State investments arm Philippine Economic Zone Authority said the current 30 percent work-from-home arrangements for registered information technology and business process outsourcing firms will be extended until March next year.
In a text message, PEZA Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning Tereso O. Panga the extension has been “approved in principle” and the board only needs to revise its memorandum order.
“There is no need for the board to convene, (we) just need to revise our memo to include the inputs of the board, that the 30 percent WFH is a long-standing policy of PEZA and not just as a temporary measure,” he said.
Panga said the extension of the limited remote work arrangement follows the one-year validity period of letters of authority issued by PEZA and in support of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines’ request for a longer WFH authority.
The move will help locators plan for the work schedule of their employees amid increasing market demands.
Hybrid helps keep momentum
According to PEZA, implementing a hybrid work setup helps ensure the country’s unhampered economic and employment growth which will also encourage more IT-BPO companies and other enterprises to invest in the country.
As of December 2021, PEZA has 1,274 IT locator companies operating in 297 IT centers/parks and providing 1,017,559 jobs nationwide with exports of $15.797 billion.
The latest data from PEZA also showed that the IT-BPOs grew by around 7 to 8 percent in terms of headcount and between 8 and 13 percent for revenues last year. It brought the estimated total industry headcount in the sector to 1.4 million and revenues generated from the industry to $28.8 billion.
In a related development, Department of Labor and Employment secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma recently said the government is currently revising the implementing rules and regulations of the Telecommuting Law, which allows private companies to offer alternative work arrangements to their employees.