A lawmaker has urged all business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the country to grant working mothers at least four months paid maternity leave.
This after Accenture recently increased its paid maternity leave benefits to 120 days — or double the statutory minimum maternity leave in the country.
“We applaud Accenture’s decision to voluntarily increase the paid maternity leave benefits of its working mothers, and we wish other BPO firms here could do the same,” House Deputy Majority Leader and Makati City Rep. Mar-Len Abigail Binay said in a statement released on Sunday.
Effective September 1, all of Accenture’s working mothers in the Philippines will enjoy 120 days of paid maternity leave, according to Manolito Tayag, country managing director of Accenture, which has multiple delivery centers in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Binay said women now comprise more than half of the country’s estimated 1,030,000 BPO workers.
“Now would be an excellent time for BPO firms to increase the paid maternity leave benefits of their working mothers, considering the tailwinds helping the industry,” Binay said, referring to the peso’s decline against the US dollar.
A weaker peso is considered highly beneficial to BPO firms, which earn in US dollars, but pay for their Philippine operations, including the wages of their workers, in pesos.
Like Philippine exporters of manufactured goods, the BPO sector also exports its services to overseas clients.
BPO firms have gained steadily since the peso-dollar rate moved from 42:1 in 2013 to 44:1 in 2014, and then to 46.70:1 as of August 28.
Source: abs-cbnnews.com