The Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC)
School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University
cordially invites you to the first in a series of lectures by IPC
Visiting Research Associates (VRA) and Merit Research Award (MRA) Associates
for SY 2011-2012:

Light at Night: How the Offshore Call Center Industry is Reshaping  
Young Filipino Workers

by

Resmi Setia Milawati
Visiting Research Associate, IPC
Asian Public Intellectual (API) Fellow

on

July 12, 2011 (Tuesday)
4:30 to 5:30 pm
IPC Conference Room
Rm 203, Frank Lynch Hall
Social Development Complex
Ateneo de Manila University

**Please call local 4651 or e-mail ipc@admu.edu.ph for inquiries.

Abstract:
This research examines the social impact of the offshore call center industry on young college-educated Filipino workers by analyzing how the industry is reshaping the way they see about themselves and how they are adjusting with it. Despite valuable contributions of the BPO industry, specifically the call center, there are issues related to the workers that need to be examined further. Findings show that the combination of relatively high salaries and peculiar characteristics of the industry that involve the graveyard shift, irate customers, tedious workloads, tight control and high performance demand seem to change the way they see about themselves and lead to conspicuous consumption and unusual use of leisure time. Moreover, the industry also tends to use these young college-educated workers solely for their English fluency and do not optimize their remaining skills. In the long run, these issues can be a challenge for Filipino government efforts to improve their human resources in order to be able to compete fairly in the globalizing world.