There are only few BPO Companies that offers stock options to its employees and if I’m not mistaken most of them are in-house companies. Stock option plans are used by companies to draw attention to new employees and to retain old employees.

Once you have a stock or share of a company you become a part owner of the company. Having a share of the company is a great motivation for employees because; it could encourage you to work harder since being an owner you would have the desire of seeing your company grow.

Screenshot from Yahoo Finance

Genpact’s application to issue 250,000 shares to its employees has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission; the stocks are valued at $4.3million or Php 192 million. GENPACT told SEC that “The purpose of the purchase plans is to provide eligible employees with the opportunity to acquire a proprietary interest in the Company through periodic payroll deductions”

GENPACT also added that “These deductions will be applied at semi-annual intervals to purchase Common Shares at a discount from the then current market price,” As stated by GENPACT the employees can purchase the stocks at a discounted price, based on the data above if we divide $4.3M to 250,000 shares, a Genpact employee can purchase a stock for $17.2 or around Php768 per share which I think is a good deal because as of this writing Genpact’s stock is priced at $20.50 per share.

Screenshot from Genpact's Website

Thought it may be costly for frontline employees, I think that it’s still a good investment since it would be paid through salary deduction.

So how can an employee benefit from the stock purchase? Let’s say that Genpact offered the said scheme last year wherein the price of each share costs around $14 and I bought five shares. In this case I would shell out $70 ($14 * 5 shares), since the business is doing good the share price of Genpact is now at $20 so my initial investment of $70 is now $100. You could also earn trough dividends that the company is giving; a dividend is like a profit sharing scheme that companies give to their shareholders.

We have seen the amount of revenues that most call center companies are getting and I think it’s about time that other centers implement the stock purchase option to their employees because, it could lessen the attrition rate besides; we have been a great contributor to those revenue so why not share a piece of the pie.

Would you transfer to another company that offers a stock purchase plan to their employees? If your company offers a stock purchase plan please share through the comments section so that we could create a list.

source: Business Mirror

The first BPO Company in the Philippines was established more than 20 years ago and as of 2014 the industry has employed more than 1 million employees.

During the early stages of the BPO Industry there were applicants from top schools like Ateneo, DLSU, and UP a bachelor’s degree is also necessary. The industry has evolved and high school graduates are now accepted.

How familiar are you with the call center industry? We have created 15 questions; see how well you know the industry by solving our crossword puzzle below.

A call center employee is making waves online after posting funny and creative call center videos that captures the difficulties of working in the call center or BPO industry.

The fan page are earning a lot of followers because each one of us can relate to the videos that he created samples are receiving a prank call, asking your TL for sup call or worst getting an irate caller.

The videos were posted in the Facebook Page Juzkding and as of this writing the entertainment page have more than 8,800 followers. We had a chance to talk to the creator of the page and during our little chit chat conversation here’s what we found out.

• First of all he’s not Allan Soriano the guy who went viral online after posting a series of prank call videos last 2013 targeting call center employees and allegedly including stars like Daniel Padilla and Enrique Gil. Allan was even featured in GMA News TV's program IJuander. Check out the video below.Note: We did not create the title of the video.
• Our featured employee is based in Cebu working for Lexmark Shared Services Center.

Post by JuzKDing.

• As of the moment he wants to keep his real name private and we can call him Kiddie.

He has posted 12 viral videos on his page and we decided to get the top 5 videos based on the number of views and shares. Check out the videos below.
Stress is very common in this type of industry and there are times that we have to literally drag ourselves out of bed to get to work.

I think a good working environment and a person with positive outlook towards work like Kiddie could make us stay in our job because, people like him could always brighten up our day and makes us realize that work is not just doing things for money. I guess what I'm trying to say is, most of the time it's the people that we work with that makes us stay in this industry.

So what do you think about his videos share your thoughts on our new comments section? Also you can show your love and support to Kiddie by following his Entertainment Page JuzKding.

Rep. Roman Romulo of  Pasig City has released the latest list of Top 45 BPO companies based on revenue for 2014.

