With the downgrade to Alert Level 1 of the National Capital Region (NCR) and 38 other areas in the country that encourages onsite work starting today, information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) companies may stand to lose their privilege of working from anywhere without diminution of their incentives.
On the flipside, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said bringing back workers to their offices will help revitalize small businesses in the vicinities of these places.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is poised to seek reconsideration from the Fiscal Incentives and Review Board (FIRB) to allow IT-BPM companies keep a certain percentage of their employees work offsite.
This follows an earlier request of the PEZA for the FIRB to extend work-from-home (WFH) until Sept. 12, 2022 or until the end of the state of calamity.
“The FIRB accordingly disapproves that (request) because we are now in Alert Level 1 and they’re asking workers’ physical presence in ecozones,” said Charito Plaza, PEZA director-general.
PEZA said the extension will allow companies to prepare for the return to ecozones of the workers also in consideration of the investments of the locators on equipment and venue of their WFH setup.
“They need to make adjustments also (because) the (alert) level is temporary depending on the condition of the pandemic,” Plaza added.
Jack Madrid, president of the IT and Business Processing Association of the Philippines, (IBPAP) in a forum called on the need to legislate the work-from-anywhere and make it a permanent option if the country wants to retain its competitiveness in terms of cost and operating flexibility.
Madrid sees companies going back to the office “not overnight, not 100 percent,” which will drive real estate based on the demand the Philippines is receiving.
“In a few years, we need to lease real estate as we begin to reopen,” Madrid added.
Citing India and Malaysia which have implemented guidelines for WFH, Madrid said: “We need to follow suit because we need to compete and even our workers in the Philippine IT-BPM industry want that extra flexibility to work from home or work from anywhere.”
“One present challenge is to enact legislation that will permit more flexibility for the adoption of hybrid and location-independent work arrangements and models that will democratize job opportunities, improve employee productivity and work-life balance, reduce absenteeism and attrition rate, decongest Metro Manila, and expand talent and hiring pools,” Madrid said in a statement.
In 2021, the IT-BPM industry is estimated to have grown 7 to
8 percent in headcount and 8 to 12 percent in revenues with 1.4 million workers and $28.8 billion in receipts.
IBPAP has begun engagement with presidential candidates inviting them to roundtables to help them learn about on-the-ground realities and challenges of the sector.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez in a radio interview said WFH will now be optional among companies and may operate at 100 percent capacity. Flexible and alternative work arrangement will be based on function or individual risk.
But he said bringing back workers to the workplaces will spur consumption and boost businesses from transportation to carinderias.
