Bryan Campbell Romero, investment and policy editor with Nearshore Americas, the research body and news source which has been tracking BPO growth in the region for more than a decade, told the Jamaica Observer that Jamaican companies were experiencing some challenges in the area of talent recruitment.

He told Sunday Finance, “On top of the shortages of talent, you have to consider the significant inflationary pressures that Jamaica, the region and the world at large are facing. This complicates the issue of compensation.”

He said, however, that he saw how companies in Jamaica were “creating new ways to adapt to this and maintain both excitement and fair levels of compensation among their workers”.

Locally, more companies are putting up “Help Needed” signs as a scarcity of workers at entry-level positions across many industries continue.

The blame is being laid at the foot of the business processing outsourcing (BPO) sector in which wage hikes are taking place with over 50 companies on the island battling for English-speaking workers who can type 30 words per hour or more, and possess other IT skills and customer service aptitudes.

Workers have told Sunday Finance that average wage in the sector is $80,000 monthly or $40,000 fortnightly. Some companies, however, are going ungloved.

Continuum Global Solutions, advertising on Caribbeanjobs.com, is seeking customer service associate for its Montego Bay, St James location, with an offer of $565/hourly in training and ranging up to $640/hourly after training.

The weekly rate, after training, is in the region of $25,000 for 40 hours of work. This compares to the national minimum wage which is $9,000 weekly.

Also seeking to attract workers on the basis of better pay is C4 Global Solutions, a company with locations in St James, Trelawny and Westmoreland. C4, operating in Jamaica for five years, is promising new recruits higher-than-average pay, stating in its advert on Caribbeanjobs.com: “C4 is one of the top-paying BPO companies in the St James area.

C4 claims, “For the year 2021, our 25 per cent top-performing agents earned over $174,000 per month.”

The company boasts higher wages, hourly salary enhancement incentive for attendance and performance and what is described as “uncapped commissions”.

C4 said that, aside from base pay which it says is highly competitive, the company is promising free lunch daily, weekly incentives, free transportation, life and medical insurance, employee referral bonuses, “vibrant social club activities”, and management developmental programme enrolment for those interested. Advanced Call Center Technologies, LLC, also seeking customer care associates for locations in St James, Trelawny and Westmoreland, promises paid training and is enticing workers with what it describes as a “massive opportunity for advancement”, stating that “90 per cent of our leadership team was promoted from within”.

ACT also included in its job advert an offer for “hourly, overtime, and tremendous bonus opportunities, fantastic supervisors and a positive environment, employee appreciation, team, and theme days, onsite counselor and nurse, health insurance, free transportation and lunch subsidy and onsite canteen”.

Packaging

Etech Global Services LLC, also with locations in Hanover, St James and Trelawny said it is offering a base pay of “up to $600 per hour with weekends off!,” as advertised on Caribbeanjobs.com. The company also promises tuition reimbursement.

Conduent, which describes itself as “the world’s largest provider of diversified business process services company with leading capabilities in transaction processing, automation, analytics and constituent experience”, says it’s offering a compensation package inclusive of base plus incentive, on-site clinic seven-days per week providing affordable health-care access, free transportation service, health insurance benefits and company paid life insurance coverage.

Radius Global Solutions, another company, lists worker benefits as including “a competitive hourly rate, lucrative incentive plans, lunch for first week of training, free Wi-Fi, annual merit pay increases, pension retirement plan with contributions from Radius, contest prize giveaways, health, dental, vision, and life insurance”. The company says that it also offers permanent employment as opposed to contracts.

A recruitment official on the island who spoke to Sunday Finance on condition of anonymity said hiring from among the available worker pool is no easy task.

She outlined, “The quality of applicants often left much to be desired”.

“Speaking from a call centre perspective, there are a lot of unqualified workers in Jamaica. Most of our young candidates lack the ability to use the computers to do an assessment.”

“Other weaknesses include conducting oneself in an interview and deportment. I think interview techniques should be taught in high school. Candidates often do not know how to behave in an interview, the simplest things such as sitting properly, giving some level of eye contact, speaking clearly and answering questions with intelligence. Those are some of the issues we face.”

She said that pay scales also remain a challenge. “The salary is a big factor, as candidates are sometimes turned off by what is being offered.