Call Center Agent Legislation Ideas

Do you have any bright ideas on how we can make things better for our call center employees? I share mine here as some of our young ones still don't know what can our Congress do for us.

I came across a call center forum thread discussing the call center agent party-list topic which i have recently touched on this blog. Call center agents being apolitical in nature don't seem to realize the endless possibilities legislation (and privileges that come along with it) that can impact us as BPO workers. It seems that when we talk of Congress and congressmen the first thing that comes to mind is "pork barrel." Not good... While legislative allocations can do wonders for people entitled to it, it is not the reason why we want a call center agent representative in congress.

When we talk of legislation for call center employees, we need to consider 3 things:

1) What has troubled us in the past?
2) What specific needs do we have now as BPO employees?
3) What are the things we need in the future to make our professional and personal lives better as call center employees and our families?

These three should be our guiding principles in our quest to be represented in Congress. Additionally, in the spirit of the popular quote by JFK "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your country", we should also consider possible contributions can we provide in Congress that will impact our society as a whole.

What has troubled us in the past?

There are so many different issues call center agents have had trouble with in the past. What we need to consider here are legislative agendas that will effectively curb our concerns. Reiterating labor laws is NOT a solution. We need to suggest ideas that will nip these problems once and for all. Salary disputes, mandatory contributions not paid in a timely manner, legal assistance, lack of awareness for labor policies and many more are common based on experience. We need to have legislation that will create a system that audits and verifies enforcement of laws to prevent these from happening again.

What specific needs do we have now as BPO employees?

Right now, even as call center companies grow and call center agents rise in numbers companies still have trouble hiring qualified applicants. This results in delaying of business growth and more importantly more work are spread over existing employees because the number of calls may increase but the number of qualified individuals answering the phones can't cope with the demands. This will eventually lead to more problems later on on both sides of the call center floor, management and rank & file. We must author legislation that will provide solutions at the roots. Revising the educational system to include business process outsourcing subjects and intensive English subjects in college may be a good idea. Creating a curriculum specific to BPO (say for example Bachelor of Science/Arts in Customer Service or Business Process Outsourcing Management) can also help. Providing more intensive verbal communications re-training for Elementary and High School teachers will definitely help solve this problem in the future.

These are just wild ideas for now as some may think. However, some of the greatest scientists and inventors were also laughed at first. Turns out eventually their weird ideas were in fact true and useful.

What are the things we need in the future to make our professional and personal lives better as call center employees and our families?

I, for one, love to think of possibilities. I think I am better at suggesting ideas that may solve future concerns. Suggested Call Center Laws:

1. Subsidized housing for call center agents' families to allow their families affordable houses.
2. A 401k-like plan for call center agents
3. Creation of an OWWA-like body for call center employees
4. Allocation of funds for a call center agents cooperative to help employees financially.
5. Create a body for training call center employees to invest their money well and to be entrepreneurs.
6. Create legislation to afford call center employees continuous education that will fit their current jobs.
7. Create a body that will serve as a call center helpline for those needing immediate assistance.
8. Create legislation that will ensure safety of call center agents' immediate work environment within the company, surrounding their companies' vicinity and travel/commute.
9. Create legislation to protect call center employees against discrimination from call center company associations.
10. A Magna Carta for Call Center Agents - that will TRULY embody us as an important sector of our society.

Warning:
The ideas above are patented intellectual property of the author protected by law. Do not use these ideas for your own covert political agenda. Ask permission in writing from callcentervet@gmail.com. :)

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Call Center Agents Deserve A Party-List Rep Too!

Some people question our need for Congress representation in the 2010 elections. People say we, as call center employees, are NOT marginalized that is why we don't qualify to nominate a partylist group. Does working in a call center then make us second class citizens?

In a recent move to effectively sift through the huge number of partylist groups applying for accreditation in the next elections, the Commission on Elections has reiterated two conditions that will be their guiding principles in approving them. Partylist applicants, like one that applied on behalf of call center agents,  have to represent a sector of society that is under-represented and marginalized. We, as call center employees due to our exponentially growing numbers and special niche in society, will be under-represented in the years to come or probably as soon as the present. However, earning above average salaries puts us in a predicament where some of our fellow countrymen do not consider us marginalized. Being marginalized to many is a situation where one experiences poverty. While this may not be true for call center employees, does this mean we don't deserve to be represented in this democratic country?

3 Facts and Arguments

1. We, as law-abiding citizens, need representation to Congress just like everybody else. If Migrante and and other leftist groups were allowed to have their own people to participate in the House in the past, we as income generating sector of society, deserve it now naturally because we are all equals in the eyes of law.

2. We are all tax-paying citizens. In the U.S., tax-payers are afforded the right for proper representation in their legislative houses. Being that our government is largely patterned with the democratic ways of  government in the U.S., we too deserve this right for recognition. Amongst all gainfully-employed Filipinos, as a sector/group call center agents pay probably the biggest income taxes on a regular basis and at obnoxious rates! Since our salaries are huge, depending on tax classifications, corresponding big taxes are automatically deducted from our salaries with us not having a say about it. If the government taxes us, in effect we pay for their expenses including the ones in Congress. Why should we not have a representative in the law-making body which we pay to sustain operations? If groups like Bayan Muna, Gabriela and others who have representation now but whose members don't present a clear cut evidence that they are paying their duties, why can't the high-tax paying call center employees be afforded such rights? My argument here is not who pays more taxes rather why can't we be given the same right to nominate and elect a representative in the 2010 elections.

3. If not us who else will raise our concerns? Last August 17, Kabataan Party Rep. Raymond Palatino in his own words, tried to generate awareness for call center agents. His presentation style left a lot to be desired to say the least. In my opinion,  his speech was a total disaster and perforated with lies, exaggerations and prejudice against call centers as an industry. His consequent House bill no. 6921 filed the same day was worse. I've already presented my case in the previous post here. This is what happens when people, who hardly knows anything about us and hasn't experienced a day in the life of a call center agent, try to "defend" our members and causes. Our lawmakers and countrymen will get false data and prejudiced statements against us. If big corporations can lobby in Congress through our solons, we as citizens need to have the same people. The most ideal person to represent us is somebody who embodies our ideals and aspirations.

The question of having a call center agent partylist group representative in Congress is not why should we but rather an argument of why shouldn't we. Some people may say the law is the law and it says you call center agents are not poor so you can't get representation no matter what your arguments are. However, laws can be amended and changed. It will just need us to unite and ask a respectable person to fully and unprejudicedly present our concerns.

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Flaws of the anti-call center speech by Rep. Raymond Palatino

Today we shall scrutinize the anti-call center speech delivered by Kabataan Partylist rep. Raymond Palatino as it gives exaggerated reports and points depicting our call center industry as a ghastly modern-day "slave ship" for us employees. I shall also point out the flaws specific errors in transcript delivered before Congress August 17, 2009 as it doesn't do us justice being an industry as a whole.

I have clearly and elaborately expressed my resentment over this BPO workers welfare and protection act over my last two posts about it and I see the logic on stressing specific points in future articles. In the meantime, this article shall focus erroneous data provided by the good Activist/Blogger turned Congressman in his speech.

Points of contention:

1st Error(inaccurate data): Congressman Palatino says: "CCAP pegs the turnover rate for the country at 60-80%, the highest in the world.

Reports as late as July 2009, CCAP President Benedict Hernandez has indicated the Philippine call center attrition rate is at a steady 54% and well below their projection of 60%. Some reports also say that it is 57% but not 60-80 and certainly not the highest in the world. The CCAP President, the same person Mr. Palatino quoted as the source of his call center turn-over statistics, also mentions India has far worse attrition rate pegged at 80%. There are multiple online publications proving this statistical fact. Additionally, in one of the reports I've read, Dell Philippines human resource director Donna Grande mentions that mentoring is a key factor in keeping call center employees within the company. This is a far cry from reasons stated by the good Congressman depicting our call center environment as deplorable work spaces as the biggest factor. If anything else, having no mentoring process within a call center environment hardly qualifies as dim working conditions.

2nd Error (Exaggeration): Congressman Palatino, says: "I rise in behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced into the illusory world of call centers".

