MANILA - Globe Telecom on Tuesday said its customer support services have been affected by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases as BPOs and other service providers of the company reported infections among their staff.
Globe said one of its service providers had to close down one of its sites after staff got infected with COVID-19.
“The same action was taken by another Globe partner BPO after a substantial number of its agents were placed under quarantine,” the company said.
Manpower support for customer service operations dropped nearly by half, while support for back office, social media, and after-sales dropped to 49 percent, 66 percent, and 57 percent respectively, of pre-pandemic levels.
"The temporary closure of some partner BPOs, ongoing social distancing measures which limit the number of personnel in offices, suspension of BPO operations when employees get infected, and the very fear of BPO agents to report for work only to contract the virus has been a challenge for us in sustaining our promise to support our customers,” said Rebecca Eclipse, chief customer experience officer of Globe.
Gobe said it is encouraging customers to use self-service apps for basic inquiries and requests.
Postpaid and prepaid mobile customers can use the GlobeOne app for the most frequent inquiries.
Globe At Home prepaid and postpaid subscribers, meanwhile, can use Globe At Home app.
“We are concerned about the general well-being of our customer service representatives who still report to work despite the health risks. This is why we are doing our best not only to address their needs but also to ease their workload so they can focus on things that need their personal attention,” added Eclipse.
The telco said it is exploring work-from-home arrangements for customer service agents but is concerned that the rising number of online scams, fraud and social engineering may put customers’ privacy and security at risk.
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