Gov’t to support new workforce models for BPOs
The Philippine government is ready to support new workforce models for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, said Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
According to Diokno, “Given the global contact center and business processing services markets’ exponential growth in the past 15 years, the DoF strongly recognizes the need to integrate new, adaptive, and sustainable workforce models to boost the Philippines’ competitiveness in the field of business processes and services.”
In the Asia Pacific region, the Philippines remains among the most ideal outsourcing destinations. However, this development is being derailed by strict laws that prevent the BPO sector from working from home permanently.
The law requires BPOs registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to perform most of their work within economic zones to continue enjoying their tax breaks.
As a solution, the government has proposed a transfer of registration to the Board of Investments, which does not enforce the economic zone requirement.
The Fiscal Incentives Review Board said the transfer of registration will “resolve the sector’s long-standing issue on tax incentive claims while performing business activities beyond their zone limits.”
Estimates say the industry is expected to generate up to 1.1 million direct jobs by 2028.
