BPO Industry in the Philippines: 2026 Trends for Employers

Two decades ago, it would have seemed far-fetched for the Philippines to become an integral player in the global business landscape. What started as call centers in Manila has grown into a $38 billion business that’s expected to grow to $42 billion in 2026. It’s not just about cheap labor anymore.

Currently, 1.82 million Filipinos work in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) jobs, and the industry is growing at a rate of 7% per year, twice the global average of 3.5%. These numbers are significant because they reflect the vast, skilled workforce that employers can tap into without having to deal with the usual problems of expanding internationally.

It’s easy for businesses to see the opportunity. With BPO services, you don’t have to establish a legal entity in the Philippines to hire skilled workers for customer service, finance, healthcare support, or technical jobs. No going it alone when it comes to foreign labor laws. No starting from scratch to build payroll infrastructure. The business process outsourcing (BPO) model handles the administrative burden so you can concentrate on hiring the right people and getting them up to speed with your business.

Current trends in the BPO sector in the Philippines (2026)

The Philippines’ BPO landscape is changing faster than most employers can keep track. A country that was once recognized as a call center hub is now a region where specialized knowledge work and distributed workforces operate.

Shift to Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)

The Philippines’ BPO sector is evolving beyond routine administrative tasks to offer high-value, KPO services like data analysis, AI integration, legal research, and financial analysis. Now, businesses hire people from outside the company to do jobs that need advanced degrees and specialized certifications in fields like finance, law, healthcare, and engineering. This change shows that the workforce can do more than just transactional support; they can also do complex analytical work.

Hybrid and remote work acceptance

BPO companies have adopted flexible work models. More than half of Filipino workers were already working hybrid schedules by 2023. The government even changed the rules (via the CREATE MORE Act). Businesses that are registered in economic zones can keep up to 50% of their employees working from home full-time without losing tax breaks. Some companies went even further by registering with the Board of Investments so they could work 100% remotely and still get tax breaks.

IT-BPM industry roadmap 2028

The Philippine government has set goals for the IT-BPM industry to make $59 billion in sales and hire 2.5 million people by 2028. This implies an 8% to 10% annual growth in the IT-BPM sector, making it the country’s largest source of foreign exchange earnings. The government emphasizes training local workers and adding more high-skill jobs, which will increase earnings by 13%per full-time employee.

Rising focus on mid-senior roles

The industry is moving away from hiring entry-level agents and instead looking for experienced professionals who can handle difficult tasks. Hundreds of thousands of graduates specializing in finance, healthcare, IT, and law are entering the job market in the Philippines every year. Employers can find skilled workers who are ready to take on leadership and technical roles.

Tech infrastructure upgrades

Investment is pouring into cities in regions like Cebu, Davao, and Iloilo, to expand the search for talent beyond Manila. The government’s roadmap says explicitly that 54% of sector growth should come from activities in rural areas. This growth gives employers access to talent from many hubs, thanks to better telecommunications and real estate infrastructure.

Increased competition for top-tier talent

BPO companies that let their employees work from home have seen productivity rise by as much as 40%, increasing the demand for skilled Filipino workers.

The best candidates won’t wait around. If you want top Filipino talent, move fast and bring attractive compensation packages to the table—because you’re not the only global company that’s noticed what the Philippines has to offer.

Benefits of hiring BPO talent in the Philippines

Cost savings get the headlines, but they’re not the whole story. Global employers keep coming back to the Philippines because the country delivers something harder to find: a workforce that’s ready to hit the ground running, backed by an economy built for international business.

• 24/7 workforce. The Philippines is in a time zone that makes it easy for global support operations to run around the clock, covering both Asian business hours and overnight hours for Western markets.
• Cultural compatibility. Filipinos are highly proficient in speaking English and are very familiar with how business is conducted in the West. This makes it easier to integrate offshore teams into your existing workflows.
• Deep BPO experience. The Philippines’ BPO sector has been established for over 20 years, and during that time, it has assembled training facilities and established best practices that have been streamlined across the industry.
• Cost-efficiency. The cost of labor in the Philippines is much lower than in the U.S., U.K., or Australia. This means that companies can often hire two or three skilled workers for the same price as one domestic worker.
• Scalable talent pools. The country produces hundreds of thousands of qualified graduates every year in fields like finance, IT, healthcare, and customer service. This makes it easy to quickly grow teams without losing quality.
• Government support and stability. The Philippine government actively supports the BPO sector by making policies that are good for businesses, giving tax breaks to registered companies, and putting money into infrastructure that helps employers.
• Tech-savvy workforce. Filipino professionals are quick to learn new technologies and platforms. Many BPO workers are already familiar with CRM systems, cloud tools, and new AI-assisted workflows.

