Convergys to hire 600 more agents at new Manila City office

MANILA, Philippines - The local unit of multinational outsourcing firm Convergys Corp. will hire 600 more agents as its starts operating its 14th site in the country — its first in the city of Manila — in the first quarter of next year. The new office in the Sampaloc district will increase Convergys Philippines’ seats by a tenth to 6,000, Jomari Mercado, business development director of Convergys Philippines, said in an interview. "Most of our [employees] live in dorms near the university belt. Manila is a good location," he said. Mr. Mercado said Convergys had done a study on the viability of the area, and they are confident of successfully running the business from the capital. "The good thing is the city government is doing something about [the lack of infrastructure], and Ayala is assuring us that we will have a good location," he added. While the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is being encouraged to expand to so-called next-wave cities in the provinces, Convergys has chosen to set up its office in Manila, which has yet to attract outsourcing companies that prefer either Makati or Pasig. Convergys will become the first tenant of Ayala Corp.’s P5-billion mixed-use development project Celadon Manila in Sampaloc, where it will be occupying two of the nine floors of Vertex One. The outsourcing firm will rent 4,300 square meters of the 18,804 square meters of the building’s leasable area. Ayala earlier said the BPO project would have two towers, each at least 14 storeys high, and is expected to be turned over in the last quarter. Operations are expected to start in the first quarter of next year. Danilo Sebastian L. Reyes, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, said Manila is a strategic location for the industry because it is home to a number of universities. "The city has access to human resources and it is just practical for some of the BPOs to [expand there]," he said in a separate interview. Another factor that will make Manila attractive to the industry is the availability of space, Mr. Reyes said. BPO companies like Sitel Corp. and eTelecare Global Solutions, Inc. have not considered Manila as a potential site, however. "The company has no plan to expand in the capital city as of the moment, but we are on the lookout for new expansions. Sitel is geared more to the next-wave cities," said Mr. Reyes, who is also the president of Sitel. The government is grooming a number of cities as investment destinations for BPO companies. These so-called next-wave cities include Tuguegarao, Baguio, Dagupan, Urdaneta, Cabanatuan, Clark and San Fernando in Pampanga. Also on the list are Subic, Cainta, Bacoor, Sta. Rosa, Lipa, Batangas City, Camarines Sur, Legazpi, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Cebu, Leyte, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos. eTelecare Country General Manager Benedict Hernandez said they have yet to decide where they will expand next, but are looking at areas outside Metro Manila. "Manila is a great location. It has a high population and high density, [but] we already have a good presence in Cebu City and in Clark. We already have a lot of sites in Metro Manila," he said. "It is only now that property developers are considering building infrastructure for BPO companies in Manila," he added. The BPO industry expects to hit its target revenue of $7 billion this year, up by 40% from a year earlier. The sector is expected to hire half a million workers by yearend from 300,000 last year. — Kristine Jane R. Liu, BusinessWorld