IBPAP: Gig economy a ‘challenge’ to PH IT-BPM industry
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) believes that the gig economy could become a “challenge” to the local outsourcing industry.
According to IBPAP President Jack Madrid, the pandemic catalyzed the rise of the gig economy, enabling people to work from home and opening up new opportunities for freelance workers.
Madrid stressed that the rising talent in the freelance industry is a “force that is hard to stop” and something that the local outsourcing sector should pay attention to.
The IBPAP chief also advised workers to weigh the pros and cons of working under a gig setup due to stability issues.
“I think on the investor side, we [the outsourcing industry] need to accept it and compete with it. On the employee side, I know [Department of Information and Communications Technology] DICT [supports] it,” he added.
Earlier this month, Haidee Enriquez, CEO of outsourcing provider MicroSourcing, called on the government to ”level the playing field” between the gig economy and the IT-BPM industry regarding complying with government regulations.
Enriquez referred to the gig economy as a “leaking barrel” to which the outsourcing industry is losing people to.
“A lot of the people who are enticed to move into freelancing or gig economy workers are those in the countryside because not a lot of BPO players are present in their particular location,” the CEO stated.
Citing IBPAP’s IT-BPM Roadmap 2028, Enriquez stressed that the Philippine IT-BPM sector could have difficulties reaching its goal if people would continue preferring to work freelance in the future.