Do I need to do some research on this? This prelude in his speech clearly describes his contempt against call centers and everyone in it. As Mr. Palatino knows all true well, we live in a democratic country where forced servitude is illegal as any other inhuman acts. No one is forced to work in call centers. Everyone working as a BPO employee, is in it under his/her own volition by reasons specific to each individual. If ever Filipinos are lured into joining call centers, it is because of lack of attractive alternative options that addresses their family's needs and NOT because it is the fault of call centers as an industry.

3rd Error (inaccurate data and outdated research): Congressman Palatino, says: "The average annual salary of call center agents in the Philippines is US$3,964."

While this number may actually have been accurate... in 2007, it clearly is not in the year of our Lord 2009. Maybe Mr. Mong Palatino wasn't able to research and study that one of the biggest concerns of the Philippine BPO as an industry are skyrocketing salaries of call center agents. It is also a big factor contributing to high turn-over rates among call centers. In an ongoing call center salary survey I'm conducting here in this blog, although hardly scientific, majority of call center agent survey participants are favoring a starting salary of more than 18,000 pesos. In this rate, our agents are actually at par with their counterparts in Thailand and Malaysia that are probably the countries which the Philippines is closer in terms of standards of living compared to Singapore.

4th Error (unconfirmed/doubtful reports): Congressman Palatino, says:" According to a multi-country survey conducted by callcentres.net, full-time call center agents stay in a contact center for a brief 22 months, while part-time agents stay for an even shorter 10 months"

I don't have the same statistical reports to see myself but why did he quote a multi-country survey? Does it include the Philippines? What is the real number for the Philippines BPO industry? In order to present a good case, one must show accurate and corresponding data that clearly and substantially reflects our performance. This multi-country data is mixed up with numbers from countries like India where conditions could be less favorable. Generalizing it would not be an accurate representation of how the country's BPOs are doing in terms of keeping employees within their fold and satisfied.

5th Error (poor research): Congressman Palatino, says: "The culprit: poor quality of jobs at the call center. A survey by the Call Center Project based at Cornell University in New York shows that the high attrition  rate is caused by a low job quality in call centers. The study revealed that 67% of agents found in 39% of call center work in low to very low quality of jobs.

While I am not about to argue with "Cornell University" Call Center project study conclusions, the numbers he quoted speaks for itself... Sixty-seven percent of agents in Thirty-nine percent of call centers clearly doesn't represent a good sampling to make conclusions. More importantly, I wonder how many Philippine Business Process Outsourcing employees were involved in this particular study based in the U.S.? A good research to quote should be entirely based with local call centers in question. I've already quoted above that according to local industry experts, present attrition rates are can be inflated due to "salary wars" between call centers and as Donna Grande may have implied above, poor HR methods.

I can scrutinize his speech further but this is kinda getting lengthy and boring already. I haven't even touched on the actual House Bill no. 6921 yet. So I just end this piece, with a few contemptuous quotes showing his true color in his speech. However, this just my single personal opinion. You judge for yourselves.

1. Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, the job of a call center agent is not all that fancy and ideal. For it is in the very nature of the call center job to be exploitative.- an unfair generalization.

2. How apt, Mr. Speaker, that this industry is marked by hellos and goodbyes. - malicious quip.

3. Unlike our jobs, we have time to read the newspapers or chat with our office mates. The job of a call center agent is one of isolation.  -- This is a true testament that Mr. Palatino does not understand the nature of our jobs. He may have gotten used to reading newspapers and chatting as part of his daily routine at work lol. Seriously, in general we do have time during breaks and downtime to socialize with office mates and no one is preventing us to do so. C'mon!

4. According to the Ecumenical Institute for Labor and Research, only 10-minutes per day period is allowed for personal use such as going to the restroom. - an exaggeration which certainly is inhuman. Based on experience and as a matter of being human as well, call center managers and supervisors provide a work-around to accommodate special requests as such. If it is imperative to complete Staff Time, the agents can complete it after work but NOT prevent them to go to the bathroom altogether and pave way to get them sick. This statement is clearly an unfair generalization and wreaks of bad intentions.

