US-based call center opens fifth site in Phl

CEBU, Philippines - American contact center firm The Results Companies opened up its fifth site in the Philippines at the Mactan Newtown, its first out-of-Luzon expansion after operating in the Philippines for four years now.

The Results Manila vice president for facilities development administration Kevin Betts announced that the Cebu expansion will be hiring a total of 1,500 people within this year to man its expanding outsourcing services specializing healthcare, telecom, financial, customer service, among others.

Over the last four years, the company has already invested a total of P880 million in the Philippines. And the Mactan Newtown site incurred the company an estimated capitalization of P120 million.

In a press conference, Betts said that the company has already started its soft opening last June and now operating with over 400 people, and before the end of this year, The Results Manila call center on Mactan Island will be employing at least 1,500.

The Results Company in Mactan will have its grand opening on the 29th of this month, and will highlight its job fair activity.

“We view this opening as an opportunity for the company, considering that Mactan Island is considered as new frontier outside Cebu City,” Betts said adding that the company will focus its recruitment priorities to residents within Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue cities.

So far, he said the company has noted a 17 percent hiring rate in Cebu, which means that out of 10 applicants, about 1.7 percent is likely to be hired. However, he said that this rate is relatively good enough, while other locations have lower hiring rate levels.

Meanwhile, with the opening of The Results Manila in Mactan Newtown, the integrated project developer Megaworld emphasized that this will be the start of Mactan’s development as next BPO hub in Cebu Province.

Megaworld first vice president Jericho P. Go said that The Results Company will jumpstart the Mactan Newtown’s target to generate 40,000 full-time BPO employees by 2018.

“Megaworld is keen on expanding its office space for BPO companies inside The Mactan Newtown mainly because we see the significant growth of the BPO industry in Cebu. This we have observed in recent years,” Go said.

Megaworld is expected to offer around 150,000 square meters of office spaces in the more than 20-hectare—The Mactan Newtown within the next three to five years.

“We can actually add up more leasable office spaces if the demand is really high,” Go added.

“Cheaper labor, abundant manpower, affordable location and right assistance from the local government make Cebu ripe for BPO businesses,” Go said.

The Results Manila will occupy majority of the leasable space of the five-level One World Center building inside the integrated development.

Globally, The Results Companies has seven sites located in the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica.

“Cebu is home to a great pool of talented, educated people with exceptional drive for exceeding customer expectations. We expanded our office in Cebu to allow us to diversify our locations for our clients and internal business continuity planning,” Betts said.

The Mactan Newtown has been declared a “Special Economic Zone” by President Benigno S. Aquino III under presidential proclamation number 407. This places the township development under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), which allows businesses inside to enjoy various privileges such as tax incentives and holidays. /JMD (FREEMAN)