BPO sector expands
Published:Saturday | July 17, 2021 | 12:11 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is set to expand with the creation of nine new sites across the island by existing players in the market.
In his State of the Nation Debate at yesterday’s sitting of the Senate, Aubyn Hill, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, said the BPO sector stood out during the COVID-19 pandemic for its resilience, strength and growth.
The construction, food and service delivery sectors were also lauded for their performance.
The Government senator also revealed that a new investor is about to establish a 70-seat facility in Montego Bay, St James.
As at the end of June, 44,000 people were employed in the sector when compared to 38,400 in June 2020.
“That’s approximately 15 per cent increase in jobs, year-over-year, when the economy was shrinking by over 10 per cent during the same period. Jamaicans, we are building back stronger,” he said.
Jamaica has about 87 BPO operators and since the start of the year, the sector brought in US$780 million to the Jamaican economy.
Work-from-home extension
Meanwhile, there has also been an extension of the work-from-home regime for the BPO sector for a one-year period.
In the early months of the pandemic, the sector was granted a series of rolling extensions allowing remote work for a percentage of its staff, to allow for physical distancing in the workplace.
The most recent six-month extension expired last month.
Operators were frustrated by the inability to provide guarantees to prospective clients due to the continuous rollover of short-term extensions.
“This longer extension allows investors and operators more planning and operating time, something for which the operators had been pressing,” he said, as he commended president of the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ), Gloria Henry, for her advocacy.
The Government also permitted operators to move equipment to the homes of employees without incurring duty and related fees.
Hill reasoned that the pandemic forced a review of the activities in the GSAJ and the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority (JSEZA) which showed that the working arrangements were less than efficient and in need of a thorough reworking.
Operators found JSEZA to be overly bureaucratic, as well as they have experienced long wait times for responses and decisions.
“For instance, operators say it takes up to eight days to get approval to move equipment from sites to work-at-home facilities,” the senator explained.
Further, Hill shared that the Government would be exploring an idea put forward by BPO operators to get their own legislative arrangements, possibly separate from being under JSEZA.
The Government senator noted that the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation would be taking all the necessary steps to ensure that the BPO and all other sectors under the GSAJ have “every operational incentive and ease within our laws and regulations to grow and prosper for all of our mutual benefit”.