A STUDY ON OCCUPATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF BPO

AS STARTING EMPLOYMENT OF BA COMMUNICATION FRESH GRADUATES

Cepe, Hazel Coleen

Francisco, Carlo
Vidal, Carla T.
 INTRODUCTION

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), frequently, referred to as Information Technology-

Enabled Services (ITES), is a form of outsourcing where the operations of a specific business
function are contracted to a third-party service provider. Since most business processes include
some form of automation, IT "enables" these services to be performed. The industry has seven
sub-sectors: contact centers, knowledge process outsourcing and back offices, software
development, animation, game development, medical transcription, and engineering design
(Tullao, et. al., 2012).
Stable job is one of the necessities of a person or a family to survive in daily living. In order
for anyone to achieve that, you need to get a diploma or you have to be qualified on their job
requirements. Without having this, a family will lack in everything and experience poverty. In
University of Caloocan City, some graduates of Bachelor of Arts in Communication pursue their
media career and others shift to call center industry as customer service representative. The
occupational advantages in Business Process Outsourcing or BPO are the compensation that the
company can offer to the employees.
Without any doubts, the Philippines is today’s top rated destination for all kinds of outsourcing
activities and the best outsourcing country. It is a highly educated nation with lots of talented and
skilled individuals willing to work with dedication and determination. Its colonial background and
strong will of adaptability have made it the best place for all kinds of production facilities and call
centers. Fluency in the English language and low salaried human resources makes it very
lucrative for businesses willing to cut down costs but not compromise on quality. The government
of the country is quite supportive and provides the necessary framework and legal protection to
create a beneficial environment for international investors. (Yempo, 2017)
In fact, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) remains one of the top drivers of economic
growth in the country. The sector is projected to grow by 9% every year, and by 2018, it will
outpace revenues from OFW remittances. According to the roadmap of the IT-Business
Processing Association of the Philippines (IT-BPAP), the total revenue of the BPO sector will
reach $40 billion in 2022. It’s also forecasted to generate 7.6 million jobs and take up 15% of the
global BPO industry. (Brooth Partners, 2018)
BPO companies around Metro Manila have continuous hiring. When the peak season is
about to arrive, the hiring is doubled or tripled in number. A huge part of the Filipino populace now
has an experience of working in a BPO company. In spite of an increasing demand for BPO jobs
here in the Philippines, only four percent of fresh graduates wanted to join the industry, a small
turnout that comes amid concerns that they are not properly equipped for the job, a recent study
showed. This reflects a general trend across different industries that showed two out of three fresh
Filipino graduates in the past two years were not ready with the necessary skills and training for
the jobs that they want, according to a global firm called Aspiring Minds, which helps companies
and institutions measure employability, among other things (Inquirer.net).
According to Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), in terms of job
aspirations, only four percent of graduates surveyed by the study wanted to have jobs in the BPO
industry, it is tied with the four percent who wanted to be chefs or the HRM courses. On the other
hand, 16 % of fresh graduates wanted to go teaching, accounting for the largest share, followed
by those who want to have administrative courses (15%), and those who want to pursue business
(12%). BPO industry in the Philippines shows that it is an attractive employment destination for
nursing graduates. It is one of the expanding business sectors in the Philippines, thus offering
many job opportunities, both in health- and non-health related areas and both for those who have
and do not have a Philippine nursing license (NMa. Reinaruth D. Carlos, 2018).
University of Caloocan City (UCC) adapts a program impose by Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) to prepare students for employment in the information technology-business
process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry. This is the CHED’s coordination with the Business
Processing Association of the Philippines. This new curriculum was implemented year 2016 and
adapted by many universities including UCC. The subjects offered include Fundamentals of
Business Outsourcing 101 and 102, Business Communications, Service Culture, and Principles
of System Thinking. A semester will also cover an internship program that will help students
understand and eventually choose a career in the industry. BA Communication in UCC has a
BPO Practicum subject where the students can choose whether they apply as a BPO agent or
just an internship. This will give the students an opportunity to grow as an independent individual,
improve verbal and nonverbal communication, earn an incredibly useful experience and the
chance to enjoy high salaries and fun working environments. This college curriculum aims to train
and orient students about the work and their future career. It is very important not only to teach
students regarding their chosen career but to show students the reality about working.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Cognitive
Dissonance
Theory
 BPO as a starting
employment of Theory of
fresh graduates Confirmation
Bias

Theory of
Reasoned
Action (TRA)
Figure 1

In this part of the chapter, we outline the relevant theories that can ground this research
into existing sociological and psychological frame work.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The mental clash or tension resulting from the processes of acquiring knowledge or
understanding through the senses is called cognitive dissonance. In simple the clash of mind
when we have to choose from the choices is can be called cognitive dissonance. This is the
feeling of discomfort from two conflicting thoughts, it may increase or decrease according to the
following factors:

 The relevance of subject to us

 How solid the choices or thoughts are
 The capability of our mind to choose, rationalize or explain the thoughts.

