Brain Drain concerns BPO sector.

[LytSlpr]

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Brain drain concerns BPO sector.
by Malou M. Mozo
Sun.Star Daily Cebu

WHILE the growth in domestic consumer and real estate markets is fueled by the increase in remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), industry leaders from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector continue to view this as a “social concern.”

Alfredo Ayala, Livelt Solutions Inc. chief executive officer, said the exodus of Filipino workers abroad poses a threat to the industry’s labor supply, causing a mismatch of skills.

“The world has finally discovered the Philippines as the next big thing in the outsourcing business but the fundamental issue is supply since more highly skilled Filipinos are working abroad,” Ayala said.

Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) commissioner and director general, admitted that the migration of highly skilled workers is still a growing challenge for the industry which is why the National Government is coming up with measures to build up opportunities for workers when they return back to the Philippines.

The knowledge these OFWs gained from their work experience abroad will be very beneficial for the Philippine ICT in the long run, de Rivera said.

“But the problem of migration is something we can’t do anything for the moment,” he admitted.

Ayala also added that apart from brain drain or the decrease in the number of skilled workers, the industry is commonly perceived as a “dead end job.”

On the contrary, he said the BPO industry provides a huge opportunity for Filipinos to earn as high as P100,000 a month without having to leave their families for work overseas.

Career advancement

“There is also a potential for career advancement,” he added.

Maria Lourdes Suson-Go, managing director of Northern TranscriptionWorks Inc., also stressed the lingering problem of low-cost labor and a ready pool of English-speaking employees.

She said only about two to five percent of applicants in the industry are hired due to lack of fluency in the English language, job knowledge, among others.

Go said both the public and private sectors need to invest on productivity tools, like seminars and exams, as an additional support to augment the skills of the near-hires.

Cebu has seen the mushrooming of training facilities in the last two years.

The centers offer additional training and support for those aspiring to work as call center agents and medical transcriptionists.

“This is a business of human resource so there must be a strong cooperation between government and the public sector,” said Go.

In general, though, the industry leaders believes the country’s BPO industry will remain bullish and will still be the major player in the Philippine economy, generating more revenues and job opportunities.

Going beyond

Ernest Cu, president and chief executive officer of SPi Technologies, reveals a robust growth, particularly in BPO firms involved in healthcare and legal services.

“In healthcare, it will go beyond medical transcription and will evolve to medical billing, collections and taking care of a hospital’s revenue cycle,” said Cu.

“The legal services in the Philippines will be similar to the United States, which evolves from coding to legal reviews of court documents,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ayala, who is also chairman of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, said the country’s BPO industry is targeting to generate $5 billion this year and employ around 400,000 Filipinos.

He said if the industry continues to grow at an average of 40 percent in the next three years, revenues could grow to $12 billion or about 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and employment could reach 900,000 by 2010.

“This is a sunrise industry, and it’s very early in the morning,” said Ayala in a panel discussion during the 2nd Annual Philippine Investment Conference Friday at the Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.

[Godfather]

Is brain drain the bigger problem our country is facing because of the OFW's or is the social impact of losing a loved going to be a bigger headache? What will the next generation be like sans a father or mother figure guiding the children and teaching them the right values? What's a child to learn from a broken home as a result of parents separated from each other? What are the children going to be like, fully dependent upon the OFW remittances? As one of every four Filipino wants out from the country, what is our country going to be like?

I am not too concerned about brain drain as I am with the social cost of the family breakdown. The true Filipino will come back to roost in our beloved country once their dreams are realized, bringing with them newly learned technology, capiltal and business techniques they could apply to further advance themselves. This reverse brain drain is starting to show already, causing the real estate market to rise as the older generation OFW's are coming back to retire and younger ones simply preparing for their ultimate return.

I do not agree with the writer that there is nothing the country can do about migration right now. Of course there is! Let's start with the voters sending honest, knowledgeable and trustworthy people to public office. Let's have a president and a congress who are more concerned with the country and the people instead of their bank accounts. Let's elect mayors and public servants who'll serve rather than steal. When the country is cleaned of graft and corruption, investors will come and provide enough jobs so that our loved ones will no longer have to leave.

