Sitel bets on Tarlac as next IT-BPO hub

MANILA, Philippines -Sitel is placing a big bet on Tarlac City as a new IT-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) hub. 

Recently, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) director general Lilia de Lima inaugurated Sitel’s new contact center facility in the city – its 12th in the country – that would employ a total of 1,500 people when it becomes fully operational by yearend.

Craig Reines, chief operating officer, Sitel Philippines, said among the reasons why the province was chosen for its expansion program is that it is halfway between Metro Manila and Baguio City where the company already has a substantial presence.

“We have a lot of shared client programs between these two locations. So, when you are driving (all the way to the North and back to Metro Manila), where do you stop? It’s close to the highway and a bit of a crossroad. It’s also about only 20  minutes to Clark Air Force Base. It is very convenient,” he said.

Sitel’s workforce in Metro Manila now numbers around 14,000 to 15,000 while its Baguio facilities employ more or less 4,000 to 5,000 people.

Thus, in a mall space that used to be a moviehouse, in a city that is still a gateway to a vast sugar plantation, a new generation of Filipinos is carving a new career path.

Changing dynamics

Of the 600 workers now employed by the newly opened facility, Sitel said 25 percent are from farmer families or households that rely on income from tilling the Luisita lands.

Reines said Sitel is eyeing to employ more than 90 percent of employees from Tarlac and the others from neighboring areas as part of the company’s advocacy and commitment to bring jobs and socio-economic development to the countryside.

“The assumption that skilled, educated and qualified employees can only come from Metro Manila is false,” he said, adding that by providing jobs in places where they are needed, young people do not need to look for opportunities elsewhere and uproot their lives.

De Lima said every year, the Philippines adds over one million young Filipinos to the labor force. “Ideally, we also need to create a million jobs. That is why we (the IT-BPO industry) are the sweet spot,” she said.

By the end of 2015, the IT-BPO industry was estimated to employ 1.2 million workers nationwide and generate around $21 billion in revenues. It is now the second biggest industry in the country, next to remittances from Overseas Filipinos, which in 2015 was estimated by the World Bank to hit $29.7 billion.

Sitel’s expansion in the Philippines since its started operations in the country in 2004 has been phenomenal. It now has over 20,000 workers locally or almost a third of its global workforce of 60,000.

De Lima said the presence of IT-BPO firms in the country like Sitel does not only provide us with direct employment but also indirect employment and wages because of the multiplier effect of five.

“In the Philippines, a wage earner supports a family of six. Easily, Sitel’s presence here has benefited some 500,000 Filipinos,” she addressed Sitel employees led by Bert Quintana, chairman, president and CEO, Sitel, who flew in from the US for the occasion.

Continued expansion and investment 

Quintana said the Philippines has always been a key part of Sitel’s growth strategy.

“We’re innovators in the art of human interaction. One of the reasons why we are here in the Philippines is because if anyone in the world is outstanding in the DNA of this concept  of human interaction, it is this (Filipino) culture,” he said. “This is a culture that is going to lead into the future of collaboration.”

Sitel’s Tarlac facility serves global clients in industries like healthcare, retail, IT and technical support, travel and leisure.

While qualifications for available jobs vary, Reines said they are confident that the workforce requirement will be met because of the availability of local talent and its partnerships with local educational institutions, including the Tarlac State University.

“Our workers continue to be our competitive edge – especially in the IT sector – because they are global knowledge workers who can compete with the rest of the world,” De Lima said.

The PEZA director also lauded the company for having invested more than P2 billion and counting. “In PEZA, there is no red tape, only red carpet treatment for our investors,” she stressed.