Theory of Confirmation Bias

is a cognitive error that people make when they are only willing to accept new information when
it confirms what they already believe. People who fall into the trap of confirmation bias tend to
purposefully seek out evidence that supports already solidified beliefs and purposefully reject
any evidence that goes against those beliefs.

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)

Theory of Reasoned Action looks at how behaviors can be influenced by influencing a person’s
intentions. TRA states that two main factors tell a person whether or not to perform a behavior:
1) personal attitudinal judgments: the evaluation of the action; and, 2) social-normative
considerations: what one believes others think they should do.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

BA
Communication The
BPO as a fresh graduates advantages of
starting who are working in a
employment working in BPO BPO
company

Figure 2
The illustration shows BPO as a starting employment for BA Communication fresh
graduates who are working in a BPO company and its advantages
In the case of BPO as starting employment, the fresh graduates of BA Communication will
express their thoughts and opinions on the advantages of working in a BPO company as their
starting job. Respondents will share their experiences regardless of its disadvantages and how
BPO career help their career growth.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 This study aims to know how BA Communication Fresh Grads seek BPO as their starting
employment. The researchers want to discover how BPO becomes an occupational advantage
to BA Communication Fresh Graduates.
Specifically, the study wants to answer the following:

Name (Optional): Company:

Age: Compensation:
Income (Optional): Position:

1. What is your idea in BPO in terms of; career, financial security, longevity, income and

growth?

2. How do fresh graduates perceive BPO as their starting employment?

3. What are the advantages of working in a BPO?

4. What are the disadvantages of working in a BPO?

5. Why do fresh graduates choose BPO as their starting career?

6. Do BA Communication Fresh Grads who are working in BPO will still pursue their media

career?

HYPOTHESIS
 This study aims to know how BA Communication Fresh Grads seek BPO as their starting
employment. The researchers want to discover how BPO becomes an occupational advantage
to BA Communication Fresh Grads.
The researchers assume the following:

1. The researchers assume that BA Communication graduates perceive BPO as starting

employment because of fluency with their communication skills and expectation to meet their daily
needs.
2. The advantages of working in BPO are the compensation that the company can offer to their
employees depending on their skills, sometimes experience, like high salary, job incentives and
career growth.
3. The disadvantages of working in BPO could be toxic environment, health risks, transport risks
and internal issues in the company.
4. Many BA Communication fresh graduates settle with BPO as their starting career because of
different reasons like urgent need to help their family, investment in oral speaking to master its
fluency and higher chance to get easily hired.
5. Some BA Communication fresh graduates will pursue their media career when they are
satisfied enough working in BPO. But, some chose to stay in BPO due to their job meets their
need and daily living.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study focused on explaining the occupational advantage of BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) as a starting employment of BA Communication fresh graduates. Moreover, the
results of the study will be beneficial to the following:

 BA Communication students. To give them an idea why their senior communication

graduates choose BPO as a starting career.
 Professors/Mentors. The result of the study will help them to provide encouragement and
to think of ideas that will give proper guidance to the students in choosing the career path
after college.
 Parents. The advantages of BPO company for the fresh graduates will help the parents to
not pressure their child to pursue their media career path. This will also inform them on
how BPO works.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

 This study will focus the on occupational advantages of BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) as a starting employment of BA Communication fresh graduates. This research will
also help to determine the advantages and benefits of BPO for the fresh graduates instead of
pursuing their media career path after college. The researchers will conduct a survey to 30 BA
Communication fresh graduates who are working in a BPO companies. The result of this study is
only applicable to the respondents and should not be used as the measure of occupational
advantage of BPO as a starting employment for fresh graduates who do not belong to the
population of this study. The researchers consider working on this study to find out the main
advantage of BPO for BA Communication students graduate.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This is related literature and studies after the thorough and in-depth search done by the
researchers and other literatures from both foreign and local researchers. The literatures of this
study come from books, journals, articles, electronic materials such as PDF, and other existing
theses and dissertations, foreign and local those are believed to be useful in the advancement of
awareness concerning the study. Some of the salient points are outlined in the literature review,
which provides understanding which is essential for the interpretation of the empirical data of the
research.