Common roles outsourced to the Philippines

Philippine BPO talent can now fill a wider range of roles than just those in call centers. Outsourcing today includes everything from front-line support to specialized knowledge work.

• Technical support and IT helpdesk
• Customer support
• Finance and accounting
• Healthcare claims and insurance processing
• Data entry and transcription
• HR and payroll administration
• Software QA and testing
• Sales development representatives
• Digital marketing and social media management
• Content moderation
• Legal research and paralegal support
• Data analytics and business intelligence
• Medical coding and billing
• Back-office operations
• eCommerce support and order processing
• Bookkeeping and accounts payable/receivable
• Research and market analysis

Challenges employers need to be aware of

The Philippines offers enormous opportunities, but international hiring comes with real complexity. These challenges are manageable with the right approach and partnership.

Entity setup complexity

Registering a business in the Philippines is costly and time-consuming. Setting up a legal entity means dealing with several government agencies, getting the right permits, and meeting capitalization requirements, which consumes resources and takes several months. Most employers who want to hire a few professionals find this barrier too high for what they really need.

Labor laws

The Philippines strictly regulates hiring and firing. Employers must pay employees a 13th-month salary bonus, provide benefits required by law like contributions to the social security system and PhilHealth, and follow specific termination rules. Noncompliance can mean a fine or a court appearance, which is challenging at best without local knowledge.

Classification risks

Incorrectly classifying employees as independent contractors may lead to hefty fines. An employer also owes all back pay to the misclassified employees. Philippine labor laws tend to classify a worker as an employee when the employer has direct control over the worker’s hours, work processes, and continues to engage with them.

Retention

Employee turnover remains a problem for many BPO roles, especially entry-level call center jobs, where turnover rates can reach 40% to 45%. If an employer doesn’t offer quality employee experience programs, competitive pay/benefits, and a defined advancement path, it will to keep employees long-term, even if they are well paid. That’s why some of the best employers in the Philippines invest money into their company culture, employee development, and retention.

Why use Pebl to hire BPO talent in the Philippines

When you work with an Employer of Record, all of the challenges inherent in global hiring—setting up an entity, following labor laws, and classifying risks—go away. You can hire skilled workers in the Philippines without having to establish your own business. The EOR is responsible for local compliance, not you.

You get full HR support, from hiring and firing to processing payroll and managing mandatory benefits. The EOR handles all the legal requirements that can be hard for foreign employers to keep up with, such as calculating 13th-month pay, making social security payments, signing up for PhilHealth, and more. The model includes risk mitigation because proper classification and following employment law are two of the most important things that EOR services do.

When you find the right candidate, speed is important. Instead of spending months on entity registration and setting up infrastructure, you can build a full team in just a few days. And since EORs like Pebl are global platforms, you can manage your Philippine workers along with teams in other countries using a single system.

The future of BPO in the Philippines

The Philippines is evolving its reputation as an affordable hub to outsource work to a strategic center for high-value global work. By 2030, the industry is expected to produce $59 billion annually.

AI is a pivotal factor, but it’s not taking jobs away from Filipinos. Instead, the focus is moving toward jobs that use AI to help people make decisions. Data analysts use machine learning models, and customer service agents use AI chatbots for first-line filtering. The dynamics of these mixed roles demand skilled professionals who can handle technology instead of fighting it.

The Philippine government is supporting this evolution by investing in training its people in digital skills, building more fiber optic infrastructure, and creating regional hubs outside of Manila. As mentioned above, the government’s IT-BPM roadmap is pushing the sector’s growth to come from provincial cities. This strategy of decentralization makes things more stable and gives more people access to talent.

The country is trying to become a global hub for remote work, not just traditional outsourcing. The Philippines is getting ready for the next generation of international hiring by putting hybrid work policies into place in economic zones and training its workers to work together from different locations.

Tap into the Philippines’ BPO talent without the red tape

The BPO industry in the Philippines is still one of the best ways for global companies to grow quickly and efficiently. When you work with Pebl as your Employer of Record, you can hire experienced BPO professionals without the financial burden of establishing a local business or figuring out how to meet complicated compliance requirements on your own. Scale up more intelligently, hire more quickly, and stay in compliance at every stage of your global hiring process. The talent is there, the infrastructure is in place, and the time is now. Get in touch with us to find out more.

This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or tax advice and is for general informational purposes only. The intent of this document is solely to provide general and preliminary information for private use. Do not rely on it as an alternative to legal, financial, taxation, or accountancy advice from an appropriately qualified professional. The content in this guide is provided “as is,” and no representations are made that the content is error-free.

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