BPOs feared to take hit if tax breaks removed

MANILA – Removing tax incentives for foreign companies seeking to outsource operations in the Philippines can discourage investments, an industry official said.

The business process outsourcing industry employs roughly 1 million Filipinos and is a key source of dollars that help stabilize the local currency.

“China is offering a lot of the incentives, here we are trying to take some things out. It’s like are we pushing the investors out,” said Contact Center Association of the Philippines president Jojo Uligan.

“Mahihirapan tayo (We’ll have a hard time). We can no longer compete,” he said.

The tax regime, however, is not the only consideration of investors, said finance undersecretary Antonette Tiokno. – from a report by Jekki Pascual ABS-CBN News.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump warns US firms outsourcing jobs abroad

INDIANAPOLIS - President-elect Donald Trump warned on Thursday that US companies would face "consequences" for outsourcing jobs abroad, as he touted his early success in persuading an air conditioner maker to keep about 1,000 jobs in the United States rather than move them to Mexico.

"Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen," the Republican said on a visit to a Carrier Corp. plant in Indianapolis.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, did not say what the consequences would be, but he frequently threatened during the election campaign that his administration would put a 35 percent import tariff on goods made by American manufacturers that moved jobs offshore.

It is unclear what steps would have to be taken by federal authorities before Trump could retaliate against individual companies shifting jobs abroad.

Trump also did not address whether Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, would face any consequences for continuing with plans to move 1,300 other Indiana jobs to Mexico.

Trump made keeping jobs in the United States one of the main issues of his campaign and frequently pilloried Carrier for planning to move production to Mexico as he appealed to blue-collar voters in the Midwest.

Apparently under pressure from Trump, Carrier announced this week it had agreed to keep more than 1,000 jobs at the plant and at its headquarters, while still planning to move more than 1,000 other US jobs to Mexico.

Trump said his negotiations with the maker of air conditioning units were a model for how he would approach other US businesses that are tempted to move jobs overseas to save money.

He pledged to create a healthy environment for business through lower taxes and fewer regulations.

"I just want to let all of the other companies know that we're going to do great things for business. There's no reason for them to leave anymore," Trump said.

If that approach did not work, there would be penalties, Trump warned.

TAX INCENTIVES

The deal marked a quick win for Trump, who has spent most of his time in New York since the Nov. 8 election building his team ahead of January's inauguration, when he will succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Media outlets reported on Thursday that retired Marine General James Mattis would be named defense secretary, but a Trump spokesman said no decision had been made.

Trump toured the plant in Indianapolis and shook hands with workers on an assembly line. Some workers yelled: "Thank you Mr. Trump" and "Thanks Donald" as he greeted them.

Carrier confirmed that Indiana agreed to give the company $7 million in tax incentives. A source briefed on the matter said the tax incentives were over 10 years and the company had agreed to invest $16 million in the state, where Trump's vice president-elect, Mike Pence, is governor.

Carrier still plans to move 600 jobs from the plant to Mexico, the Wall Street Journal said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Carrier also still intended to close a factory in Huntington, Indiana, that employs 700 people making controls for heating, cooling and refrigeration and move the jobs to Mexico by 2018.

SANDERS CRITICISM
US Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the Democratic nominating race to Hillary Clinton, said the Carrier deal was incomplete and left the incoming Trump administration open to threats from companies.

"Trump has endangered the jobs of workers who were previously safe in the United States. Why? Because he has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives," Sanders wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece on Thursday.

He noted that Trump had originally said he would save 2,100 jobs that Carrier planned to move to Mexico.

"Let's be clear: It is not good enough to save some of these jobs," Sanders said.

Despite Trump's deal, employers elsewhere in Indiana are laying off five times that many workers because of foreign competition.

Trump was due to hold a rally in Cincinnati later on Thursday and address supporters who helped him win the swing state of Ohio in his upset victory over Clinton.

The Indiana and Ohio stops are Trump's first public events since he won the presidency.

At the Cincinnati event, Trump and Pence will talk about what is ahead and the "positive change" Trump will bring to the country, spokesman Jason Miller said.

On Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department. Trump named Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known for his investments in distressed industries, as his nominee for commerce secretary.

The Cincinnati rally follows a car and knife attack this week by a Somali immigrant and Muslim student, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, at Ohio State University in Columbus that injured 11 people. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.

