Philippine Call Centers - The "Sunshine Industry"

Call centers in the Philippines became the answer to the rising unemployment rate in the mid 1990's. Today, new graduates and other new entrants to the labor force are rushing to apply to various Philippine call center their is. Every week, Philippine Call Centers take in thousands under their wing to be trained and eventually be gainfully employed.

To answer the needs of the various call centers in the Philippines, some schools have upgraded their English and communications subjects up to the next level. There are even electives to study American geography and English proficiency to ensure that when they graduate they would get hired right away.

At this time more and more call center aspirants rush to file their applications and regardless of what course they have taken. Thousands of fresh and old graduates are being hired by Philippine Call Centers every week. Needless to say, call centers became an option of many Filipinos for a lucrative employment.

What made Philippines an attractive place for off shoring?

Indebtedness and the need to cut back on costs brought about by the troubled stock market, declining expenditure on Information and Technology and unstable economic conditions made off shoring very appealing to many U.S. companies. This prompted some U.S. companies to decentralize their operations, particularly the handling of outbound and inbound calls.

Years ago, The Philippines was an unknown country in the field of e-services in the world. Now, it has has an approximately 50 or more call centers listed by the Department of Trade and Industry and the numbers are still escalating.

Edge of the Filipinos

The call center industry caters to markets from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia which means that it requires a labor force proficient in the English language. What makes Philippines rise above the rest is the fact that we offer quality but cheaper office spaces and labor, better power and telecommunications infrastructure and a very supportive government. Being the third largest English speaking country in the world and with a high literacy rate, the Philippines is considered as one of the most competitive call center destinations in the world.

The basic pay for call center agents ranges from P12, 000 to P14, 000 a month (200 USD to 250 USD). In ICT Philippines, a call center that operates in the Philippines, agents enjoy a monthly P2, 500 food and transportation allowance and a performance appraisal bonus amounting to P4, 000. Often, they are also offered spiffs like appliances, cellular phone loads and gift checks to boost the sales per hour capacity of the employees. An agent who hits the target quota sales gets an additional P11, 500 commission plus a 30-50 percent night differential. All in all, a well-performing agent gets a gross monthly income of more than P31, 000. This, as opposed to the P8, 000-p9, 000 entry level salary generally offered in other sectors.

Call center agents receive benefits like SSS, health insurance, Pag-ibig and salary loans. It is not a dead-end job either. Agents get the chance to climb the corporate ladder in just a matter of three months. Some call centers offer perks like free shuttle rides, free meals and coffee and sleeping rooms and even karaoke rooms.

"Sunshine Industry"

The Philippine Call Center is regarded as the "sunshine industry" by the government because of its vast expansion that has generated thousands of employment. It is sprouting not only in Metro Manila but also in Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and Pampanga. There are also other call center spots all throughout the country that can accommodate thousands of call center agents and numerous accounts and companies as well.

This prompted the Arroyo government to put the ICT in a huge pedestal in hopes of placing the Philippines in the call center map of the world. The government designated more than 96 special economic zones that offer tax breaks and other incentives to foreign investors and is improving the telecommunications and other basic infrastructure. This vision has already been laid out in her State of the Nation address and is presently in the works.

With the positive things that is in stored for the Philippine call centers, this industry is booming and is here to stay for awhile, keeping both the companies and the call center agents happy and satisfied.

Virginia Magallanes, 25, works as company writer for Call Center Philippines Unique Interaction