WESTERN BUREAU:

THE UMBRELLA group for BPOs is appealing to the Government to make it mandatory for all outsourcing firms operating in Jamaica to register with the representative body to ensure good governance in the sector.

Of the 68 BPOs, or business process outsourcing firms that offer services in Jamaica, 14 operations have not sought membership with the Gloria Henry-led Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ).

The president deems it unfair for her members to suffer for the action of those who refuse to be a part of a collective.

Her concern arises in the wake of public backlash and the shutdown of call centres and other BPO sites after a surge in cases of the new coronavirus at the Alorica call centre in Portmore, St Catherine. That spike prompted the Holness administration to order a 16-day lockdown of St Catherine which is due to expire on Friday morning.

Alorica is not a member of the GSAJ.

BPOs are widely known for the dense cubicle operations that have been viewed as facilitatory of the quick spread of the coronavirus disease. Breaches of social-distancing protocols – first three feet apart, which was later upgraded to six feet – reportedly occurred at Alorica, but its management has disputed that claim, citing approvals from the Ministry of Health & Wellness.

“The association is also urging the Government to not let the actions of non-GSAJ members bring undue pressure to bear on other conscientious members of the sector who have done right by their employees to mitigate the impact of COVID-19,” Henry said.

Since the Alorica outbreak on April 17, Henry said that the GSAJ implemented compulsory temperature checks and the wearing of masks.

“Very importantly, we conducted internal contact tracing of employees to determine if any had been in close contact with Alorica employees, activated testing of those who had been, and even voluntarily quarantined a site pending test results, where a close contact was discovered.

That result came back negative for a call-centre worker of the Sutherland offices at the Central Sorting Office building.

But Henry’s recommendation is unlikely to draw the non-members of the sector towards the GSAJ, as according to the CEO of one medium-sized outsourcing firm, the management of his organisation sees no need to join the association.

“When individual operations can speak as one voice, that is a good thing, but I want to see equal support for all members,” said the CEO, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity.