Call center firms urge Cebu to activate "night economy"

Call center companies are encouraging Cebu to develop facilities to spur the "night economy" to support the lifestyle of the growing call center agent population.

People Support Philippines president Bong Borja said one of the problems encountered by call centers in Cebu is the lack of available facilities to cater to the needs of the thousands of call center agents working in the unholy hours.

He said the recruitment problems have already been resolved as companies have developed ways to effectively pool call center agents. However, the inactive night-economy in Cebu remains to be a problem.

Call center staff getting off during the unholy hours like dawn or midnight have nowhere to go to unwind due to Cebu's lack of 24-hour retail stores, fast foods, coffee shops, restobars, among others.

Although, the former "The Village" located inside the Cebu Asia Town IT Park is now being reconstructed by Cebu Holdings Incorporated into a 24-hour commercial complex, designed to cater to the needs of the call center agents, it may not be enough to accommodate the entire call center agent population. PeopleSupport alone is targeting to employ over 2,000 call center agents in Cebu by end of this year, gearing up to add 1,000 more in 2007.

CHI president Rene D. Almendras earlier said that there is a huge market for the night economy in Cebu, as call centers are expanding their respective operations here.

The investment of the 24-hour commercial establishment is based on a study made by CHI showing strong demand for call center agents for lifestyle facilities during nighttime.

The establishment, Almendras said will not only house resto-bars, coffee shops, but a whole segment of lifestyle products and services, that are mostly missed by the call center agents while they are at work wide awake, while half of the world is sleeping.

On the other hand, call center companies lamented over the land-ownership policies in the country, which at present prohibit foreigners from owning properties. Borja, together with Western Wats Philippines president Chris S. Mangelson said these policies should be reviewed to attract more business process outsourcing (BPO) investments in the country, and encourage existing multinational companies (MNCs) to expand their operations here.

They said it's hard for the MNCs to consider extensive expansion here because they cannot own lands, and construct their own facilities.

If they insist on expanding, they still have to look for a building developer to build for them.