FIRB Declines WFH Extension, BPO Companies to Require Workforce to Return to Office by April 1
BPO companies have to require the employees to return to office by April 1, 2022 after FIRB declined he work-from-home (WFH) extension.
On Wednesday (March 9, 2022), the Department of Finance (DOF) reported that the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) upheld its Resolution No, 19-21 allowing WFH arrangements until March 31, 2022.
FIRB denied the requests to extend the work-from-home arrangements. The Cabinet-level inter-agency board decided to stand on its Resolution No. 19-21 declining any request of extension.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is pushing the extension of WFH arrangements for BPO firms in economic zones until September 12, 2022. Some IT-BPM firms enjoying fiscal incentives are located in PEZA, which is an investment promotion agency.
The inter-agency body rejects the extension request and urged the employees from information technology-business process management to return on-site starting April 1, 2022.
Finance Secretary and FIRB chairman Carlos Dominguez III explained that the work-from-home arrangement was just temporary. It has been adopted during the surge of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
“The WFH arrangement is only a time-bound temporary measure adopted during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic. 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,” Dominguez said.
According to DOF, FIRB disapproved the request for lifting of the moratorium on ecozone development in the National Capital Region.
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