Aegis PeopleSupport Philippines wants to hire 1,200 more workers for local operations

In the news: Outsourcing firm Aegis PeopleSupport (Philippines), Inc. wants to hire an additional 1,200 employees as the company continues to expand operations in the country. The outsourcing company also wants to tap the domestic market to make use of its facilities during daytime.

Revenues of PeopleSupport are expected to be at par with the industry benchmark of about a 20% increase for the year with more clients from the United States, the firm’s top executive said.

“Given the world economic environment and how fluid it is right now, I think we still remain to be bullish with the business. We are gearing for expansion,” Rainerio M. Borja, president of Aegis PeopleSupport, said in an interview.

Aegis PeopleSupport already occupies two floors at the Rockwell Business Center in Ortigas, noted Liza C. Lamzon, assistant vice-president for strategic programs. “We will exercise the intent to take an additional three floors,” she added.

Mr. Borja said the office configuration was about 350 to 400 seats per floor, which will increase manpower by as much as 1,200.

He said the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry thrives in economic ups and downs as foreign companies continuously look for more economical ways to do business.

Aegis PeopleSupport has three thrusts under its growth programs: organic growth through more clients, acquisition, and domestic market expansion. The domestic program has shown good performance, executives said.

“We just started the domestic business recently and we registered significant growth … the domestic business has proven to be a viable growth engine for us,” Mr. Borja said.

Securing local clients is expected to increase the efficiency of the outsourcing firm, he added.

Mr. Borja said the company uses 100% of facilities at night, the peak period for call centers, but not at daytime.

The outsourcing firm can also expand operations in non-real time, non-voice services, which can be done during daytime, he added. “I can see the [revenue] ratio changing over time especially in the next two to three years where the domestic space is growing,” Mr. Borja said.

Ask about the firm’s outlook for full-year revenues, Mr. Borja said: “I think you will see us grow slightly faster or in line with the industry growth.”

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines expects the industry to grow revenues by 23% this year to $6.15 billion. For the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, outsourcing revenues are expected to rise by as much as 30% to $9.4 billion.

“At some point, we want to double our business here, it is just a matter of when,” Mr. Borja said.

Services of Aegis PeopleSupport include customer prospecting and acquisition, customer care, order processing, and data management.