Robredo bats for flexible hybrid or work from home arrangements for BPO sector

Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said she would push for a hybrid work from home and on site working arrangement for the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector if she's elected President.

Robredo made the pitch during her dialogue with the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), the flagship organization of the IT-BPM industry.

“You are also a sector that has always delivered, and it is incumbent upon the government to ensure that the policy seeks ways to strengthen and empower you so that you can maintain your momentum and solidify your place as the vanguard of our economic recovery,” Robredo said.

"I am committed to improve policies easing doing business in the country by enacting legislation that supports the IT-BPO industry and its employees with more flexible hybrid or work from home arrangements, investing in up-skilling and re-skilling graduates and workers to enable them to earn higher salaries by performing higher-value jobs, and most of all, strengthening the country’s deficient digital infrastructure," she said.

“Your industry is powered by very talented, dedicated Filipinos and one of the roles of government is really to provide the necessary systems and infrastructure so that their talents and their dedication is harnessed to the fullest,” Robredo said.

Robredo emphasized that industry leaders and workers will be able to participate in policy making.

“I have always been very big on empowerment and I think listening to your voices will be a very active ingredient in shaping the laws, policies, regulations that govern your sector," she pointed out.

"Government will bind its strength with yours to push the nation-building agenda forward,” she added.

Likewise, Robredo unveiled her plan creating a comprehensive talent roadmap that will link the government, academe and industry with a focus on science and technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and transformative digital technologies.

During the same forum, IBPAP president Jack Madrid emphasized that the IT-BPM sector is already 1.4 million strong and that the industry has created additional four million indirect jobs for the Filipino people.

Given the industry's contributions, Robredo said her administration will also prioritize building better public transportation and improving BPO employees’ welfare and access to government services and online transactions.

"Kailangan mas compassionate 'yung programs, mas 'yung empathy dagdagan ng pamahalaan to provide the most basic of the services,” she added. —NB, GMA News