• By quade
• 24 July 2024

DOLE to Help Displaced POGO Workers Find Work in BPOs

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) announced on Tuesday that they will support recently displaced POGO workers. This comes as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced a ban on Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) in his recent State of the Nation address.

While he hopes this will help reduce crime and security risks, this has also raised issues as these POGOs employ thousands of Filipinos. To prevent major economic disruptions, DOLE plans to support these workers and help them find new work.

Total POGO Ban in the Philippines

With his recent SONA, President Marcos announced a year-end deadline for all POGOs in the Philippines to halt operations. They will have this window to prepare and get all their affairs in order. Afterward, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma announced that the Department of Labor would begin interventions on the POGOs.

However, there are concerns about the displaced POGO workers as many of them are Filipinos who depend on this job. To help these workers stave off unemployment, Laguesma said that they will take advantage of Dole’s different programs to assist them.

Among the programs they offer include skills upgrades, training, job fairs, and retooling skills. They will provide these programs directly to the POGO workers. As of making this announcement, 28 of the 79 registered POGOs in Metro Manila have provided a list of employees.

DIsrepancies in the Number of Displaced POGO Workers

Based on the initial estimates gathered from these 28 POGOs, DOLE believes there are about 10,000 displaced POGO workers who can potentially find work. As a result, they believe these workers can find jobs in the BPO sector, specifically IT BPO services as many of these workers have experience with programming, web design, and content creation.

However, there have been some disputes about the number of POGOs in the country. A report from the chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) provides a conflicting account. Their report only mentioned 43 legal POGOs in the area.

They believe this difference can be attributed to some organizations being listed as Internet Game Licenses or IGLs. Laguesma said that these two are interchangeable terms and that IGLs are just terms created by some POGOs to rebrand themselves.

In another interview on dzBB, Laguesma explained that displaced POGO workers can be useful for BPO work as many of them have skills in encoding, administration, and financing. This will make it easier for them to find work in different BPOs.

How Can BPOs Benefit from Displaced POGO Workers?

Although this may seem like a crisis, for Philippine IT providers, this can be a blessing in disguise. The closure of the POGOs means there will be an influx of highly talented IT workers who can handle different specialized tasks. 

POGOs are IT-heavy industries, requiring programmers, tech support, and encoders to keep them running. These are valuable skills in hot demand right now and outsourcing is the best place to make use of them. The skills can be transferred when they enter the BPO workforce.

A bonus is that POGOs often operate across the globe, dealing with many international clients just like BPOs. This means that not only will the displaced POGO workers offer technical expertise, but they also know how to deal with international clients. 

As many of these workers will soon be out of a job, this means that they are looking for work and this is the perfect opportunity to connect skills and the right job.