FOREIGN STUDIES AND LITERATURE

BPO primarily helps increase a company’s flexibility in its resources management, core
competencies, and overall organization. By outsourcing some of their business functions,
companies can reduce their variable costs so that they are able to respond to changes more
efficiently. Moreover, BPO enables big bureaucratic companies to downsize to a smaller but more
entrepreneurial and efficient company. Countries such as India, the Philippines, Morocco, Egypt
and South Africa are the usual destinations of outsourcing (www.asiaecon.org).
According to business gurus and analysts from various countries and regions, India is the
best place for outsourcing your business activities. It is lucrative both in terms of financial
preferences and attractive business conditions. Being one of the largest populations in the world,
India offers a huge pool of human capital but at a comparatively lower rate. The country has a
good infrastructure and is supportive of all kinds of business activities. It has mostly been popular
for its software and computer programming industry. Many large players outsourced their
business processes especially the software related activities to this country and received effective
results.
On contrary to general perception, BPO Industry was blessing in disguise for youth of India.
Not only it opened employment options for a huge population, it was one of the most dynamic
industry, with rapidly changing work environment, process compliance and above all corporate
culture. The culture only accessible to graduates from IIT/IIM was suddenly open to undergrads,
10+2 etc. (Som Kunwer, 2016)
 Aspiring and educated youths in rural India are migrating to urban areas due to lack of local
employment in rural areas. Apart from that, there are social pressures of earning that forces them
to shift permanently to urban India. As a result, urban India is facing congestion due to migrant
workers that mount load on limited urban infrastructure. The solution to these problems can be
found by generating skilled employment opportunities in rural India. (www.indusnet.co)
In Uganda, South Africa, there are 10,000 Ugandans graduate every year. 26-year-old
Flavia Aliteesa graduated from the IT department at Makarere University with little hope of finding
a job. But within a few months she had landed a position doing back office work including data
entry for companies as far afield as the US and UK. Her employer, Techno Brain, provides
business process outsourcing (BPO) services from the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
It isn’t the kind of job graduates normally aspire to, but Aliteesa considers herself extremely
lucky since some of her classmates have been unemployed for years. “I was given an opportunity
to start working, otherwise I would have been seated back home doing nothing. At least it has
given me a sense of independence since I earn and I can do something on my own,” she says.
(www.zdnet.com)
James Saaka, executive director of the National Information Technology Authority (NITA).
The country has a fast-growing population and soaring rates of youth unemployment, and
Ugandan leaders see great growth potential in the IT sector. “Let the young people be employed
and get them off the street. Let them get the experience they need, and tomorrow they will become
the entrepreneurs,” (James Saaka, 2013)
By creating more BPO jobs like these, East African governments are hoping to chip away
at soaring unemployment rates among graduates, as well as bring in more revenue. It’s an
ambitious goal, but poor digital infrastructure and a lack of unique capabilities may make it difficult
for the region to keep up with more traditional BPO destinations such as India and the Philippines
In Poland, according to various surveys and market trends in the world, Poland is among the
top outsourcing destinations of the world. With its fast growing economy; it is no longer a stagnant
communist country. With high rates of literacy, the workforce of Poland is multi-talented and
culturally mature enough to work in an international environment. They have strong ethical
backgrounds and give the highest regards to corporate values and morals. There is a large
number of companies that provide various types of outsourcing services to international clients.
However, the largest percentage of outsourcing is in the field of technology.

LOCAL STUDIES AND LITERATURE

According to Magni Cantos call center in the Philippines are always hiring for new talent.
As the leading country when it comes to BPO industry, the Philippines has no scarcity of BPO
jobs and people who would love to get these job. Even the recent developments within the call
center industry in the Philippines, many graduates just see working in a call center as a dead-end
job. There is still a lingering stigma around call center jobs that make it unappealing to graduates
around the country. However, working at a call center is still the same high paying job with
attainable requirements that it always has been. Because of this, so many people just take the
opportunity of working in the BPO industry for granted. Some even claim that the job does not
need a lot of effort; that it is not only about answering the phone and talking to customer.
 As a growing expert in the call center industry, we give reasons why fresh graduates
should go for BPO companies. A call center will usually get starting salary equivalent to
Php15,000 per month. Night shift workers even get a night gift or night differential pay. The
benefits are also an attractive incentive which can include health insurance and allowance for
rice, transportation, and clothing. That’s not bad especially if you are fresh graduate looking for a
great career with good earning potential. (Dominic Banzon, 2016)
In Manila, job opening for fresh graduates in the business process outsourcing sector have
shrunk, with the rise of automation seen among contributing factors, data from recruitment portal
Jobstreet.com. The survey also revealed that when it comes to hiring, employees looked to
twenty-first century skills to fill up jobs in the digital space. Attitude, communication skills and
analytical skill have overtaken on the job training and part-time experience when hiring fresh
graduates, the survey said “This shows that more and more employers are opening their door to
fresh graduates, presenting a significant shift in what employers need in these increasingly digital
world,” Gioco said (www.news.abs-cbn.com)
CCAP executive director Jojo Uligan said the BPO industry in the Philippines is still going
strong compared with those in other countries and spite of what is happening in the global
economy. A large number of people still want to join the industry, especially young professional,
fresh graduates and even those still in college. Call center are typically lenient in accepting agents.
Unlike other companies which require degree holders, call center accept those who are still in
college, dropout or even high school graduates. Call center don’t require much education other
than excellent reading and speaking, people and computer skills. Through the requirements are
relatively easy to comply with, only certain types of people can quality for the job. “This job is not
for everyone”, Uligan said. The job requires a lot of skills and training because over-the-phone
work is very challenging. Although there are no available data on how many college students work
call centers, some studies have shed light on the matter. (www.inquirer.net)