The Outsourcing Week in Review: Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The Philippines dropped to a disappointing 18th place on this year’s Top 50 Digital Nations ranking by the Tholons Global Innovation Index.
From last year’s impressive 5th place, the country dived to just 18th place. In addition, Metro Manila and Cebu cities, which were ranked 2nd and 12th last year, both plunged to the 8th and 52nd spots respectively. Maybe someone forgot to pay their Tholons membership… Despite this, the country remains to be one of the most diversified business environments in the world. Tholons gave the Philippines a commendable score of ‘2.34’ for diversity and inclusion, which is one of the highest scores for this area.
In fine consolation, the Philippines has ranked #1 for Women in Business – again – according to the consultancy firm Grant Thornton. In the firm’s International Women in Business Report 2021, Filipinas took on 48 per cent of senior leadership positions – which is five notches higher than last year’s 43 per cent. The survey covered 29 economies and almost 5,000 respondents. Congratulations to all the strong female leaders of the Philippines!!
In an effort to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, Inside Outsourcing hosted its own mini-survey last week on LinkedIn, asking: “Are outsourcing and BPO more efficient from the office or a Work-From-Home (WFH) environment?” The result was nail-bitingly close with 47% opting for WFH, 44% voting for the office and 10% unsure. The survey was received 172 votes and was viewed by 10,200 people.
The country is seeing signs of investment growth, as the Board of Investments (BoI) reported a 156 per cent surge in its approved investment pledges in the first two months of 2021. The agency approved almost P121.9 billion in investments, with domestic investment pledges jumping 188 per cent to $115.7 billion.
For COVID-19 vaccination news, the Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has said that they target to finish the vaccination of healthcare workers by May and that they’ll begin to expand the program to the other sectors by April. As of last week, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that they have vaccinated 9,077 people so far. This planned vaccination program can be made possible, as the country is expecting to receive an additional one million doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine “by March 21 and onwards.”
Further, local pharmaceutical company Glovax Biotech is looking to build the Philippines’ first vaccine plant. In partnership with South Korea-based Eubiologics and LG Chem, Glovax Biotech will produce the EuCorVac-19 vaccine, which was developed by POP Biotechnologies. In a statement, the firm noted that they will provide the vaccine plant “should the government purchase 40 million doses” from them. They further stated that this “possible investment collaboration” was projected to cost P7 billion, including technology transfer costs.
There have been reports of companies requiring their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to work. However, the Associated Labor Union (ALU) is urging the government to ban this growing “no vaccination, no work” policy to prevent “discriminatory and coercive mandatory vaccination” in some workplaces. In response, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that requiring vaccination for work “will be declared illegal.” Bello noted that “nobody can be forced to undergo vaccination without his or her consent,” so they will issue an advisory regarding this policy in the coming days. However, Bello did then temper his position with a personal appeal for Filipinos to get vaccinated as soon as available, saying: “This is the best way for us to ensure our return to normalcy.”
Investment promotions agency Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is in talks with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to utilize military reserve lands and turn them into economic zones. Plaza said that they discussed managing almost 20,000 hectares of military reservation areas as they plan to establish the first Defense Industrial Complex in the country. As if for good measure, Plaza clarified that they’re “not militarizing PEZA” – and workers would not have to become soldiers to qualify (phew). She said, “We are just making our employees and the industry workers in the ecozone as military reservists…. They can assure our investors that investing in our economic zones will be very safe and secured.”
Senators are now pushing to pass the proposed Senate Bill No. 1295, or the bill taxing Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) through Senate. According to bill author, Senator Ralph Recto, the POGO sector can generate P38 billion for the government, which can contribute to the “badly-needed” funds during this time of pandemic.
Inside Outsourcing believes in happy endings – and the BPO, MVP Asia Pacific has made that come true. The Clark-based outsourcer donated a number of PC monitors to Barangay Anunas and to Mabalacat City College to assist families in need of reliable work from home setups. In a statement, MVP said that “education is incredibly important and valuable for everyone, which is why our team wanted to reduce the impact COVID has on education for children.” Thank you, MVP.
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Wednesday, March 10, 2021
NEWS THIS WEEK
9 March 2021
- Senators push for bill taxing POGOs – read article…
- Oakridge to offer ‘new normal’ workspaces – read article…
- CREATE bill to help PH’s innovation recovery – read article…
8 March 2021
- ‘No vax, no work policy’ illegal – DOLE – read article…
- PH seeks to finish HCW vaccinations in May, start on other sectors next month – read article…
- PH slips to 18th at Tholons Digital Nations list – read article…
5 March 2021
- PH has vaccinated over 9000 people so far – gov’t – read article…
- PH slips to 73rd in economic freedom ranking – read article…
- Outsourcing industry reports increased inquiries – read article…
- Additional 1M Sinovac vaccines to be delivered by month-end – read article…
4 March 2021
- PH tops global ‘Women in Business’ survey again – read article…
- Majority of Baguio City’s new COVID-19 cases traced to call centers – read article…
- Local firm plans to establish first COVID-19 vaccine plant – read article…
- BOI-approved investment pledges surge 156% – read article…
3 March 2021
- Labor group opposes ‘no vaccination, no work’ policy – read article…
- Frictionless Contact Center BPO Transformation Solution launched – read article…
- MVP donates monitors to local barangay and Mabalacat – read article…
- PEZA partners with AFP to build defense industrial ecozones – read article…
Independent