According to the gentlemen from Pasig “These leading players in the BPO and information technology (IT)-enabled services sector are now among the nation’s biggest employers,”

See the list below;

1. Accenture Inc. (P32.429 billion)
2. Convergys Philippines Services Corp. (P19.830 billion);
3. 24/7 Customer Philippines Inc. (P13.061 billion);
4. JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.-Philippine Global Service Center (P11.789 billion);
5. Telephilippines Inc. (P8.722 billion);
6. Sutherland Global Services Philippines Inc. (P8.080 billion);
7. Hewlett-Packard AP (Hong Kong) Ltd. (P7.081 billion);
8. Stream International Global Services Philippines Inc. (P6.924 billion);
9. Teletech Offshore Investments B.V. (P6.590 billion);
10. IBM Daksh Business Process Services Philippines Inc. (P6.307 billion);
11. Sitel Philippines Corp. (P6.084 billion);
12. TeleTech Customer Care Management Philippines Inc. (P5.654 billion);
13. Manila-Oslo Renewable Enterprise Inc. (P5.605 billion);
14. IBM Business Services Inc. (P5.599 billion);
15. Aegis PeopleSupport Inc. (P5.474 billion);
16. Coca-Cola Far East Ltd. (P5.439 billion);
17. Sykes Asia Inc. (P5.415 billion);
18. Shell Shared Services (Asia) B.V. (P5.289 billion);
19. Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd. (P5.258 billion);
20. HSBC Electronic Data Processing (Philippines) Inc. (P5.035 billion);
21. Telus International Philippines Inc. (P5.010 billion);
22. Luen Thai Macao Commercial Offshore Co. Ltd. (P4.336 billion);
23. IBM Solutions Delivery Inc. (P4.293 billion);
24. VXI Global Holdings B.V. Philippines (P4.049 billion);
25. Macquarie Offshore Services Pty. Ltd. (P4.026 billion);
26. ACS of the Philippines Inc. (P3.917 billion);
27. Citibank N.A. Regional Operating Headquarters (P3.710 billion);
28. SPi CRM Inc. (P3.551);
29. Emerson Electric (Asia) Ltd. (P3.481 billion);
30. Chevron Holdings Inc. (P3.271 billion);
31. StarTek Philippines Inc. (P3.123 billion);
32. Genpact Services LLC (P2.846 billion);
33. West Contact Services Inc. (P2.815 billion);
34. Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. (P2.795 billion);
35. SPi Technologies Inc. (P2.767 billion);
36. ANZ Global Services and Operations Manila Inc. (P2.503 billion);
37. Sykes Marketing Services Inc. (P2.493 billion);
38. Maersk Global Service Centres (Philippines) Ltd. (P2.324 billion);
39. Manulife Data Services Inc. (P2.191 billion);
40. Lexmark Research & Development Corp. (P1.963 billion);
41. ExlService Philippines Inc. (P1.907 billion);
42. Cognizant Technology Solutions Philippines Inc. (P1.892 billion);
43. Thomson Reuters Corp. Pte. Ltd. (P1.877 billion);
44. Citigroup Business Process Solutions Pte. Ltd. (P1.816 billion);
45. Acquire Asia Pacific Philippines Inc. (P1.789 billion).

Comparing this to our previous article the top 5 BPO companies remain unchanged.

Last year the list contained 36 companies and it’s good to see that we are seeing new companies on the list.

According to source the BPO and IT-enabled services industry now directly employs 1.052 million Filipinos. The sector includes contact center services; back offices; medical, legal and other data transcription; animation; software development; engineering design; and digital content.

Additionally, the BPO industry is projected to yield up to $27 billion in annual revenues and engage over 1.3 million Filipinos workers by 2016, this is according to the IT and Business Processing Association of the Philippines, which has 229 member firms.

