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CEBU, Philippines - Obama’s insourcing jobs agenda: Treat or threat?

We have become living witnesses again of how the candidates and the American people conduct themselves in a decision making process as significant as an election.  During the campaign, candidates have largely set aside “swiftboating” and engaged themselves on issue-driven politics.   More impressive was the magnanimity and humility of the protagonists in acknowledging the fresh mandate and in conceding defeat. 

Like any race, however, the day after, the euphoria shall mellow down and despair shall melt away.  Emotion, fleeting as it has always been, shall subside and disappear.  What certainly shall stay and sadly will have long and negative impact on our lives is the possibility that President Obama shall put more teeth into his call to action early this year to American businessmen to invest in America at the White House "Insourcing American Jobs" Forum.  To recall, the forum focused on “the increasing trend of insourcing – where companies are bringing jobs back to the United States America (USA) and making additional investments in America.”

Among others, the companies that had representations then were Ford of the Americas, DuPont, Otis Elevator Company, Intel, ThyssenKrupp, Rolls Royce, Master Lock, Lincolnton Furniture, GalaxE Solutions, AGS, KEEN and Chesapeake Bay Candle.  These companies’ representatives made strong commitments to bring jobs back to the USA.

Looking at the aforementioned companies’ names, not anyone of us may chill. After all, these companies are manufacturing concerns and do not have significant plants in the country that may have to shutdown. However, on account of Pres. Obama’s desire to bring jobs back to the USA, he might just tweak some policies and this number may just grow and may include US factories based in our economic zones. 

On the other hand, one of the attendees in such forum represents an industry that has been bringing in the needed dollars in the country, NOVO 1’s CEO Mary Murcott.  Scarily, in a startling revelation, Miss Murcott stressed that “many American companies that began using offshore call centers 10 or 15 years ago are bringing those call centers and contact centers back home, but nobody seems to want to talk about it”.   Though we might just brush aside her claims as a mere discourse or an act of patriotism, Miss Murcott maintained that American companies “can save 15 percent by bringing their contact centers back to America from India and the Philippines.” 

Sadly, we can’t help but also agree with Miss Murcott that what is left for call centers now are the “hard calls”. The “easy calls” or those that are easy to resolve are efficiently handled on the company’s website or by phone via interactive voice response.   As such, she is of the opinion that the Filipinos are not up to it (hard calls) because, for one, most of the agents are not familiar with the USA and its diverse culture. Moreover, the federal government and some states have been giving grants and incentives to those companies that will bring their operations back to the USA.

This precarious development shouldn’t be taken lightly by our country’s government executives and industry leaders. The key now is, first and foremost, try to look at the possibility of offering incentives to these business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Incentives that are more than enough to negate whatever perks their home country is giving. More importantly, we should also hone the skills of our call center agents to be more qualified and competitive.

However, if we take a look at the bigger picture, it isn’t entirely gloomy at all. For one, if the employment rate in the USA increases, consumer spending will likewise rise.

Consequently, consumptions of goods and services shall correspondingly increase. This is a scenario where our long dormant export industry may find some activity again. Exporters like those in furniture, gift items, garments and the like may find their way again into the US market.

For your comments and suggestions, please email to [email protected].  (FREEMAN)