AS MANY companies look to have more staff return to the office tomorrow as the work-from-home order issued as part of the COVID-19 containment measures expires, eyes will be focused on the outsourcing sector, where an outbreak at Alorica’s Portmore operations triggered a major shift in the country’s response to the pandemic.
With some outsourcing firms keen on having some staff continue to serve clients from home, Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) President Gloria Henry is lamenting that the outbreak is being used to unfairly paint the entire sector in a negative light.
At least 7,500 business process outsourcing (BPO) workers from companies registered to the GSAJ have been laid off in recent months.
President Henry said at least 40 per cent of BPO staff islandwide are currently working from home, and that the overall number of employees within the sector has fallen from an estimated 43,000 last December to 36,000 currently.
... Even persons who should know better are still talking about the BPO sector, when really it was one company that had a spread in Portmore.”