5. Foreign employers warn that if unions in the call centers will allowed, they will leave the Philippines. - There's a typo here in the actual transcript but seriously, I challenge Mr. Raymond Palatino to produce concrete evidence in written memo or actual witnesses to such directives by call center clients or call center companies. If there are true violators who forbid such democratic rights, I will be more than happy to see them get shut down by the government. However, the fact is, these claims are unsubstantiated myths.

These 10 points leaves me no choice but to cut this story short and leave the rest of my commentaries for future articles. This anti-call center speech and House Bill no. 6921, in my opinion can clearly be represented if the people behind them actually consulted local industry experts and made a balanced research. I think this cause will be better represented by people who have actual stake in it and who can act PROACTIVELY not reactively.

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The Second Call Center Olympics

This year's Colympics was a smashing success I regret I wasn't able to be in it! A learning experience for everyone involved and next year's Second Call Center Olympics promises to be even better! The details for this 2010 call center sports event is as follows:

Date: April 10 to May 8, 2010
Venue: Meralco Fitness Center, Ortigas, Pasig City
Sports events: Basketball (men), Volleyball (men and women), mixed Bowling and Airsoft. Plus Cheerleading competition
Awards: Cash prizes, Trophies, Certificates and special prizes
Event Organizers: Popcorn Events Production
Defending Overall Champions: Transcom Asia
Official Website: Colympics.multiply.com

The folks at Popcorn Events are gearing up for another successful summer month of sports competition between call center employees in the spirit of fun, sportsmanship and camaraderie. Apart from Defending champion Transcom Asia, this year's call center participants include EPLDT-Ventus, G.E. Money Services Philippines Inc., Genpact, GCS International, Convergys, AIG, APAC Customer Services Inc. and ASEC Asia. Next year's magic number of participants is 10!

For call center employees, this should be a perfect venue for them to take their minds off work, meet counterparts in other companies and get to relax/enjoy the summer. For call center companies, this is the most suitable avenue for them to give their bread and butter some rest and recreation. It also serves as an opportunity to enhance their corporate image and to affirm their corporate social responsibility as portions of the proceeds from this call center sports event will be allocated as donation to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA). Call center companies joining this shall be recognized as advocates of the meaningful causes.

For parties interested in joining the 2010 Call Center Olympics, you may leave a comment or email me directly at callcentervet at gmail dot com or visit the Colympics website by clicking their link above.

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WNS Philippines Call Center

WNS Philippines Inc., in partnership with Advanced Contact Solutions, has established its first delivery center here in the country which is tabbed to solve business challenges for WNS clients particularly in the voice-related sector of the outsourcing business. WNS banks on the Philippines business-friendly climate and its large pool of english-speaking talent pool which replenishes itself with an average of 350,000 college graduates a year.

WNS Philippines is locally headquartered in the Citibank Center building of Makati City while its recruitment and delivery centers are located in Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City. Its initial services offers for its clients from this location are proving customer services, billing, credit and credit and collection. Early reports indicate they are now providing customer services from this end of the world for U.K.'s T-Mobile the largest mobile services provider in the U.K.

WNS Global Services Philippines Inc is a subsidiary of WNS from India and is funded 3 of their major stakeholders: WNS Philippines CEO Prabhakar Bisen, WNS Group COO Anup Gupta and WNS CEO for travel and leisure business unit Ambresh Mahajan. They have also cited their intention of acquiring existing local call centers in the near future.

Additional WNS Philippines information

-If you're looking for employee discussions about WNS check out their Pinoyexchange call center forum.

-To apply at WNS, you can email them your resumes directly at careersph@wnsgs.com

-Recuitment center address is: G/F Superstore Bldg., Times Square St., Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City. Click here to view the location on our Call Center Map.

-Or call for inquiries:  884 52 01 local 2611


Let's hear it from the employees of WNS Philippines! :)

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House Bill No. 6921 For Call Center Agents: A Redundancy

This new proposed bill in Congress for call center agents revitalized my fervor in blogging today as I can't help but be amused as how its details are so similar to existing labor laws already. I was planning to blog about a different story today but I felt discussing this bill's flaws presents more urgency.

For those unfamiliar with House Bill No. 6921 or the act ensuring the welfare and protection of business process outsourcing workers and the recognition of their rights as provided for in the labor code of the Philippines. You may click on the link above to read the lengthy speech made by Mr. Raymond Palatino describing "deplorable" conditions in our workplace. Contrastingly enough, the subsequent bill presents no unique substance that can impact our welfare and can be considered academic.

