Working Along the Pandemic in Philippines

One of the most life-altering changes that COVID-19 pandemic brought into this world is the work from home setup. In The Philippines such work from home arrangement was initiated quite early with the Telecommuting Act that its government passed into a law in December 2018, that allowed employers to approve work from home for their employees. As per a study, call center jobs in Philippines were among the biggest employments that let employees work from home during quarantine that came into force in March 2020. Call centers, other outsourced business operations are crucial to the economy of Philippines as they are estimated to account for 9% of its GDP.

However, the arrangement of work from home in Philippines was questioned due to its connectivity issues as the country holds the slowest internet speed in Asia Pacific. Slow internet connection has become a major issue in the country especially when seen through the framework of work from setup. For fixed broadband, the Philippines has an average download speed of 32.37 Mbps, which globally ranks it at 100th place.

Digital infrastructure, along with its cost can be seen as a major challenge for work from home in Philippines. Some of the challenges encountered by BPOs in shifting to work from home setup were setting up internet/WI-FI devices in their employees' homes, as well as tightening protocols of data security for all their remote workstations. However, it is not surprising that some BPOs are interested in implementing the work from home setup as it has helped reduce operating expenses in the remote workplace. Delay during working hours, weariness and low productivity can also be curbed, as work from home situation saves travel time to work, weather conditions can be avoided and it also can be seen as a plus point on safety of employees during shifts when they are required to travel at odd hours in the day. Saving these organisations with transportation cost (if given), office leases, utility costs etc.

With COVID-19, work from home is likely to leave a deeper impact in the Philippines as compared to many other markets due to a strong need to continue with remote working.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has turned many lives upside down and disrupted everyone's daily routines, it has also encouraged people to face challenges with a new outlook and adapt and move on with new lifestyle no matter how unsettling it seemed at first.