THE Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is working on luring freelancers while seeking a level playing field as more workers move to an unregulated industry.

“I would be false if I say it’s not affecting us. It is a matter of how we bring them (freelancers) back to the industry and how we can work with government to also make it a level playing field because they’re also working largely unregulated,” said CCAP President Mickey Ocampo said in a chance interview last week.

He admitted that the contact center sector has been affected by the growing freelance industry. But his group has been attracting freelancers via the promotion of benefits and job security. 

Mr. Ocampo added that freelancing has been more prevalent in areas in the countryside that have stable internet connections.

“It is just a matter of finding ways to bring them back into the industry, especially with benefits or security of tenure of the jobs,” he said. 

“These include health maintenance organization (HMO) benefits, work and performance incentives, and other programs,” he added.

In May, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said freelancers were a competition to the local IT and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector. The CCAP is one of the six partner associations under the IBPAP.

“I would say it (freelancing) is something that we need to pay attention to. But it is a force that is hard to stop. I think as an industry, we need to accept it as a challenge because that was catalyzed by the pandemic. It was catalyzed by the fact that we can now work from home,” said Jack Madrid, president of IBPAP.

According to Mr. Ocampo, encouraging more freelancers to consider the local contact center sector could help the local IT-BPM industry’s target of generating up to 1.1 million jobs by 2028 under the Philippine IT-BPM Industry Roadmap 2028.

For 2022, CCAP members accounted for 84% or $27 billion of the $32-billion revenues of the overall IT-BPM industry. The local contact center sector also made up 87% or 1.4 million of the 1.6 million total employment of the industry last year.   

Financial technology company Payoneer said in April that the local freelancing industry is expected to grow amid surging demand in fields such as programming, marketing, project management, and web design.

“A growing number of businesses are relying on freelancers to support their full-time workforce because of convenience, flexibility, and outstanding quality of work. This benefits freelancers, too, since we have seen how they can enjoy a good work-life balance while still sustaining themselves, especially with the convenience, and practicality of earning in US dollars without leaving the country,” Payoneer Country Manager for the Philippines Monique Avila said. 

This year, the Philippine IT-BPM sector is aiming to hit 1.7 million full-time employees (FTEs) and to generate $35.9 billion in revenues, both higher than the $32 billion revenues and 1.6 million FTEs recorded last year. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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