Philippines - English proficiency improved but BPO leaders warn against complacency

By JESUS F. LLANTO
abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak

Despite improvement in the self-assessed English language proficiency of the Filipinos, the Philippines should not remain complacent and should sustain its efforts to further improve its competence in the language to maintain its position as top destination for the business process outsourcing (BPO), experts said.

The results of the April 2008 survey of the Social Weather Stations on the self-assessed proficiency in the English language of the Filipinos showed a "substantial recovery" in understanding, reading, writing, speaking and thinking using the language compared to 2006.

The survey, which was commissioned by Promoting English Proficiency Project of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Makati Business Club, was conducted by interviewing 1,200 respondents and has a margin of error of +3%.

Ramon del Rosario Jr., president of the MBC, said the improvement in self-assessed competence is a market-driven response to the rise of BPO industry.

"They realized that if they want to be employed, they really need to hone their skills and one of the skills needed by the market is English proficiency," del Rosario said.

Don’t be complacent
Experts in the BPO industry, however, said that although the results of the survey sound positive, there is a need to sustain the measures that have been started to improve the Filipinos’ competence in the language since others countries are also trying to get a share of the global BPO market.

"It’s a step forward but we have a long way to go," said Jamea Garcia, executive director for talent of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

Garcia added that other countries have been striving to improve the quality of their workforce by strengthening the English proficiency of their workers to become attractive BPO destinations. She said China, Vietnam and Latin American countries are fast becoming important destinations of outsourcing firms.

"We should not be complacent so we can still maintain our advantage," Garcia told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

The Philippines was named by the UK National Outsourcing Association as the outsourcing destination of the year for 2007. BPAP estimates that by 2010 the BPO outsourcing industry can generate US$13 billion revenues, or 10-percent share of the global market, and provide one million jobs.

As of 2007, around 300,000 people are working in the BPO sector. This means that the industry needs to augment its workforce by 600,000 in the next two years to meet the target for 2010.

Lack of qualified applicants
BPO firms, however, are having a hard time filling positions because of the low recruitment yield and lack of applicants who are fluent in English.

A November 2007 industry-wide survey by the BPAP and Outsource2Philippines.com showed that 46 percent of the companies surveyed found that only 6-20 percent of applicants qualified. Two-thirds (66 %) of the companies, the survey showed, had to provide new hires free remedial English training.

Other sectors in the BPO industry, like medical transcription, also experience low absorption rate due to lack of qualified applicants. Raymund Eruma, executive director of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc (MTIAPI) said some transcription companies found only 2-3 out of 10 applicants qualified. "Most of them are having problems comprehending dictations."

Garcia said in a previous interview that this scenario is one of the threats to the growth of BPO industry. "If we continue with what we are having this moment, we might not have enough workers to meet future demand."

Language proficiency training
A number of programs have been designed by the government, the industry players and the academe to develop English proficiency of the students and the workers. Scholarships from the government and tie-ups between the industry and academe are among the measures taken to develop a pool of qualified workers for the BPO industry.

Oscar Sañez, CEO of BPAP, said these measures should be continued and strengthened as the demand for workers continues. He added that a large pool of qualified applicants can save the resources of a company.

"Recruitment and training [of new hires] cost a lot of money," Sañez said adding that minimizing recruiting and training costs can add roughly 2-3 percent points in the company’s profitability.

Sañez said that the measures being undertaken today are just short-term solutions. He said that what is needed are reforms in the education, particularly changes in the curriculum. — With research by Fharhana Abdurahim.