Study says BPO firms should go where good schools are

INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms should locate where good schools are, the head of a research firm said.

This was the suggestion made by Cayetano Paderanga Jr., chair of the Institute for Development and Economic Analysis (IDEA) on how the industry could find more people to run its fast-growing operations in the country.

IDEA has recently been commissioned by Bayan Business, the corporate solutions provider of Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayantel), to conduct a study on the Philippine outsourcing and offshoring industry.

According to IDEA's study, the pool of skilled labor is being depleted due to "diminishing focus on improving educational systems and standards."

The continuing brain drain and attrition rate in the Philippines has been identified as among the threats to the local outsourcing industry, IDEA's study said.

"A threat bigger than labor migration is the migration of Filipino mentors as this means passing on the skill set to other countries," according to the study, a copy of which was given to local media this week.

Paderanga, however, believed that there are more talent people outside of the National Capital Region and other mature centers where most outsourcing firms are located.

The study said the local industry should promote locations outside of the NCR and tap talents outside established centers.

"The industry is worried about supply. So I believe the quality of education in schools, high schools in particular, should be improved. Teachers should also be improved," he said.

The study has provided a comprehensive data on "alternative destinations" where outsourcing firms could tap a more highly skilled labor pool.

Metro Manila currently houses about 80 percent of the outsourcing firms in the country.