Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

As of this writing, the Philippine Peso is around P40.56 to a US dollar.  Just a few months back it was in the 50s.  This has affected businesses that relied on the high exchange rate, including outsourced call centers.

What effects have been felt?

Salaries are getting higher these days and this doesn’t help the company’s bottom line.  Usually this wasn’t a problem because outsourced centers would usually get it from the foreign exchange gain they receive due to the high exchange rate.  Now, it isn’t the case.

This affects this year’s budget, which will include incentives, freebies for employees, travel to client’s sites for meetings, team buildings, parties and even training.

Call center management used to approve additional labor to help improve performance and keep up with the pace but now this is being scrutinized and have to be justified, ending in declining the recommendation.

Previously, overtime was easily approved but now it has to be carefully planned.  Usually this ends up stressing the agents even more to hurry their calls so more can be taken to increase revenue without the extra overtime.   Supervisors and support personnel are asked to take in calls more often because they are not entitled to overtime pay, ergo saving money on having agents stay.

Training to improve performance has also been cut down.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and as the Philippine Peso continues to strengthen, management has to regroup and strategize to keep centers afloat.

What I would recommend is to prioritize the labor force’s needs.  Allocate the budget to focus on them instead of exorbitant parties or huge ads for recruitment would be best.  It’s hard enough to avoid attrition, but there are other efficient ways to do this.

Focus within!  You would be surprise how much wealth you have in your own backyard.  Mind you, I’m not being idealistic.  I’ve seen it happen!