Life in the BPO Industry

“Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes."

Business Process Outsourcing, or BPO, refers to the process of contracting standard business functions to be handled by a party outside of the company. The BPO sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the Philippines since it started in 1992, that's why the Philippines was known as the world’s BPO capital in 2010 because of the many BPO companies that opened.

A lot of people, especially from the province, decided to move to Manila (although a lot of people from provinces moved to Manila even before the BPO started) to land a job in the said industry because of the salary and the benefits that its offering. I, myself, is an example to that.

I was still in college when the BPO industry, or call center as we Filipinos call it, boomed. I was enticed with the thought of working in the said industry for all I was thinking was the glamour of working as a call center agent. I was even thinking not to finish my studies before since I really wanted to work in the industry, but my family did not agree with me so I had to forget working as a call center agent. However, due to some circumstances, I was able to become one.

Year 2012 when the school I was teaching closed. So I was left with no job and a family to feed. That's when I receive a text from JobStreet that IBM is conducting a mass hiring in our province. I don't have a choice since I don't have a job and I really wanted to experience working as a CCA. So, I applied and luckily, I was hired. We undergo communication training for a month in Laoag City. And after, we moved to Manila, Quezon City to be exact. Although I was sad to leave my then 1-year old daughter behind, I was also excited as the same time since I had always dreamed of working in a call center. What excites me actually the most was working at night.LOL! Which I thought was fun but that's when I realized being a call center agent is not fun, at all.

It's fun working in a call center, since we're getting a high salary, we have bonuses, we have allowances, we have HMO but before we can get these, there's more than what other people see.

When we were scheduled for a 2pm-11pm shift, it was still okay since we still feel so normal. But when we started working from 8pm-6am, that's when we feel that it's not a joke. The struggle of staying awake especially when 12mn strikes is real. Drinking coffee was not so helpful. The coldness in the room was not helpful either. If you're not used to cold then goodluck for you.LOL!

If staying awake is a struggle, sleeping is another thing. Since we have our body clock, it's difficult going to sleep since it's already morning, and our body clock also says so. What we would often do to fall sleep? Drink liquor. A bottle or two would usually help but not all the time. So what other options we have? Sleeping pills, although it's not really adviseable to take sleeping pills everyday, or anti-histamine for me.

Another struggle and the most difficult one:Being absent! There is no way that we can be absent for just a headache, a slight fever, or a cough and colds. We can't use school meeting cause you know, there's no way that the principal or school will conduct a meeting at night. The only time that we can be absent is of it's a matter of life and death :(

There's no such thing as holiday for us too since the country where we are offering our services don't have the same holidays as we are and we're not the typical office job. Even typhoons can't be a reason for us not to report for work. The only time we can be absent is if we're going to file a leave which is sad to say, not always approve. So, we don't have a choice but to miss special occasions, like birthday, school activities, christmas, new year, and most especially, we're unable to witness some important milestones of our children.

We are also being 'graded' just like in school. Not everyone are privileged to get bonuses. We need to meet the criterias needed for us to achieve bonuses. Good for you if you have an understanding and patient leader but most of the time, you'll be under the leadership of a 'monster' leader who would alwayd shout at the entire team and would embarassed its teammates.

It's difficult working in this industry. You'll be experiencing lots of stress. You would sometimes feel so unworthy which would add up to your stress. Every agents are also experiencing or undergoing their own battles that we don't know. Being a call center agent is not a bed of roses, but despite all these, there are still people belittling people who are working in the said enviroment. These people has this mindset that working as a CCA is the lowest form of work a Filipino could have. But they don't know that being a call center agent is not an easy job. It's understanding and support that we need and not the spiteful words they're throwing at us. Being kind doesn't need much, just some words of encouragement and understanding would helped.