MANILA, Philippines—Amid a difficult economic environment, business process outsourcing firms based in the country are still expanding their operations and hiring more people.

A survey conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) revealed that 49 percent of BPO companies were still keen on expanding their headcount by up to 200 percent this year.

Only 6 percent said they would reduce their employee numbers, while the balance said they would either expand headcount conservatively—up to 10 percent of current total—or just retain their existing employee base.

Of the 160 survey respondents, 23 percent said their companies would boost recruitment efforts, while 20 percent said their firms would moderate recruitment activities.

A third of respondents said they were accelerating expansion, while another 26 percent said they were shelving such plans.

“It’s encouraging that, although the industry has been growing rapidly for several years, almost 40 percent of respondents indicated that their firms will still grow between 16 percent and 200 percent this year,’’ BPAP chief executive Oscar Sanez said in a statement.

He added that it was interesting to note that the global recession was not drastically slowing down BPO expansion in the country.

While the survey results were predominantly positive, 36 percent of those polled said their companies would reduce capital investments this year. A mere 9 percent said their firms would boost capital spending.

Most of the BPO firms, or as many as 66 percent, said the impact of the economic crisis was being felt primarily in the demand for services.

To counter this negative impact, 60 percent of respondents said their companies had expanded their range of services. Only 2 percent said they actually reduced the number of their service offerings.

Instead of focusing on traditional back-office services, O2P chief executive Frank Holz said BPO companies were increasingly offering high or very high value-added services.

“The fact that 69 percent of respondents said their firms are providing high and very high value-added services is actually staggering,” he said.

Thomson Reuters recently established in the country a team to support global legal content initiatives, an example of a high-value service.

“The Philippines is providing increasingly complex services for Thomson Reuters customers worldwide,” senior site officer Raoul Teh said.

Legal content is Thomson Reuters’ most profitable division. From the Philippines, the company already provides services in other operations areas, including investment and advisory.