BPO companies that offers a retirement plan remain very difficult to find so, I decided to search how much SSS monthly benefit we will get in case we retire.  Retiring is something that should be planned, I think that the perfect scenario of a retired employee is, not being dependent on our children. Time seems to fly, that’s why I’m hoping by the time that we retire 30 years from now the Filipino value of taking care of our grandparents would still be intact, and our children will not send us to retirement homes (home for the agent).

I guess, behind our smiles this is how we really feel deep inside
after working in a call center for a long time.

Source: imgur user uglyfella

Information below is from SSS website.

Who may qualify for a retirement benefit?
1. A member who is 60 years old, separated form employment or ceased to be self-employed, and has paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement.
2. A member who is 65 years old whether employed or not and has paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement.

How much monthly pension will a retiree receive?

The monthly pension depends on the members paid contributions, including the credited years of service (CYS) and the number of dependent minor children but not to exceed five. The amount of monthly pension will be the highest of:
1. the sum of P300 plus 20 percent of the average monthly salary credit plus 2 per cent of the average monthly salary credit for each accredited year of service (CYS) in excess of ten years; or
2. 40 per cent of the average monthly salary credit; or
3. P1,200, provided that the credited years of service (CYS) is at least 10 or more but less than 20 or P2,400, if the CYS is 20 or more. The monthly pension is paid for not less than 60 months.

Based on the items above there are 3 methods for computing the monthly pension. I assume that most of us earns 16000 pesos and above so I have set the default value to 16000 because this is the maximum salary credit well, who knows someday SSS might change its salary cap.

SALARY	16000
Years	Method 1	Method 2	Method 3
10	3500	6400	1200
11	3820	6400	1200
12	4140	6400	1200
13	4460	6400	1200
14	4780	6400	1200
15	5100	6400	1200
16	5420	6400	1200
17	5740	6400	1200
18	6060	6400	1200
19	6380	6400	1200
20	6700	6400	2400
21	7020	6400	2400
22	7340	6400	2400
23	7660	6400	2400
24	7980	6400	2400
25	8300	6400	2400
26	8620	6400	2400
27	8940	6400	2400
28	9260	6400	2400
29	9580	6400	2400
30	9900	6400	2400

Based on the table above if I retire after 30 years of service I'll be getting 9900 pesos monthly retirement benefit. If I retire after 19 years of service method 2 will be chosen since that computation is higher compared to method 1, so instead of 6380 I'll be getting 6400 pesos. Now that we know the estimated amount of our retirement pay the question is would it be sufficient enough by the time we need it?

You can check your estimated monthly retirement by changing the value of salary in the calculator below,  if your basic pay is not yet 16000 just double click the value beside the word salary or you can use the up and down buttons (desktop users) you can also adjust the years of service; it would automatically compute the estimated monthly retirement pay based on the three methods above and on the salary that you put in.

SSS Retirement Calculator

Salary: Php
Years of Service: Years

Note: The calculator above is based on our interpretation of the computation that was provided by SSS on their website. You may consult SSS directly for queries about retirement pay. The calculator also assumes that the average monthly salary credit is the same as the amount of salary that you have typed in. 

Before joining the BPO industry, I receive my salary trough semi-monthly (15,30/31) payment, which appears to be a standard in the country.

When I started working for a call center company that offers a bi-weekly pay schedule (every other Friday), I was surprised that there were a lot benefits for this type of payroll.

Let me share the pros and cons of receiving Bi-Weekly salary. Pros and Cons of Bi-Weekly Salary

Pros:
1. You will be paid 26 times a year compared to 24 times on semi-monthly payment.
2. It’s easy to manage your money since you wouldn’t have to wait for a specific date (15, 30) to receive your salary.
3. You can receive 3 paychecks in a month (May, October)  as seen from the bi-weekly pay calendar below.

Cons:

1. Smaller amount of paycheck since the hours worked is fixed at 80 compared to semi-monthly payment which is greater than 80 work hours. 

Here’s the List of BPO Companies with Bi-Weekly Pay Period (Every other Friday).

Convergys
Dell
EGS
Harte-Hanks

Ingram Micro
KGB
Startek
Stefanini
Transcom
VXI
West
Xerox

Would you prefer a bi-weekly pay period over the normal 15/30,31 pay scheme?

The list above were gathered trough Facebook comments so some errors may occurs in case there's a correction please let us know via the comments section so that we can remove or add other companies.

Fortune Magazine has published its annual list of Fortune 500 companies measured by revenue. As what we did with our previous articles we have filtered the list to reflect companies with shared service or BPO operations in the country.
Being listed in the Fortune 500 could mean that the company has a large influence in the market and it may also show how its employees are treated trough compensation and benefits.

Check out the list below; it may not reflect other companies since Fortune 500 only list companies based in the United States. The list has also been extended to 1000 companies.

Working for a Fortune 500 or Forbes listed company may benefit individuals who jumps from one center to another since, less irate callers are encountered.

A Fortune 500 company on your resume maybe considered as an achievement because based on experience; laziness and lackluster performance are not tolerated. Working with these companies is a proof that you can work with the best since, the type of job would be more complex compared to a regular call center post.

Source: http://fortune.com/fortune500/