Saturday, January 26, 2008 Nalzaro: Call center’s paid advertisement By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
IN a full page advertisement in this paper last Wednesday, Western Wats Philippines, an American call center based in Mepz 2, Lapu-Lapu City, announced its major expansion programs.
The firm said that it “has recently completed some major personnel changes to make the company stronger” and that it is “already seeing the benefits” of the changes.
The company added that with the expansion program it will be able to create even more jobs than before. It did not say where it expands but hopes to open a new site within six months.
Western Wats admitted it owes its success to the work of its many agents, together with a team of highly skilled supervisors, team leaders and managers. The success came through the collective effort and team work of people from executives down to its agents and support staff.
The ad was a good public relations strategy. Had it not been for the bad publicity generated by its massive and continuing layoff of employees, the company would not have published it.
But what expansion is the company talking about? Is it capable of putting up additional call centers in the country when it is even terminating the services of its employees?
It had 300 employees when it was organized in 2003. The number rose to 1,700. But since late last year hundreds of employees had been laid off.
Management claimed that those laid off were ineffective. Are they saying that almost half of their working force was ineffective all along? How does management define inefficiency?
Okay, let us say they were ineffective. But before a company can terminate ineffective employees there must be thorough evaluation of employees' performance and attitude towards work. Memorandums should be issued informing the employees of their infractions.
In Western Wats’ case, the company reportedly terminated the employees’ services without even formally informing them in advance about it. Laid off employees where just verbally told about the decision.
Worse, it happened during the Christmas holidays. My heart bleeds, therefore, for the laid off employees. They should have been rewarded because they helped the firm reach its current status.
Now, they are bragging about expansion. How can they expand when they terminated the services of employees without even offering them separation pay?
Mind you, some of these employees were recruited from other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao and lured by the promise that they will be given attractive salary packages. Now the company is saying it is hiring more people.
I don't know what the labor department is doing on this case. Did this issue reach its attention?
The number of cases the firm is facing before the National Labor Relations Commission reflects its employment practice.
Western Wats, whose main headquarters is in Orem, Utah, is primarily into market research. It claims to be the world's largest data collection company.
I was told that the company has already been sold to three different owners already.
And is it true that the new management is hiring foreign employees and executives under questionable circumstances? Can’t the labor department and the immigration office check on this matter?
