Untitled - Api-fellowships.org

FLUX AND FLOWS OF PEOPLE, POWER AND PRACTICES: ISSUES RELATING TO SOCIAL JUSTICE195Profile 3“Rachel” is a 25-year-old mother of three and aqualified nurse, from Bolinao, Pangasinan. Afterfinishing her nursing studies she took an internshipin a different sector, leaving her children with herhusband and his family. However, this created somerelationship problems with her husband and shedecided to rejoin him and work on the marriage.After a short time, Rachel left again, saying thatsince her husband did not work, she needed to finda job to support the family. She went to Manila andapplied for work in several call centers, receivingseveral rejections because her English was not fluentenough and she lacked confidence. She said that itwas not easy for someone from the provinces to livein Manila and to join a call center. However, shefinally got a job in an American call center companyin Ortigas. After working there for 20 months, shemoved to another call center that offered a highersalary. After she had a stable income, she broughther family to a rented house in Antipolo. She is thebreadwinner in the family, supporting her husband,her sister-in-law, and her three children.As shown in those profiles, call center workers comefrom various socio-economic backgrounds. All,however, see call centers as a source of easyemployment and relatively high income. In otherwords, call center work is a source of financial and selfautonomy,especially for young and single workers.The Nature of the Offshore Call Center IndustryIn general, call centers are placed at the lower end ofthe BPO value chain since they provide lower profitmargins and require fewer skills compared to otherBPO activities (Bird and Ernst 2009). Call centersserve clients such as airline companies,telecommunications companies, finance-relatedbusinesses, hospitality companies, technologybroadcast media, food companies, internet providers,and the public sector. Call center services can becategorized in terms of inbound/outbound and voice/non-voice. These are explained in the following table.CategoryDescriptionInboundReceiving calls to provideconsumer services, technicalsupport, etc.OutboundCalling consumers to collectbills, sell products, etc.VoiceThis involves taking calls(inbound) or making calls(outbound).Non-voiceMostly involving email andonline chat.Table 2. Categorization and Description of Call Center ServicesSource: Primary fieldwork, 2010-2011In 2011 there were some 1070 call center companieslocated in 30 areas in the Philippines. A total of 898(83.9 percent) of these companies were located inMetro Manila (Call Center Directory 2010). Themajority of the offshore call center companies in thePhilippines provide customer services to Americanresidents. In March 2007, there were over 150 U.S.-based call center companies and over 50 companiesfrom Australia, the United Kingdom, and otherWestern European countries (Friginal 2008) in thePhilippines. India-based companies also started toinvest in the Philippines.The time zone difference with their clients meansmost call center employees work in the graveyard shift,which was unpopular at the beginning of the industry.This leads to questions around how companies attractpotential candidates.1. Recruitment strategiesThe massive relocation of offshore call centercompanies to the Philippines has resulted in a highdemand and competition for new workers. Arecruitment specialist said, “On average, there are 150applicants per day. If we get less than 100 applicants,the HR department will be freaked out because theywill have to fill the seats. 100 people are hired per week.This company never stops hiring…[since] there are atleast three factors why we keep hiring; attrition rates,clients demand, and applicants’ failure duringtraining”.The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows