MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) Wayne Sinclair is optimistic the body will receive a positive response from the Ministry of Finance on its submission to remove the tax on the incentive portion of salaries for more than 50,000 workers in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

Last year, Government announced the removal of the tax on gratuities for workers in the tourism industry, and the GSAJ is adamant that this should be extended to BPO workers.

Speaking during the Outsource2Jamaica 2025 (O2J) cocktail at the ATL Automotive Showroom in Montego Bay, St James, on Thursday night, Sinclair listed the submission for the removal of tax on the incentives among a raft of measures the sector’s working group — the Global Services Sector (GSS) — is now pushing.

“One of the things that we have done is we have submitted a proposal to see if we can get a tax relief in the form of discounts or tax relief incentive-based compensation for the team members.

“It’s very similar to what has been granted to the tourism industry, and it is our belief that an industry which is a significant contributor to our country’s employment…we think it is a reasonable request to make and it is now being considered,” Sinclair told BPO stakeholders.

“So we look forward to a favourable consideration to see if we can get some tax relief for our team members,” added Sinclair.

He later told the Jamaica Observer that, coming out of a working group convened by Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill with GSAJ, GSS, and Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro), it was decided to tackle issues facing the sector.

“And so we have come up with a whole set of things that we want to see done, and getting incentives for the team members of this industry is one of them. And the incentive that we are talking about is just getting relief on the incentive portions of their salaries, not the base pay,” clarified Sinclair.

The GSAJ boss argued that the removal of tax from their incentives will motivate workers in the sector.

“What that does [is that] it incentivises people to work even more, to make more incentives, because if they know that that incentive is tax free — or, even a portion of it is tax-free — then it provides that more incentive, and it kills many birds with one stone.

“It also helps with issues like attrition, it helps with employee engagement, because people are going to want to stay in the industry and continue to work in the industry, and improve themselves in the industry. So it is just a win-win situation all the way round,” added Sinclair.

Second vice-president of GSAJ Leezo Wallace has put his full support behind the push for the removal of tax on the incentives, which he argued the BPO workers deserve.

“I think the BPO sector has proven itself to have put in the work during tough times. We remember in COVID-19, when everything else was down, the BPO sector workers, we were transporting them to work and taking them back home,” Wallace told the Observer.

“The sector grew in COVID, so I think it would be a good incentive, a good payback, and a good thank you to the BPO workers to give them this incentive that the president has been pushing for,” added Wallace.

In the meantime, Gloria Henry, president of BPO and logistics at Port Authority of Jamaica, and chairman of the O2J Conference & Expo 2025 — scheduled for April 10 at Montego Bay Convention Centre — pointed out that over the past four stagings it has been successful in securing buyers to support Jamaica’s GSS.

“This is a platform to market and promote Jamaica as a destination for outsourcing in all forms — whether it is business process, IT [information technology], software, and now logistics,” Henry said.

The O2J conference is the premier event for the island’s BPO and logistics industries.

It brings together local businesses, international buyers, and industry experts to foster collaboration and drive growth in the sectors.

This year the conference will bring together industry leaders, experts, and stakeholders from across the globe, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Central America, and the United States.

President of the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) Wayne Sinclair (right) has the attention of second vice-president of GSAJ Leezo Wallace (left) and president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jason Russell, during the O2J 2025 cocktail event at the ATL Automotive Showroom in Bogue, Montego Bay, St James, on Thursday night. (Photo: Philp Lemonte)