Philippines Call Center Information

by Karla Vizcarra of www.philippinenews.com

MANILA — Every night, masses of young men and women log onto hi-speed computers, put on headsets and start accepting calls from different time zones.

They must be able to listen intently, handle the caller’s concern — accounts, inquiries, collections — in an accent akin to the caller’s. These agents are trained to the letter, vowels and consonants neutralized by hours of speech exercises. Everyday updates on Western slang, culture and trivia keep them confident and ready should the customer decide on a whim to chat about the weather. These agents are expected to answer at least a hundred calls in shifts that last up to nine hours. Quality must never fall below standards. The pressure, obviously, is huge — makes one wonder why this is the most popular career choice of thousands and thousands of young Filipinos today.

Mart Rivera has been in the industry for three years now. The 26 year-old graduate from La Salle initially wanted a job in events management. It was only after several rejects from different companies that he applied and got accepted at Sykes, the country’s first ever call center.

“Adjusting to the hours was horrible. I felt I was missing out on so many things. I got used to it gradually, especially since I was working with so many people of the same age, and then more of my friends got accepted, too,” he said.

The rapid growth of the call center industry has become nothing short of phenomenal. President Arroyo is openly proud of the billion-dollar revenue brought in by the infiltration of thousands of call centers in the country. Offshore clients, because of extremely lower costs at even better quality, prefer hiring call agents from tech-savvy and English speaking nations, like the Philippines and India.

“There were less than 2,000 business process outsourcing employees just five years ago,” Arroyo said in her speech at the opening of Dell Philippines, a customer care branch located at the Mall of Asia. “Now, there are 125,000 and by 2010, we expect there would be a million business process outsourcing and call center employees in the Philippines.”

The Asian Call Center Review recently reported that the Philippines has surpassed India as the number one offshore call center choice in the Asian region. Department of Trade and Industry records show that call centers and other BPO revenues grew at an annual average of about 160 percent between 2001 and 2004. Last year the industry was reported to be worth $1.655 billion, with call center profit making up almost 80% of the figure. The BPO industry in the country aims to create revenues of $10 billion by 2010.

Considering that a call center agent earns anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 pesos monthly, these estimates are extremely possible. For the average Filipino graduate who can’t pursue dollar dreams abroad, a call center position is undoubtedly the next best thing.

Mart is one familiar with this. “I couldn’t believe it. I was fresh out of college and they were offering me a six-digit salary. Then and there I signed up.”

Today he is earning almost double the amount in the same position he started with. He said he will only leave his job if a better opportunity comes along.

For recently resigned call center employee and musician Carive Rodriguez, it wasn’t the money that reeled him in. It was the complete absence of a dress code. The many artists turned down by corporate mills on account of scruffy appearances could now work — and earn — with nary a hair follicle trimmed.

“I wanted a job I didn’t have to dress up for,” Carive said. A philosophy shared by many young employees who arrive at work every night in faded rock shirts and dreadlocks.

Amarie Salvador, the Human Resource Manager of Makati-based call center Touch Asia, said the reason why call centers are so popular with the ‘artist types’ was because of the job’s exceptionally tedious demands.

“It takes a very creative person to be able to deal with the monotony,” she said.

In full-page ads that hope to entice more young people to their team, many call center companies boast of healthy employee culture that respects individualism. This liberated environment is just one of the many perks that recruitment teams mention in their bid to attract the finest, if not the most number of applicants.

The competition among BPO companies, estimated now to number over a hundred, is indeed growing stiffer. With more and more offshore accounts coming in, a scarcity of good employees is a realistic threat. Tesda and call-center industry sources reveal that only 5 out of 100 Filipinos who apply for call-center jobs meet quality standards. The oft-mentioned hiring rate is only two percent of all applicants a year. For an industry expected to generate 103,000 new jobs by 2007, deteriorating language skills is definitely not a good sign.

In May of this year, President Arroyo announced that she had released P500 million pesos for what she enthusiastically described as “call-center finishing schools.”

This training program aims to facilitate English-proficiency training for “near hires,” or the more or less 100,000 applicants who were not accepted but are near the two-percent hiring rate of the industry. The government has also unofficially instructed the re-establishment of English as the medium of instruction for all schools. If the Philippines fails to meet the growing demand for English speaking agents, its current standing as favored BPO provider is at risk. Some studies predict that faster developing Asian countries like China could soon claim the top spot for growing offshore accounts.

And despite other growing concerns surrounding this “sunshine industry,” among them the question of stability and the ‘dead-end’ nature of the jobs comprising it, most Filipinos remain steadfast only to its present and obvious advantages. Even recent studies that confirmed the hazardous long-term effects of working the night shift has not dissuaded the hundreds and thousands who yearn to join this new breed of ‘yippies,’ the young professional hippies who realistically earn more than many local managers today.

On the down side, agents get upset over rampant discrimination, from racial slurs to phones slammed in their ears. Several times an American is able to tell that he is not speaking to a fellow American, which necessitates extreme patience and a strong spirit on the Filipino agent’s end. These types of calls normally account for the typical scene outside a call center building: dozens of well-dressed agents smoking in huddles, releasing as much stressful anecdotes as their 15-minute breaks would allow. The salary, understandably, is just as high as the pressure involved.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying.” Mart shared of his call center work. “I’m not even sure what I want to be after this. The job could be draining, but all I know is that I’m earning way more than I could earn anywhere else. And just as long as you know how to stay positive despite the hassle, then it’s generally a pretty good job.”

Carive, who admittedly left his call center work because he simply “got fed up,” is now looking for a new job. When asked where he wanted to apply, he answered very matter-of-factly, “In a call center of course. It’s the only place I could earn enough to support my lifestyle. And besides,” the Computer Science graduate added, shrugging, “It’s the only place I’m positive I’ll get accepted in.”

If this is an altogether good or bad thing, one could not tell just yet. In the meantime, call center seats continue to multiply and a hundred thousands other applicants continue to hope.