BPO company, workers called to settle labor conflict

BACOLOD CITY — The Bacolod City Council has intervened to help resolve the conflict between outsourcing firm Transcom and 169 of its employees, who are supposedly up for termination. "We called for a joint hearing to determine the need for positive and constructive recommendations," said Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, head of the Bacolod-Negros Federation for Information and Communications Technology, who led a special session on Friday with Councilor Wilson Gamboa of the labor and management committee. Batapa-Sigue said she had recommended that Transcom, which now has more than 2,000 workers in its 1,000-seat Bacolod facility, take a closer look at its procedures to avoid any work-related conflicts in the future. Philippine country manager Siva Subramaniam said that as part of the company’s regular reviews, Transcom evaluates employees who can deliver the "metrics" expected by the customer. "There are several metrics involved and we use an automated process using a weighted process to develop a stack ranking. The bottom 10 percent are then sent to HR (human resources department) to be further evaluated on a one-on-one basis," he said. Subramaniam said the HR review can have three outcomes — retain (employee continues employment), retrain (employees are provided additional training), or exit. After the hearing, he reiterated that "none of the affected employees were terminated," adding that they continue to get regular pay and have full access to all company facilities, as well as carry the company identification card until the HR review is completed." "The recommendations from the councilors are that both Transcom and employees involved should discuss and work an amicable solution. We have been open and had the discussion with the employees and I personally met with all of the affected employees last Wednesday to give them that message," Subramaniam said. Call center agent Mike Gemal, one of those affected, blamed the outsourcing firm on TV, and said the workers would sue the company. A Labor department representative had suggested that Transcom seek more information regarding labor standards in the country, Batapa-Sigue said. — Nanette L. Guadalquiver, BusinessWorld