RP firms losing P1B/yr due to migration

Philippine companies are losing at least P1 billion a year as skilled professionals continue to leave the country in search for better opportunities overseas, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said.

The ECCP said that once an employee leaves a company, management will have to spend at least P15,000 to find and train for a suitable replacement.

According to ECCP board member Richard Elridge, if the migration of qualified personnel continues, several key industries will be hit with staffing problems including information technology, finance and accounting, and healthcare.

“In fact 43 percent of companies surveyed this year considered the scarcity of skilled labor as its primary problem, a big leap from 2006 perception that only showed 15 percent of companies have indicated it as a concern,” Elridge said.

As such, the ECCP has launched the Human Capital Club (HCC) which will coordinate the ECCP’s efforts to avert a possible manpower crisis in the country’s sunshine industries.

Eldridge said it is a platform within ECCP that seeks to address the job mismatch problem Philippine based companies are facing while also working on strategies that aim to manage human capital challenges.

”The future for companies is in their ability to attract, retain and develop their human capital,” Eldridge who is also the HCC chairman explained. He noted that there is a projected demand to fill one million new jobs over the next three years in several key industries but studies showed that an average of 79,000 professionals have been leaving the country since 2000 to work abroad.

”The business process outsourcing industry alone has a demand for at least 600,000 new employees by 2010. There is also projected large staffing requirement across several other rapidly growing industries such as healthcare, retirement, medical tourism and the creative industries,” Eldridge said.

Meanwhile, the HCC with its 50 members, aims to raise the level of awareness of the public and private sectors on the interrelated human capital issues facing industries that are affecting the country’s competitiveness.

“We will be looking at the recruitment process, the educational system, training, work standards, and productivity.  There must also be ways for companies to provide adequate work packages to make their people stay,” Eldridge said.

Also, he said the HCC will work closely with government, private associations and organizations, and the academic community in advocating the promotion of human capital.