Hybrid work set-up a key issue in CIB.O’s Transformation Summit

From left to right: Buddy Villasis, CIB.O Executive Director; Debra Sitoy, IONOS; Darwin John Moises, summit chairperson; Reah Yu, Lexmark

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Is hybrid the best type of work setup in the Information Technology Business Process Management (IT/BPM).

This is one of the key issues that the Cebu IT-BPM Organization (CIB.O) will be tackling during its annual Transformation Summit from July 13 to 15, 2022.

“We are about to end hopefully the pandemic. The question is how can we learn from this experience? How can we collaborate better and how we can move forward in this industry,” said Darwin John Moises, this year’s summit chairperson of the CIB.O.

Moises said that CIB.O met with national IT-BPO organizations and even Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) recently and was given assurance that the national government is open to the hybrid on-site and work-from-home set-up.

He believes that PEZA is open to the conversation of a hybrid work setup, but the conversation is far from over.

Buddy Villasis, the Executive Director of CIB.O, said that many companies have chosen to forego the incentives following the requirement of 100 percent work-on-site set-up.

“Many companies are prepared to lose incentives than lose people. In Cebu, we have seen some level of attrition relative to that because people are used to working from home than on-site,” said Villasis.

He added that there is a reason to believe that the next administration under President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., is leaning towards the hybrid set-up based on PEZA’s assurances to the industry.

Many companies still are employing the 70/30 hybrid set-up with 70 percent of the workers on-site and 30 percent at home.

Moises said that the hybrid set-up will most likely be the future of IT-BPO workspaces as there are many functions that can operate efficiently from home.

“That’s the kind of learnings that we are able to get from the pandemic. It is possible that we are not going back to the old one,” said Moises.

Lexmark’s Site Project lead, Reah Yu, said they have employed the 70/30 hybrid work but some employees would opt to work at the office because of connection problems at home.

IONOS’ Debra Sitoy said that their company is 100 percent working on-site, but they are ready to implement a hybrid set-up once the government gives the go signal.

The changing workspace is only among the many key issues that the Transformative Summit 2022 will tackle as the IT-BPM industry moves forward through the end of the pandemic.

The summit will also tackle transportation, especially the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system of Cebu City, technology, developments in artificial intelligence, and the trend of services in the industry.

Many IT-BPM companies such as Accenture, Lexmark, Ionus, AyalaLand, JP Morgan Chase & Co., RedRoot, and others are expected to join the virtual summit.     /rcg

RELATED STORIES:

CCCI supports BPO industry’s request for extension of WFH until September

Peza tells BPOs: Return to your offices while we pursue WFH appeal

Back-to-work order for BPOs may hurt PH, says Colliers

No termination for BPO workers who refuse on-site work, says DOLE exec

Read more...