Pinoy firms losing P1B yearly 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.