A study recently made by the Columbia University found that after the country of India, the Philippines is said to be one of the biggest recipients of outsourcing deals. Almost 30 percent of the market is captured by the Philippine call center industry. In another market survey in 2005 executed by an independent group concluded that the Philippines ranked as the best place for quality service in Asia, above India, China, and Malaysia.

All of these things point to one conclusion: the call center offshore industry is the one of the soaring growth fields in the Philippines that gives it thousands of new jobs that help increase the whole country’s economic status. This is why the industry is called “the sunshine industry.” The industry has set up infrastructure in the main cities of the country. Virtually every business center in the country is littered with call center offices. Zamboanga, Pampanga, Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod, and Manila are all the usual call center locations in the country.

Right at this moment there exist more than 70 call centers in the Philippines. And looking at the global trend of offshore outsourcing, there will be many more centers to be set up for active operations in the country. The Philippines will truly benefit from such a golden on this opportunity since the country is full of English speaking people that are something rare as compared to other Asian countries. Virtually everyone in the country can speak or understand the language.

The country is also such a verdant ground for offshore outsourcing. It is one of the most highly educated populations in all of Asia. Education is cheaper and accessible in most parts of the country. Also, English is taught from pre-school, grade school, high school, and even up to college. Therefore, there is no doubt that anyone who has gone to school in the country can speak English.

In recent years, the Philippine call center industry has elicited debates from people in favor and from those who think that it is not good for the economy. Those Critics opposed to the industry point to low quality of the job, and more significantly, these people argue that outsourcing is bad for the health of the workers as well as the long term economy of the Philippines.threatens the livelihood of domestic workers. Those who are advocates, say that call center companies that utilize this industry in order to get savings for investment provide better salaries and thus income for the people.

Everyone in the country has an image of what the Philippine call center must be like. But this idea that most people have is general stereotypical images that may have some truth but are rash generalizations on an industry that gets a bad rap most of the time and the truth or reason behind these stereotypes are ignored. Also, these stereotypes are applied to the very contact center agents and employees working in a call center company. So what are the most popular stereotypical ideas on Philippine call center businesses?

Call Center Agents are Unhealthy Smokers
What people think: Call center agents are all unhealthy people with generally bad health habits. If a call center exists in a building, there are surely some call center agents at the entrance of the building smoking cigarettes.

Truth behind the stereotype: Those who smoke at the entrance of the building are not all call center agents. It just so happens that there are so many call center businesses and call center businesses out there and that employees of such businesses are also many. Thus, during breaks, they are more noticeable since they tend to gather together. The fact is there is no connection between call centers and smoking. They are just more noticeable since they are so many.

Call Centers Overwork their Employees
What people think: Call center businesses are slave drivers. They overwork their employees. This is why call center agents get ill most of the time. And this is also why they seem stressed out all the time.

Truth behind the stereotype: Getting a job in this industry is no picnic. But really, one can get a lot of rest in a call center. There is definitely stress involved in the job, but this is a different kind of stress. Talking to people who are mostly complaining or angry about a product all the time can be very stressful to people who are not emotionally equipped to handle such things. Also, some people cannot handle the nightshift well. But the truth is, there are a lot of people who do not find this that stressful since they are able to fix their schedules in such a way that they can get enough good sleep even if they work at night.

Philippine Call Center Businesses are Bad for the Country’s Economy
This is just not true. The call center industry is creating a lot of revenue and jobs for the country. The thing that people think is that this is just another form of third world exploitation. While there is that kind of process going on, the winner is still the Philippines since the revenue and jobs contribute a lot to the economy and does not damage it at all.