British firm wants call center agents with British accent

MANILA, Philippines—A British telecommunications company that is exploring the business process outsourcing (BPO) market here wants to train Filipino call center agents in speaking English the way the Brits do, according to Malacañang.

This was one of the concerns of executives from Convergys, the biggest call center operation in the Philippines, and Everything Everywhere, one of Britain’s largest telecommunications provider with 28 million subscribers, who called on President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday, said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

Lacierda said the British company was “very bullish” about the Philippines and was setting up shop here and would be hiring workers as well as middle management.

“And since this is a British BPO, there’s also a need for the Filipinos to be trained in the British accent, which we are not familiar with,” Lacierda said.

For instance, Filipinos use “ma’am” as a polite way of addressing a woman over the phone, he said.

“They said you’re not supposed to do that in Britain because there ‘ma’am’ is used to address only the Queen. We need to learn those nuances because this is a British BPO,” Lacierda said.

Still, “they are very, very bullish. They are interested and they are very open to the situation here in the Philippines,” Lacierda said.

He said Mr. Aquino told the UK business executives “why it’s good to invest in the Philippines” and “why we’re No. 1.”

“We’re the No. 1 BPO destination in the world and they recognize our ability. They recognize we have the infrastructure to maintain our status as the No. 1 BPO destination in the world,” Lacierda said.

According to Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, Convergys is planning on expanding its business in the country, while Everything Everywhere is working with Convergys in tapping the Philippine BPO market.

“So (Everything Everywhere) will be exploring with Convergys and with schools on how to do the training,” Maglaya said.

Maglaya said the President has committed to support the plans of the two companies that will increase and strengthen the BPO industry here “because the employment opportunities generated will be big.”