Saturday, November 18, 2006 Poaching of call center workers hit By Reynaldo G. Navales
CLARK ECOZONE -- Cyber City Inc., the pioneering call center firm at the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ), has asked the government and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (Bbap) to stop pirating of workers.
Cyber City senior vice president George Sorio said the "government and the Bbap should intervene in policing call center pirating and poaching."
"The stop of poaching will prevent running costs of the industry's US$140,859,000 or US$2,256 per person and keep the industry in the Philippines," he said.
Sorio has earlier called on the "increase in the availability of manpower" in the call center industry. He said the lack of skilled manpower in the "root of our industry's problem" urging a collaboration with schools, colleges and universities to include call center subjects in their curriculum.
He has also suggested the extension of training duration "for the near-hire" in a bid to prepare them better in the call center industry.
The increase in the number of training centers and recruitment offices and the collaboration with local government units (LGUs) to provide scholarship funds for call center agents' training was also raised by Sorio.
Sorio disclosed that shortage in workforce, high attrition rates, runaway salary increases and increasing competition are severely affecting the call center industry.
He said unless a concerted effort among the private-business sector and the LGUs bonded together to stem the problems, the booming call center industry in the country would be severely affected.
He has revealed that in 2001, the attrition rate in the Philippines was recorded at three percent, nine percent in 2003 and a high 30 percent last year mainly due to poaching of call center representatives.
India has a high attrition rate of 40 percent last year among countries with vibrant call center industry such as the US, Australia, Europe, Pakistan, South Africa and China.
