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Govt nixes extension of work-from-home for BPOs even as sector cites productivity

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - The Department of Finance on Wednesday said a Cabinet-level interagency board supports the decision of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board to disallow remote work for the majority of BPO firms in ecozones after March 31.</p><p>The FIRB upheld Resolution No. 19-21 which only allows WFH arrangements not exceeding 90 percent of the total workforce for registered Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) enterprises until the end of the month.</p><p>The resolution also &quot;denies the request of certain groups to implement extensions to the adoption of the WFH arrangement for the IT-BPM sector until after March 2022,&quot; the DOF said. </p><p>Several groups from the BPO sector have called for an extension of the work-from-home arrangement, citing continued productivity even if their workers were not reporting to the office physically.</p><p>But Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez who is also the FIRB chairman said the WFH arrangement &quot;is only a time-bound temporary measure adopted during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>&quot;Given the increasing vaccination rate of Filipinos nationwide, we can now undertake safe measures for physical reporting of employees, including those working in the IT-BPM firms operating within ecozones and freeports,” he added.</p><p>He said the workers&#x27; return to office would pave the way for the recovery of micro, small and medium enterprises that depend on the sector.</p><p>IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) earlier said the country needs a more permanent hybrid work set up to help the sector retain its competitiveness. </p><p>In the meeting held last Feb. 21, the FIRB also disapproved the request for the lifting of the moratorium on ecozone development in Metro Manila, the DOF said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/03/02/22/bpos-bat-for-more-permanent-hybrid-work-setup">BPO sector bats for &#x27;more permanent&#x27; hybrid work setup to stay competitive: IBPAP</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1949092" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The government said it will allow remote work for the majority of IT-BPM enterprises in ecozones only until March 31.