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The Philippines is one of the fastest developing countries in Asia and has long been seen as the top outsourcing destination in the world. The question now is not ‘why’ but ‘where’ in the Philippines? This blog explores the differences between Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and Clark, a former United States Air Force Base and home to a growing number of BPOs, including Beepo.
Manila
The National Capital Region is the hub of the Filipino culture, economic growth, education and The Filipino Government. This is the epicentre, both locally and internationally for business, art and technology. Metro Manila is home to over 12 million people and with this size and the rapid pace of development inevitably comes congestion. A recent study found Metro Manila to have the 3rd worst traffic in Southeast Asia.
When considering work/life balance, think about the impact this congestion has on commuters. It can take commuters 2 hours just to travel as little as 8km– these commuters are potentially your offshore team members.
Manila’s infrastructure is under constant pressure from over-population which means the city experiences frequent power outages. Add to this an outdated telecommunications network and I think you see where we are going with this. A reliable power source and high speed internet are both critical to successful outsourcing.
Being the hub that it is, there is a great attraction for people to move there purely to find work. As a result, there is a lot of job hopping that happens as individuals look purely for higher wages – making it difficult to retain staff.
Clark
In contrast, Clark is located 80kms north of Manila in a more regional area. Most of the people who work in Clark live in Angeles, a city of around 400,000 people approximately 30 minutes away in free-flowing traffic. The appeal for people wanting to live in Angeles is a better lifestyle or work/life balance.
The area was previously a US Airforce base, which means that it has “modern infrastructure facilities, professional support services, and other amenities.” Your business is basically in the centre of the Asia-Pacific region with its own airport and no congestion. There is an expressway that provides easy access into Clark and the area is surrounded by plenty of hotels, restaurants, gaming centres, and world-class golf resorts.
Don’t just take our word for it…
Adam Geneave, Vice President of Customer Experience at Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific says “we've got some really good skill sets with the staff and I think it's one of the strengths of the recruiting in the Clark market”. He also sees the other drawcard as being able to recruit locally based staff who were also trying to escape the Manila commute.
Adam goes on to praise the calibre of his staff by saying, “Particularly in my team we've seen some great staff come on board in our quality assurance division who have travelled around the world and worked overseas for large organisations. They have really brought a great skill set to the quality assurance division that we have.”
Want to find out more about Clark?
Click here to read more on Why Clark is the best location in The Philippines to outsource to.