Our BPO labor force is the industry's most precious asset no doubt. However, we need no special bill to reiterate our basic rights as citizens. We do realize that we are special in some ways but we need no special treatment apart from our counterparts in other industries. We just need to supplement existing laws with creative ideas that will cater to our needs as workers and as citizens. The root of this problem lies within laws' enforcement and not caused by lack of legislation.

*credit goes to targana.com for the image.


To stress my point about this House bill's redundancy, let me point out several sections that are already in the Philippine Labor Code.

House Bill no. 6921 Sections 13, 14, 15 and 16 - Regarding regular hours of work, overtime and night differential. This is already stipulated in the labor code of the Philippines Articles 83 to 87.

House Bill no. 6921 Section 18 - About working on holidays. This is already found on LC Book 3 chapter 2 articles 92 to 94.

House Bill no. 6921 Section 8 - Concerning right to self-organization, to engage in collective bargaining agreement and to participate in democratic exercises. This is lengthily discussed in the original Philippines Labor code book 5 chapter 2 articles 248 to 259.

I can go on and on but fact of the matter is any good lawyer can clearly say that provisions in this house proposal are just duplicates of existing laws. As I have said above, the problem lies with awareness of personal rights by workers themselves and enforcement. Based on experience in the past years I've worked as a call center agent, supervisor and call center manager, people are rarely aware of our laws concerning labor especially with the details. Additionally, BPO companies that are most likely to break existing laws are small operators.

Because I want this composition to be constructive as well, I will cite some creative suggestions that will have an impact for our fellow BPO workers.I'll also name areas of the law where we need stricter enforcement in the business process outsourcing industry.

Suggestions:
1. Set aside a day when employees can enjoy a rest day if in case they need to be working on legal holidays. The rest day must be as near as possible to the holiday date so they can enjoy being with their families. Some companies already implement this by using the "skeletal system".
2. Transparent system of wage computation, disputes and resolution.

Additional suggestions post-writing:
1. Create an audit system for labor compliance of BPO's - by regular visits of special auditing reps to unsure compliance.
2. Ensure managers and supervisors are updated with the labor code through testing and continuous education.
3. Abolish call center associations' blacklist of call center applicants.

Enforcement are needed in the following areas.

1. Issues with wages and back pay.
2. Issues with bonds and non-compete clauses.
3. Granting of leaves
4. Rest periods or breaks.
5. Due process in corrective action proceedings.
6. Timely payment, reporting and reflection of SSS, Pag-Ibig and Philhealth contributions.
7. Issues on absences due to medical conditions.
8. Timeliness of regular salaries.
9. Abusive officer conducts.
10. Right to be employed without prejudice among call center association members.

As you may see, there are more enforcement issues than loopholes in our laws concerning BPO workers' rights. As our numbers grow in the future, people that are able to raise issues for our benefit need to be in tune with our needs instead of acting only upon unsubstantiated reports. We need creative ideas and stricter enforcement, not restatement of the obvious.

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We Need A Call Center Agent Party List in the Philippines

An anti-call center congressional privilege speech made me realize our call center agents in the Philippines need representation in Congress more than ever. There's no better time to elect representatives to our government's law-making body than now as our ranks continue to grow exponentially.

When I first heard about a call center agent party list group trying to get COMELEC approval for the 2010 elections, I scoffed at the idea because I saw no point in it. I considered call center work as privileged because it is exclusive to those who can pass stringent tests and keep up with the grind to be able to survive in it. Compensation is rewarding for those who have the personality and diligence. Certainly with such lofty status in our society, we won't need any legislative help from our government. However, today I changed my mind after reading this anti-call center speech by Rep. Raymond Palatino from the Kabataan Partylist group website. It opened my eyes how other sectors of our society treat our vocation with such indignity and relegating our work as second-class. As call center employees, we are the ones who power this multi-billion dollar industry. Even call center companies and our government would certainly agree to that statement. And by God, we should never let others marginalize us by treating our work as undignified.

