‘Significant number’ of BPO workers poised to resign

A “significant number” of employees of some business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are ready to resign if the work-from-home setup will not be extended.

This was based on the discussions the Alliance of Call Center Workers (ACW) had with some of its members, as the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) recently rejected appeals to extend remote-work arrangements currently enjoyed by workers of information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) companies in economic zones beyond March 31. This means that workers should work on-site beginning April 1 or else IT-BPM companies will lose their incentives such as tax breaks.

“There is a significant number of workers who are willing to resign,” ACW co-convenor Emman David told reporters in a virtual press briefing on Thursday. “But this should not be taken as a sign of protest [to the FIRB’s decision], rather it is a sign of inconvenience.”

He explained that some workers had given up their rented homes in Metro Manila and gone back to their provinces with their needed office equipment.

Should the government compel workers to go back to work on-site in Metro Manila, this would be such a “hassle” to the employees, said David.

“So, what if there’s an order again and if the government changes its mind that the work-from-home setup should be implemented again?,” he said.

Given this, ACW co-convenor Lara Melencio appealed to the FIRB to reconsider its recent order.

“We just want them to give us a choice. Because ultimately, we will be the one who will undergo hardships if we are ordered to go back to our offices,” Melencio said in the same briefing.

She pointed out that the call center workers’ nature of work was actually remote, considering that their clients and customers are abroad.

“If we can work anywhere as long as we have the equipment, the internet connection, and the electricity, why can’t we just stay with that?” Melencio asked.

The work-from-home arrangement has been working for the last two years since the pandemic broke out in the country, she added, stressing that call center workers only have less than a month to prepare should the order push through.