To read our previous article regarding BPO earnings last year you can click on the link below;
http://www.callcenterfocus.com/2014/09/comparison-of-recent-and-previous-bpo.html
Source:
Manila Standard

During the holiday season most of us would need to render mandatory overtime because this is the time where high call volumes are expected. Mandatory overtime is a practice that BPO companies implement to save costs because, they don’t have to hire additional employees. To minimize the burden to employees some BPO companies would hire seasonal employees with an employment contract of less than 6 months.

Photo Source: https://myatheistlife.wordpress.com

Here’s some excerpts of the explanation from our friends in BPO Workers Organization Page.

"Forced labour takes different forms, including debt bondage, trafficking and other forms of modern slavery." - International Labour Organization (ILO)

Habitual Mandatory Over Time is Not Emergency Over Time.

As a general rule, employees may not be compelled to work in excess of eight hours on any given day against his will.

Two exceptions, usually raised for “Emergency Overtime Work” are Article 89 (e) Labor Code of the Philippines, which states that, “Where the completion or continuation of the work started before the eighth hour is necessary to prevent serious obstruction or prejudice to the business or operations of the employer.” And Article 92 (e) also states that, “Where the nature of the work requires continuous operations and the stoppage of work may result in irreparable injury or loss to the employer.”

To be fair, it should be taken in consideration, that occasionally, management could require you to render overtime work with appropriate compensation. Some exceptional supervisors, would even stay with you through the period being rendered for support. However, rest-day/vacation leave cancellation, pre-planned overtime schedule forecasts, which are being forced on workers to comply with, is also subject to DOLE’s evaluation.

The mere fact that there is a forecast of number of hours required to be rendered by employees, over their regular working hours (ie. 10 hours every week for a month), can and should be looked-into by DOLE inspectors, as this confirms that the management have such forecasts, that could be avoided to satisfy their need for the required hours through hiring more people. By logical reasoning, it should not even be classified as an “emergency”.

Under the circumstances, employees have the option to refuse to render the so-called “mandatory overtime”. Remember that, an employee who spends additional time or day (even worse, night) for work, puts in more physical and mental effort and deprives himself time to spend with family and enjoy the comforts of home. As such, the law discourages employees to work during their rest days, such that the employer cannot compel employees to render work on their rest day.

The management could take it as a case of “insubordination”, but that would still be subject to a legitimate argument, most especially, on cases evident of health degradation or hazard among the employees, and when the “mandatory overtime” has become habitually imposed.

In fact, the OSHC/DOLE representatives, who attended the 1st Multi-Agency Meeting for the Health and Welfare of BPO/Call/Contact Center Workers, confirmed that, “it is mandatory for BPO Companies to submit actual reports on incidences of accident, illness, and disease in accordance to the existing laws, and Department Circular Order/s (particularly No. 10151) and compliance to submission of data is required, non-compliance is punishable in accordance to the law.”

If you experience any BPO or Call Center related labor issues and you need a free consultation please reach out to BPO Workers Organization by checking the details below, you may also send an email to bpoworkersorg@gmail.com

Last year we have provided the list of call center companies that provides excellent training, as Training Magazine announced the 2015 winners we have updated our list and included the ranking from the previous year.

See if your company is included.

2015 Rank	2014 Rank	Company Name	Business
9	17	Capital One	Finance/Banking
18	20	ADP LLC	Business Services
36	33	Afni	Contact Center Provider
62	42	Wells Fargo	Finance/Banking
83	76	Tech Mahindra Ltd.	IT Services Global Global & Solutions
101	112	Cognizant	Technology Solutions U.S.
110	*	NIIT	Business Services
116	*	Tata	Consultancy Services Limited U.S.

Comparing from last year’s data, it shows that 2 new companies have entered the list namely NIIT and Tata Consultancy while Aditya Birla Minacs and Allied International Credit was dropped from the list.

Training is not limited to new hire training, in this industry where products and policies could change on a daily basis. Tenured employees are also given training since it can strengthen your skills and could address various employee weaknesses like high AHT or low CSAT scores.

So, the next time your SME gives you the monthly knowledge check exams don’t take it for granted, knowledge check is also a form of training that keeps you updated with the current product issues or policy updates.

