BPO workers model financial stability

MANILA, Philippines - A fruitful career in the contact center or the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, combined with sound financial plans, is a powerful asset today and in the future. Work becomes not only a source of stable employment but an avenue to demonstrate, as well as develop, financial wellness and freedom. What it takes at the start, says two BPO professionals, is structuring your finances and applying basic principles in spending, saving, planning and investing.

Raymond Schon of Convergys in North Edsa QC, 31 and Jen T. del Rosario of Convergys in San Lazaro Manila, 39, are senior managers in the country’s largest private employer. They have built full-time careers with Convergys while having wise practices in saving,  and investing in small businesses.

Raymond Schon

Raymond, who started in Convergys at 21 as an outbound telesales agent, has earned additional income on top of his salary, in the form of performance-based incentives given to employees who excel.  “The question is: do we use our income on something immediate or on things that will benefit us in the long run?” he said.  

It was when he started living on his own that he became mindful of prioritization.  Raymond learned to track his expenses and savings by making his own monthly template listing out all “wants” versus “needs,” against his “sources of income.”  The principles he follows includes the concept of “income minus savings equals expenses,” hence the savings come first.

The simple but detailed financial tracking served him well. Now a senior team manager, Raymond recently invested in an apartment/dorm business for students located near UP, Ateneo and Miriam College. “As a type of investment, apartments are relatively simple to operate with minimal risk. It is low maintenance, which allowed me to focus on my work and enable time for myself,” he said.

His work career remains an equal priority. “Having a financial plan helps me visualize the things that I want to achieve in life, make them real,  and secure my future while also growing in my profession,” Raymond added.

Jen T. del Rosario

Jen, senior operations manager and mother of two, believes that the more you educate yourself, the more you understand where your money is going, and the wiser you become in making financial choices.  Aside from tracking her cash flow regularly, she reads and attends seminars on personal finances and investments.  

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Jen invested on a P2,000 training fee to help her start a laundry shop business, which she opened in 2011. Carrying her second child and earning a promotion on the same year, Jen and her father managed the business operations on the first year.

Jen, a UP MBA graduate, spends three to four hours a day at her home office after her shift in Convergys. As she gets more involved in her business this year, an improvement is automating the back-end processes to reduce paperwork. This allows her to focus on her full-time job, not having to worry about manual business tracking, and also spend more time with her kids.

Jen started her Convergys career as a team leader, and understands how young agents face the risk of spending impulsively if they do not develop basic financial management practices. Says Jen, “Your age and earning capacity are powerful leverage. If you only start saving 10 years later, it will likely take twice as much money and twice as long to get the same financial value out of savings. So start young, and make savings your first ‘bill to pay’ each payday. You’ll succeed!”