The good party list rep's speech was full of stories about our work and how ghastly our situation inside our companies have been. However, truth of the matter is I didn't find anything inhuman about the type of work we do as he has pointed out. In my comment (pending approval) at the blog post, I indicated that while our situation is not perfect, the work we do is not meant for everyone and the demands of our type of work is no different from our counterparts elsewhere around the world.

It can also be noted that the speech delivered way back August 17 was lengthy and curiously detailed, it did not present a sentence of solution or at least an idea how Congress can act for the improvement of our call center employees. I think everyone would agree that such privilege to speak in front of our law-makers should at least contain something they can work on and NOT just implore our lower house to act. Sadly, its just how things are around Congress. Even demi-congressmen are imbeciles who are left to deliver non-sense without clear and concise solutions.

This is why I felt we as Philippine call center employees need true representation in Congress. Our numbers are in the hundreds of thousands and surely we can meet the 2% of total votes required to secure a seat in Congress next year. COMELEC requires party lists to represent a sector of society that is under-represented and marginalized. I really believe ours is both. If the professional "sabungeros" and gays feel they need to be represented, I'm doubly convicted we need it more. Surely everyone in the call center industry would agree that as our numbers continue to grow, we will definitely need credible persons to raise our concerns through our legislative branch of government.

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The Best and Worst Call Centers In the Philippines

Find out which call centers rank best and worst based on employee feedback from the most active call center forum in the Philippines.This observation is purely based on opinions expressed by active members who have first hand experience with call centers mentioned and do not reflect how these companies operate.

Pinoyexchange.com, through the years has enjoyed massive following and participation from call center agents and even prospective call center applicants. Many people visit the forum to get feedback about job openings, call center experiences, call center salaries and such. Simply put, it is one of the most popular meeting places for everyone in the industry. Even call center managers have come to monitor threads concerning their call centers to gain feedback both popular or alarming. It is probably a place that can make or break PR for call centers in the Philippines.

For the past few years, I have also monitored the exchanges in this forum in order to gauge how much appeal do certain call centers have from within their ranks and also from call center applicants. In this light, I have come to observe which are the best and worst in the country.

The worst call center in the Philippines

1. Firstsource - this company is very notorious among forum participants. Their first thread created in the forum was eventually deleted by the admins because it was riddled with atrocious feedback from Firstsource employees themselves ranging from call center mismanagement, serious work ethics problems down to illicit officer relationships. Many have stayed clear away from Firstsource because of these. However, many are also hoping that things have changed in the past year and are now looking for positive feedback.

2. West Contact Services - is probably an all-time "favorite' amongst forum participants because its lack of hiring process organization, laughable company perks and some bad management feedback. According to participants, West Contact Services experiences one of the highest attrition rates for call centers in the country.

3. One Global Contact Center - another notorious employer according to avid forum members for their unfair business practices concerning wages, clusterf*cked processes and unprofessional officer conducts. The original thread for this call center company was deleted for overwhelmingly bad feedback. The present thread for this call center now is riddled with one warning after another from forum members not to even consider this company.

The best call center in the Philippines

1. Convergys - seems has decent good following and loyalty from present workers and even from former employees. Most feedback rings of good management and pride of their culture. Some ex-employees have even regretted leaving Convergys.

2. Etelecare - The former Etelecare (now Stream Global Services) is also well-loved by people who had first hand experience working for them. Good structured organization, rewarding performance incentives and excellent culture puts Etelecare in the same mold of Convergys. It is, however, saddening for some employees that Etelecare has been recently bought out and they are worried that the culture they've tried to preserve may soon die along with the buyout.

3. IBM-Daksh - is well-admired by its employees for its strong processes that support career growth for employees. Run by Indian executives who are big in processes IBM-Daksh provides above average compensation and bonuses to performing employees. You won't find much forum participants blasting IBM-Daksh for negligent, unfair or worrisome business practices.

The silent-type call center companies

WiPro, WNS and VCustomer - these are relatively new call center companies in the Philippines which haven't caught much attention among call center agents. It's either they've prevented employees from providing honest feedback through 3rd party channels or most employees have really come to love these three that they don't bother telling the world about it. Incidentally, these are major Indian BPO's and 2 among the three have topped recent employee satisfaction surveys in India.

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