Convergys to hire 5,000 in Philippines

Convergys Corp. is seeing unbridled growth in the Philippines, which has overtaken India as the call-center capital of the world, thanks to low wages and a plentiful supply of educated English speakers.

The downtown provider of outsourced customer service centers plans to add 5,000 employees in the Southeast Asian country by the end of the year, potentially making the company’s operation bigger there than in any other country, including the United States.

The company says it is now the largest private employer in the Philippines, where it operates 14 contact centers where workers handle customer contacts over the phone and the Internet for a variety of clients in telecom, retail, health care and financial services.

Baguio City, in the northern part of the country.

Industry analysts say Convergys like to operate in the Philippines for two reasons:

- Filipino call-center workers cost a fraction of their U.S. counterparts and they can learn quickly and respond well to a range of customer inquiries.

- Convergys says its clients request services from the Philippines.

“Convergys continues to add facilities in the Philippines due to significant and continuing client demand for the very high quality customer service,” country manager Marife Zamora said.

The overseas expansion comes as Convergys’ employment in its headquarters city of Cincinnati has fallen to a little more than 1,000, less than it’s required to maintain under a 2003 incentive agreement.

The 2003 incentive agreement, Cincinnati’s largest ever, is potentially worth $52 million. Convergys has used about $30 million so far, most of it cash grants to help buy and renovate its headquarters at the Atrium One building on Fourth Street downtown.

The agreement called for Convergys to keep at least 1,400 workers downtown, but in its last annual report to the city in May, it said employment had fallen below the threshold to 1,091. That resulted in a penalty of $1 million.