BPO Partylist backs the sentiments of several Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) employees who are reposting a message on their respective Facebook account with the hope that it will reach the eyes and ears of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB).
According to BPO Partylist President and first nominee, Mike Cubos that the sentiment of the IT-BPM workers should be heard and considered since they played a major role in running our economy during the height of the global health crisis in March 2020 wherein several industries were temporarily shut down and crippled the country’s economy.
“WFH is a once in a blue moon reset to the way people work and a complete transformation from the old way of doing things. The pandemic has revolutionized the workplace, and refusal to adapt to the evolving work practices will only result in dissatisfied workers, low productivity, and eventual resignation.
While we understand that the return to office directive of the government has the objective of reviving the economy and encouraging people to go out and support businesses, we must also listen to the sentiments of our workers. Forcing them to resume on-site work will only contribute to the growing cynicism among workers resulting from the COVID-19 related-stressors, lack of government trust in the pandemic response, inadequate public transportation, inflation, and rising commodity prices, and will only undermine their feelings about the value of their work if forced to work back in the office,’ said Cubos on his statement.
Cubos added that after two years into this global health crisis, the Work From Home arrangement became part of the new normal which is unsurprisingly favored by many workers because of its advantages.
Based on a study, It benefits both the employers and employees, which include reduced time and cost of commuting, less use of office space which lowers the cost of utilities, prevent office politics, increased motivation, healthier workforces with less absenteeism and turnover, higher talent retention, job satisfaction, and better productivity
In the 2021 State of Remote Work Report by video conferencing company Owl Labs, out of the 2,050 full-time remote workers surveyed, 90% claimed to be as productive or more productive working remotely compared to when they toiled in the office.
Early this month the FIRB issued a statement that they will uphold their Resolution No. 19-21, allowing the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement not exceeding 90 percent of the total workforce of registered Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) enterprises only till March 31, 2022.
They also denied the request of several IT-BPM companies thru the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) to implement extensions to the adoption of the WFH arrangement for the IT-BPM sector until after March 2022.
This is in sync with the government’s strategy to safely reopen the economy and stimulate business revival in the country after the increasing vaccinated number of Filipinos nationwide.
According to a message reposted by an IT-BPM employee that they understand that the economy needs to bounce back, but they are asking to give the employees’ option whether they like to work on-site or offsite as long as their performance will not be affected and can still meet the company’s client expectations.
“We should be given choices if we want to stay working from home or work on-site especially if our metrics are not affected and clients are okay with it,” said in a statement shared by Lynn Ann G. Rayos, an IT-BPM employee based in Cebu City.
They also want that the FIRB to reconsider their appeal since during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the IT-BPM Industry continued to operate while other industries were temporarily shut down.
“We were helping the economy when most of the companies were shut down. Even if we are working from home, we still ordered food from restaurants and fast food chains. Purchased our basic needs from stores with the use of online delivery services like Grab, Food Panda, Lalamove, and others. Even our offices delivered our equipment using these delivery app services were also used. We continue to pay our taxes every month even if we are working from home or on-site,” the ITBPM employee statement says.
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