[taga_ipil]

Kung ang mga tawo sa gobyerno di makontento sa kung unsa ang naa nila...

useless ghapon na kay ang kurakot sa mga public offices naa gihapon...

sala man sab na sa mga botante nga mo vote lang tungod kay kaila nila or tungod naay kwarta nga ihatag nila.





Earth Can Supply all the Peoples need but not Mans Greed!!!

[INFRACTION]

practicality rules....

we keep on saying we need a good.... honest... voters..... and politicians......pero all those stuff are for DREAMS...... lang... in short theoritical na kaau....... the question is WHEN mag start and mass reform?

[digitalsuperman]

i think unemployment should be a bigger concern than brain drain..

[taga_ipil]

practicality rules....

we keep on saying we need a good.... honest... voters..... and politicians......pero all those stuff are for DREAMS...... lang... in short theoritical na kaau....... the question is WHEN mag start and mass reform?

There is no such thing as MASS Reform, because in the first place there is no word "US"... people think only for themselves.
if you want to have MASS reform.. start it with yourself and hopefully everyone will follow...

its just very simple... it is all in the TEN COMMANDMENTS

Naa ka kanunay ang sayop, it help us para di na nato usbon kaso bisag kabalo na ang mga tawo nga sayop buhaton ra ghapon.

[Dorothea]

There's no brain drain. For every qualified professional who leaves the country for greener pastures, there are at least 10 able people to fill the vacated slot. There are so many unemployed professionals in the country. Ang ubang mga college grad mag tindera naman lang gani sa SM kay dili makasulod ug trabaho nga connected sa ilang kurso, unya mo ingon ang uban that we're suffering from brain drain?

[SioDenz]

There's no brain drain. For every qualified professional who leaves the country for greener pastures, there are at least 10 able people to fill the vacated slot. There are so many unemployed professionals in the country. Ang ubang mga college grad mag tindera naman lang gani sa SM kay dili makasulod ug trabaho nga connected sa ilang kurso, unya mo ingon ang uban that we're suffering from brain drain?

Mao jud!!!! OA sa aning mga igsoon nato sa BPO industries oissss...hehe..
Kay nganu diay ubang industries, di diay pwedi ma brain drain? sila ra diay gagamit sa ila utok sa pag trabaho?

[LytSlpr]

Of course, everybody uses their brain when they work.

I think what they meant are highly specialized skills or fields which are most needed abroad. I think these are , doctors, nurses, PT/OT's, engineers, architects, designers, artists, scientists and even university professors.

I think if ones field does not belong to the courses mentioned or related above, those are not specialty occupations that are to be given working visas abroad. Fileds that can also be outsourced are not specialty courses.

So ang mabilin na lang are the occupation that can be done by anybody, such as commerce and accountancy.

It's also ironic that most people that works in the BPO sector have courses that are specialty courses.

Could it have something to do with IQ?

[Dorothea]

^Daghan pa man gihapon mga professionals in the "highly specialized fields" nga naa sa Pilipinas ba. The good thing about new grads and young professionals is that they are alreay equipped with the knowledge and education, kinahanglan nalang i-hone ang "skill". And the good thing about skill is, it can be learned, honed, perfected, developed, augmented etc etc

Sakto man nang idea sa BPO sector ba nga mag focus on enhancing training programs and skills development, mga modules, seminars, what-have-yous...

And I don't think that IQ, or lack thereof (obviously implied), is the reason nganong daghan tawo with "specialty courses" nga naa nag work sa BPO sector. The truth of the matter is: we have a surplus of eager, bright-eyed, smart, young professionals and a shortage of suitable jobs for them. We have so many qualified people ready to work but there's no work to be had. Example lang, pila ka thousands ang mga new RNs sa Pilipinas every year. Suerte na if one-tenth of that number maka abroad dayon, labi na karon backlog sa H1B visa, unya ang ubang nasud mas strikto na pud sa ilang hiring process. What are these new professionals to do? There are only so many hospitals in the country. Ang resulta nanggi siga ang mata intawon aning mga bataa.

The problem is not brain drain. It is unemployment.