In a Twitter message, Trump said: "ISIS is taking credit for the terrible stabbing attack at Ohio State University by a Somali refugee who should not have been in our country."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations accused Trump of seeking to exploit the "tragic situation in Ohio."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Challenges facing BPO employees in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Working in a call center is a tough kind of job that may not be desired by most individual.

Some people may think that a BPO job leads to an unhealthy lifestyle. Unhealthy in the sense that they sleep during regular working hours, and are wide-awake late at night or early dawn.

Only few folks have known the real sacrifice behind the stages that most agents carry. People who turn their ways to work in a call center have their own stories and motivations in life why they push their selves into this kind of vineyard.

Some of the common reasons why they choose to work in this kind of life are the salary, the benefits offered by the company, the great experience and the chance of getting a good career.

Life in a BPO industry is very dynamic. If you were a person who has great determination and focus, it would not be hard for you to be recognized and simply get a post in the company.

However, that may sounds vague sometimes because not all your expectation can easily be reach. It would be a bucket of trials and adjustments once you venture yourself into much awaited yet challenging world.

Talking of challenges, let’s discuss the normal adversities that are often encountered by most people working in the BPO industry.

Here are some of the common pressures that exist in a BPO industry:

Hitting Business Standards

It is very common in an industry or any institution to set a business goal. Being in line with the BPO employees nowadays, it is your goal to meet up the requirements that the company ask you to perform. It can’t be denied that this can add up the pressure in absorbing and adjusting the traditional practices in a call center.

Dealing with Indifference

It is also normal in a BPO industry that injustices happen since every program are often divided into different folds of team. Different behaviors and attitude of an agent are quite normal in this kind of environment. Peer pressure is also one of the subjects that ignite the temperature that roams around the team. It’s really not easy to deal with different individuals and understanding difficult people.

Handling Relationships
Many relationships are often ended in a single beat of time due to the irregular schedule, practiced by most agents. Working in a BPO industry sometimes deprives your moment to spend a long week with your family.

Coping with Health Issues

There are two common health conditions that normally exist when working in a BPO industry. It would either be a hypertension which known as High blood pressure or the hypotension that used to give you a lower blood pressure. An agent should be wise enough in taking care of her body, by taking vitamins and supplements.

Understanding the Schedule

It is understood that most of the BPO has different schedules. We have the graveyard and the morning shifts. There are teams or departments that use to shift schedules weekly and it seems to be a daunting task.

Life can only be complicated if you don’t know how to discipline and handle pressure in every type of work. So, if you are aiming to have a good career in a BPO industry, be flexible in every way!

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How Accenture is bringing BPO jobs to PH provinces

MANILA, Philippines – Accenture is expected to provide more employment opportunities for Filipinos living in rural areas under its Rural BPO Program.

Under the program, Accenture will tap small business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in provinces to provide training and employment to the residents.

Benedict Hernandez, lead Accenture Delivery Center for Operations in the Philippines, said the program aims to boost efforts in achieving inclusive growth in the country.

“Rural BPO is all about inclusive growth. It is focused on being able to bring the benefits of its fast growing service to communities like the first one we launched in Tanjay,” Hernandez told reporters in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Accenture has trained and employed 38 residents of Tanjay, Negros Oriental for its first Rural BPO center, which has been in operation for a year.

According to Manish Sharma, Accenture’s senior managing director, the Rural BPO program in Tanjay has increased the average annual household income by 33 percent, from P139,600 to P186,000.

Sharma also said that all employees have been able to open a savings account.

Employment opportunities that have opened up in Tanjay because of the program include jobs in data, tech support, analysts, and voice support.

Hernandez said Accenture is looking to open more BPO centers in rural areas, but the firm has yet to identify specific locations.

He said the program needs requirements such as support from local government, connectivity, competitive talent pool, and a competent local partner.

For its Rural BPO center in Tanjay, Accenture partnered with the Visayan Knowledge Process Outsourcing (VKPO).

Hernandez said Accenture is targeting to fill up the center’s 150 seats.

He said bringing BPO centers to rural areas, which can only provide jobs in agriculture, fishing and education, will benefit not only the residents but the community as well.

He noted that most college graduates from rural areas leave their hometown to work in the city.

“What we have done is that we created those careers in provinces like Tanjay so they don’t have to leave their families,” said Hernandez.

The BPO center in Tanjay is Accenture’s fourth location and its first in the Philippines, with the three others located in India.

In the Philippines, Accenture has a workforce of more than 32,000 employees.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com