To see the winners for 2014 check the link below;
http://www.callcenterfocus.com/2014/10/bpo-and-in-house-companies-that-made-it.html
To see the full list of winners check the source below;
http://www.trainingmag.com/training-magazine-ranks-2015-top-125-organizations 

About Training magazine Training is a 51-year-old professional development magazine written for training, human resources, and business management professionals in all industries that advocate training and workforce development as a business tool. Training also produces world-class conferences, expositions, and digital products that focus on job-related, employer-sponsored training and education in the working world. Training is published by Lakewood Media Group.

Teleperformance will be having a 5 day Job Fair in strategic locations near you, so no matter where you are there will always be a place for you to apply for a post. Check out the ads below, we suggest going to Career Events and Company Open House because there’s a high chance for you to land a job.

Requirements:
- at least 18yo and HS graduate
- no experience required

For January 12 Job Fair, Monday 10am - 5pm

For January 13 Job Fair, Tuesday 10am - 5pm 

For January 14 Job Fair, Wednesday 10am - 5pm 

For January 15 Job Fair, Thursday 10am - 5pm 

For January 16 Job Fair,  Friday 10am - 5pm 

See you there!!! Thanks to Teleperformance for sending us these Job Fair Events.

ADP Philippines announced that the site will have an open house on Monday, January 12. ADP's Open House Recruitment will be held at 6^th Floor, Glorietta 2 Corporate Center, Palm Drive, Makati City. Check the image below for more details;

ADP provides good working environment and competitive salary here are some of the details:

HMO: Enroll 2 dependents upon regularization
ATM: Security Bank Citibank (which means no fee for transactions on any ATM)
Insurance: Accidental and Life Insurance
Medical Allowance: Php 4000 / year (for medical, dental, optical purposes)
With clean sleeping quarters
With game room (PS3 and Xbox 360 with Kinnect) Videoke
With Table Tennis, Billiards and Dart Board
No sharing of headset
No upselling
Salary is always on time
Business Attire Monday - Thursday
FB and phone is not allowed on workstations, you can use the free wifi to connect your phone to FB.
Annual Team Building and Year-end Event
Year-End Party
No Christmas Party and Raffle (2k Sodexho will be given instead)  2k Cash credited to Salary
Health and Wellness: Free Fruit every Friday, discounted Golds Gym membership.

To know more about the company and for latest job opening visit their career portal:  http://www.adp.com/careers/philippinescareers.aspx

ADP is in front of The Landmark West St. entrance and beside Mini Stop.

Reed Elsevier a multinational company with headquarters located in United Kingdom and Netherlands will be having an Open House for their Content, Editorial and Support Positions.

The Open House will start from January 13 to 15 Tuesday to Friday. Check out the Photo below from their Facebook Page to see the latest open positions.

Source: Reed Elsevier PH Facebook Page. 

Check out the map below for their office location:

Employees of West Contact Services in the Philippines will have a new employer after its parent company West Corporation  said it agreed to sell several of West's agent services businesses to Alorica Inc. for about $275 million in cash.

Source: Alorica FB Page

According to Tom Barker Chairman and CEO of West Communications "The divestiture is consistent with the Company's stated objective of focusing on higher growth, more profitable assets,

Barker continued: "The proceeds from this sale will provide West with additional opportunities to make the Company more valuable, including reinvesting in our growth businesses, reducing our debt or making strategic acquisitions."

The acquisition will affect around 5,400 employees of West Contact Services in the Philippines as they move to Alorica in the coming months.

The acquisition adds new businesses to Alorica’s portfolio, including healthcare, utilities and government, while strengthening its core business such as communications, retail, travel, financial services and consumer products.

West was one of the Pioneers and successful player in the BPO Market in the Philippines it is located at Exportbank Plaza, 24/F Chino Roces cor. Gil Puyat, 1200 Makati.

source: http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/alorica-acquires-west-corporations-agent-services-businesses/