You get what you pay for, right? Wrong!
Sometimes you pay more for a service, but get worse service. You won’t be using that service much longer, right? Service in the Philippines for call center work is not always that professional. Agents quit their jobs after a few months on a whim as a matter of practice. People do not answer emails consistently. You find broken links on websites and other aspects of unprofessional business. I had an interview with a call center and I couldn’t hear them because the phone line they were using was not clear. If you specialize in communication, why can’t I hear you properly?
Trump would love to bring jobs back to the United States. But, if an American company charges $40 per hour for call center services and you can get someone in Manila at $7 at a company or $2 if you hire them directly, why would you pay $40? Even with a 35% outsourcing tax, $7 becomes $9.45. If you charge $9.45 you need to have higher standards. And if that price went back down to $7 you might keep those standards now that you have made a habit of them.
The Filipinos need to learn that their sloppy business behavior needs to change. As long as they get endless supplies of work thrown at them, they will not learn to be better. In fact, they have too much work in the Philippines. So much work that people quit on a whim. This is a problem. They need to face a severe work shortage in the Philippines so that they take work more seriously — and Trump’s tax might do exactly that.
There are other factors that could force the Filipino outsourcing culture to change. The minute India decides to run their call centers better and treat customers with respect, the Philippines will be in huge trouble. India’s disrespect and bad manners was Manila’s blessing as Filipinos have very good manners as a culture. The Philippines sucked up almost all of India’s call center business as big companies wanted manners. But, with competition from Africa, South & Central America and Eastern Europe continue, there might be big competition for call center jobs. It is just a matter of time, but the world will go this direction.