US outsourcing firm to hire 1,000 locals for Leyte office

MANILA, Philippines - NASDAQ-listed business process outsourcing firm Apac Customer Services, Inc. is banking on Leyte’s deep talent pool for the growth of its soon-to-rise call center in the province which, at full capacity, will have around 1,000 workers. In a briefing late Tuesday night, company officials said the Illinois-based firm would invest around $200 million on its first site outside Metro Manila, which will also be the first call center in Eastern Visayas. "Apac is bullish on its prospects in the Philippines, especially because of the country’s talented, English-speaking workforce and sound infrastructure," Apac Vice-President for International Operations Doug Almond said in a statement. Leyte is one of the cities the government is grooming to host local BPO companies. Apac’s 3,000-square meter site, set to open in January, will initially have 140 employees before filling up its capacity with 1000 workers. "We have around 22 universities colleges [in Leyte] producing around 6,000 graduates every year," Leyte Governor Carlos Petilla told reporters. Schools in the province include the University of the Philippines-Tacloban, Eastern Visayas University and Tacloban Normal University. Despite the number of universities in the area, Mr. Petilla said most graduates end up either unemployed or leave for Manila and Cebu. Mr. Petilla said, Apac’s office would be the only call center of its size in the province. The governor also said the presence of a major BPO firm in the province would help ease joblessness, now at 12% of the 1.8 million people in the province. Apac’s investments are also expected to improve people’s spending power since BPO firms typically pay higher wages, Mr. Petilla said. A recent study by Canadian research firm XMG, Inc. showed that close to three-quarters of BPO workers feel the need for a pay hike as a result of rising consumer prices. Mr. Almond noted that while Leyte-based workers may get lower salaries than their Manila counterparts, the cost of living is much lower in the province. He further noted that while 98% of Apac’s clients are from the US, which may be in recession now, they expect to continue growing here in the near to medium term. "[Apac is] quite positive that the [Philippine] economy will continue to be strong despite the [US] financial crisis," he added. "We’re heavily into healthcare, publishing and logistics, and those sectors are not that affected," Mr. Almond said. The Leyte call center, Mr. Almond said, would only be the start of the company’s five-year expansion in the country, where 80% of its growth will be in the provinces. The company has 9,000 employees, 4,000 of whom are in the US, and the rest scattered over its three Philippine sites — two in Alabang in Muntinlupa and another in Quezon City. The Business Processing Association of the Philippines expects the local outsourcing industry to grow into a $12-billion industry by 2010 from less than $7 billion at the end of the year, employing almost a million workers from around 500,000. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo, BusinessWorld