One of the country’s top employers has warned the Philippines may lose its competitiveness if and when information technology-business process management (IT-PM) companies which employ hybrid work and work-from-home (WFH) arrangement are stripped of their tax incentives.
“If potentially higher fiscal taxes in the Philippines are imposed for WFH and hybrid-work employers like Concentrix, this action will erode our country’s attractiveness to foreign investors who are looking for partners who have scale and flexibility in operations and staffing,” said Amit Jagga, senior vice president and country leader of Concentrix Philippines, in a statement.
This comes following the statement of the Department of Finance that IT-BPM firms can opt to retain WFH and hybrid work but they would have pay taxes on portions of revenues earned offsite.
Concentrix, whose WFH population is approximately 60,0000 staff — over 60 percent of its Philippines team, operates 24/7 in support of clients and customers in multiple time zones across four continents.
“ For a company of that scale, the cost of fuel and vehicle utilization adds to the urban traffic problem and subsequent loss of productivity in millions of dollars,” said Jagga.
The company has also been operating alternative work arrangements like community hubs and micro-sites.
Concentrix also cited Telecommuting Act signed into law in 2018 allows those in the private sector to work “from an alternative workplace with the use of telecommunications and/or computer technologies.”
“Alternative work arrangements provide unique benefits for our industry and people as we operate continuously, are disaster-resilient, global-customer facing and technology-driven by nature. It is also timely considering the current global issue of rising fuel costs that would be financially detrimental to a return-to-office approach, not just for businesses but for staff themselves to bear. We truly believe that flexible work models are key to ensuring the Philippines’ global competitiveness, represent a progressive way to the future, and should be strengthened and encouraged,” Jagga added. Irma Isip
