The Outsourcing Week in Review: Wednesday, January 2, 2018

Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

As the Philippines BPO sector enters another year, industry pundits are expressing cautious optimism. The local economy is sound and will still experience robust growth, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo. However, George Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has cautioned that growth would be even higher if reforms aimed at uplifting small and medium-sized enterprises and improving education and skills training, are implemented more aggressively. A key indicator of the sector’s strength is its hiring intentions, and a Mercer report identified the Philippines’ shared services and outsourcing industry as having the most positive hiring outlook in 2019. 70% of companies in these sectors are looking to expand while 24% are looking to maintain their current headcount. Another important indicator is demand for offices. Flexible workspace demand has been growing rapidly, and is expected to grow by 10% annually over the next three years, still driven in large part by BPO and KPO firms, according to Colliers International.

There was also welcome news that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DOTC), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have joined forces in a five-year plan to strengthen technology startups.  On the international front, Accenture posted a disappointing forecast for its second quarter, and that its revenues are likely to fall by 5%.  Access Healthcare, one of the largest providers of healthcare revenue cycle management and related IT services, announced the appointment of a new US Operations president, David Tassoni.

Last week saw Accenture announce that it will provide its employees more parental-leave benefits, and Teleperformance, a major player in the local industry, added a best employer in China award to the list of tributes it has garnered this year for its HR practices worldwide. These global giants are not only locked in battle for top talent, but their staff are also locked in battle on the playing field. The Accenture Sharks and the Teleperformance Vipers both advanced to the semifinals in the 2018 Tanduay Athletics E-Leagues for Basketball in the final days of the year. In contrast, trade union issues continue to bedevil Alorica, with allegations by the United Employees of Alorica union that its management is being unfairly dismissed in an attempt to undermine the union.

Meanwhile, in Cebu, the country’s second BPO hub, mayor Tomas Osmeña is continuing his campaign to make the city safer for BPO workers by deploying more village watchmen in BPO locations to reduce robberies against BPO workers. The mayor’s prompt actions reflect the importance of the BPO sector to Cebu. Despite the negative impact of inflation, the TRAIN law, and the various international headwinds threatening the sector, business remained brisk in 2018, according to both Efren Carreon, National Economic and Development Authority director, and Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Stanley Go. In fact, Cebu’s IT-BPM workforce outpaced employment growth in Manila last year, ending up with at least 160,000 workers, up from the previous year’s 150,000, said Cebu IT-BPM Organization (CIB.O) managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr. Still, finding new workers to fill new positions may become a challenge. Although demand for BPO workers looks set to continue in 2019, Wesley Chiongbian, president of Cebu-based job site Mynimo.com, has cautioned that high demand is already leading to serious talent shortage in some sectors in Cebu. BPO is currently ranked the second most affected.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

NEWS THIS WEEK

31 December 2018

Access Healthcare has new US operations president – Read more…

2018 still a good year for Cebu’s IT-BPM industry – read more…

Outsourcing industry posts most positive hiring outlook in 2019 – read more…

28 December 2018

BPO remains top job creator in Cebu in 2019 – read more…

Teleperformance is among China’s best firms to work for – read more…

Accenture employees will get more parental-leave benefits – read more…

Demand still growing for flexible workspaces – Colliers report – read more…

Accenture, Teleperformance advance to semis in E-Leagues – read more…

27 December 2018

Accenture forecasts shortfall in 2nd quarter revenues – read more…

Robust economic growth for 2019 reaffirmed – read more…

Alorica workers union allege ‘union busting’ practices – read more…

Stricter security for BPO hubs – read more…

26 December 2018

Cebu’s IT-BPM industry to sustain growth – read more…

DOTC, DICT, DTI forge for tech startups – read more…

‘PHL economy not overheating’ – read more…