CEBU, Philippines — Incoming Vice-Mayor Tomas Osmeña vowed to support the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry by ensuring the presence of a dedicated transport system, work-study facilities, and addressing safety issues, especially for the night shift workers.
Last Thursday, June 19, in a meeting with a BPO company, Osmeña shared his plans in supporting the BPO industry.
Osmeña laid out some of the struggles and challenges faced by night shift workers, which primarily centers on transportation problems and safety issues.
There are three concepts that Osmeña aims to realize --- providing dedicated shuttle buses for BPO agents, supporting single mothers by introducing a housing-and-employment framework, and a work-study program for young individuals who are unable to finish college.
For these to be realized, Osmeña said he has been in search of a reliable BPO company who also wished and shared the same goal as him.
Currently, Osmeña said he has been discussing and introducing his plans with different companies, including the ones from the BPO industry.
On providing dedicated shuttle bus, Osmeña said workers will be taken to their respective homes, which will save them time in looking for public transportations.
In order to ease single mothers' responsibilities and allow them to join the workforce, Osmeña said his plan focuses on creating a housing and employment system that will allow them to work and raise their children under the same roof.
He said he will start with a small batch of 40 single mothers who will send their children to the same school and commute to work in the same office together.
“So why 40? Because that’s the size of a bus,” he shared.
Lastly, Osmeña said that his proposed work-study facility will house students and employ them in the BPO sector full-time, which will allow them to earn an income and a degree at the same time.
This facility, according to Osmeña, will be situated at the South Road Properties (SRP), in the same site initially reserved for the University of the Philippines, which reportedly failed to comply with its contract.
He added that under this proposed scheme, students are given flexibility in how long they could complete their studies. He said that they may stretch the degree programs by a year or longer to ease the workload of the students who may struggle to manage their multiple responsibilities.
Osmeña explained that these plans were motivated by the challenges that BPO employees working graveyard shifts face, including lower public transport density, and the unavailability of government offices and other daytime services.
This is also in line with his “Mayor of the Night” initiative, which is designed to make government services available 24/7 to accommodate employees working graveyard shifts. — CNU Interns Caren Itolle and Joseph Adrian Leyson (FREEMAN)