent of the companies here allow working from home and he warned that "it is not expected to increase" in the succeeding months.
Benedict Hernandez, senior vice president and general manager for Philippines of eTelecare, said technological factors hamper the development of this kind of job.
"It has not really taken off," said Hernandez. "There are many things to consider. We are not as wired as the United States."
John Langford, executive vice president of ICT group, said it will take time before this system is adapted. "The industry has been in the United States but this set-up has been used only in the last five years.
Big sector
Call centers are the biggest sector in the Philippine BPO industry. It generates the biggest revenue and employs the most workers. In 2007, contact centers accounted for 73 percent of the industry’s US$4.8 billion revenue and its employees accounted for 60 percent of the 300,000 BPO workers.
"The industry will grow at a healthy clip this year," said Dan Reyes, president of Sitel and director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP).
CCAP estimates that this year, contact centers are expected to earn US$4.3 billion dollars, or around 30 percent increase from last year’s US$3.3 billion. Around 50,000 additional jobs are also expected this year.
Contact centers in the Asia-Pacific region, said Dieu citing data from consulting firm Frost and Sullivan, generated US$665 million revenue in 2007 and is expected to earn US$13 in the next seven years.
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