An employee-centric business process outsourcing company in Iloilo City is opening a new service facility in Bacolod City, Philippines in February 2020.

Fair Trade Outsourcing, a people-first BPO company, is expanding its operations in the Philippines with a new contact center in Bacolod City, Philippines. The new facility is expected to start its operations in February 2020.

Fair Trade Outsourcing chose to build a second facility in Bacolod City because of its thriving economy and the prestige it lends as a highly urbanized city (HUC). The office building itself is located in the heart of Bacolod City, which is another progressive city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It’s so close to City Hall, banks, dining spots, shopping centers, and other business establishments.

With this second facility, Fair Trade Outsourcing will expand its Fair Trade mission in the Philippines and expects to produce similar, poverty-reduction results, from its first and flagship Iloilo City, Philippines facility, which currently employs almost 400 Filipinos in living wage, Fair Trade Employment.

Rather than consolidate the company in one location, Fair Trade Outsourcing chooses to follow the Rule of 150, which posits that 150 is the most number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. In an organization, when employees go beyond a hundred and fifty in number, something changes. People start to focus on making themselves seen and heard rather than on maintaining quality of work. Thus, when the company went beyond this golden number, it was time to split the group and expand its reach.

The newest facility in Bacolod is located at Villa Angela East Block Building A, Circumferential Road, Barangay Villamonte. It has 350 square meters of office space with biometric access and an armed security guard to ensure the safety of everyone in the building.

The whole office is connected with 1gbps blended transit to PLDT and Globe, with redundant connectivity via Fair Trade Outsourcing’s multi-gigabit global network and 24/7/365 global NOC monitoring. This setup guarantees that the company complies with PCI-DSS standards and adheres to international data privacy and security laws.

The facility is also rigged with a redundant n+1 uninterruptible power source (UPS) and a 250 kVA diesel generator with an automatic transfer switch (ATS). This setup ensures there will be no major disruptions in operations and employees can continue to work in a comfortable environment.

Bacolod City has no fewer than 22 higher education institutions that produce more than 14,000 graduates each year. About a third are Business degree holders while close to 30% hold Engineering, IT, Math, and Medical-related degrees. The number of college graduates equipped with the necessary skills should sustain Bacolod City’s viability as a global outsourcing destination.