KGB Philippines lays off 600+ agents

A source from inside KGB Philippines sent a tip about the latest mass lay off of agents in KGB Philippine’s Sta. Rosa contact center. The head count — 600 and growing.

Employees that were affected came from the SMS Account (where customers sent in SMS questions and agents quickly reply answers pulled from research and online searches).

The news was came out last Monday (February 9, 2009) where people in the Sta. Rosa site were informed that majority of the agents will be let go. One employee recounts what happened over at PinoyExchange:

Patay ang halos lahat ng teams sa SMS Acct… Kahapon 9 Feb 2009, Parang nagmistulang funeral parlour ang KGB Phils…. After our 1 hour break, bigla kaming pinag log out at pinapunta sa training room.. Doon maraming teams din kami sa loob

Bigla na lang sinabi sa amin na kailangan na daw kaming tanggalin sa trabaho meaning “TERMINATED” na kami lahat (ANG NATIRA LANG AY TEAMS 1-8 AT ANG TEAMS 9-39 TSUGI LAHAT INCLUDING THE TEAM LEADERS)..(Sorry correct me if Im wrong with the figures this are just based on those tsugi persons that I have talked to yesterday). Hindi daw nila inaasahan ang mangyayari pero kailangan na mag MASS LAY-OFF.

More reactions and explanations were posted there.

It looks like KGB was banking on projections that their SMS service would grow so they were aggressively hiring only to realize demand went down over the last quarter and a lot of employees were left without nothing to do on their shifts. However, seems like 600+ heads are too many for a simple overshoot of personnel management. Obviously, the global financial crisis is once again the culprit.

KGB provides services for incoming calls requesting information about directory assistance, movie showtimes, restaurant reviews, traffic, weather and other information with clients in the US and the UK.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

583 Responses

  1. Avatar for ben ben says:

    ako din biktima!!!!! wahahahahahaahaha ng lay off sa kgb!!! masaya naman eh sayang lang yung team ko solid pa naman bonding namin.. nakakapanghinayang… inlove na sana ako kaya lang nag ka layoff shit di na ko na natuloy!! sayang.. sorry nga pala sa nangyari alam mo kung sino ka!! hehehe

  2. Avatar for jekkai jekkai says:

    I’m from kgb as well, I’m so thankful that I’m still employed there. but i feel so sad for those who were laid off., but life’s like that, so better prepare always for the unexpected.Save something for the rainy days always, ika nga.

  3. Avatar for goodnews goodnews says:

    Dont worry God is still in control. Have faith. this happens because of our stubborness and disobedience. READ Matthew 6:33 there you can fnd a way out of this.

  4. Avatar for fall_angel fall_angel says:

    grabeh! isa kaya ako sa na lay off dito! ang sad tlaga kakaregular ko lang tpos pagbalik ko glaing sa rest day malalaman ko wla nkong work! grabeh gustong gusto ko pa naman ang account na toh! ang hrap kayang walang trabaho!

  5. Avatar for may delecruz may delecruz says:

    sad naman,but move on guys..its not the end of the road.Think of another positive things to do in order to survive.

  6. Avatar for Joreel Joreel says:

    The situation is gettinng worse talaga!!

  7. Avatar for shane shane says:

    yeah. actually 750 employees were laid off to be exact, including team leaders & some from hr…sad but life must go on, right?

  8. Avatar for April April says:

    how can we possibly help them?There are other call centers in Laguna that are still ramping. In any case, if you know anyone who would want to transfer to another call center, just follow up on my comment, I’ll reply. :)

  9. Avatar for hotandcold hotandcold says:

    tsk tsk… this includes the management team.. TLs, QAs, and Recruitment..

    but on the bright side, those who were included in the “mass lay off” were given a seperation which costs 50-200k.

  10. Avatar for sandy sandy says:

    sobra sad talaga ako sa news na’to. same here in dubai. mas grabe kasi ala kami sa sariling bayan.., Si GOD lng kasama ko! It’s a part of our life.., we deserve it. GOD’s gave this problem coz he knew that we can survive. Just keep in faith! GOD bless us…,

  11. Avatar for Gwapito.com Gwapito.com says:

    Clients wanting for tech support probably opted out of SMS to save money.

  12. Avatar for Paul Farol Paul Farol says:

    Be smart in times of layoff. Secure an agreement for rehire priority over new applicants in case of business surge.

  13. Avatar for Pink Pink says:

    knowledge generation bureau

  14. Avatar for Pink Pink says:

    This should be kgb Philippines.. Ü

  15. Avatar for jox jox says:

    tsk tsk. sad to hear that. kawawa talaga andaming unemployed.

  16. Avatar for BrianB BrianB says:

    same family who is a major stakeholder in KGB owns the NY Giants. Just FYI.

  17. Avatar for JohnLloy JohnLloy says:

    my wife is A Agent under SMS account at KGB assigned here in makati yes it is confirmed that 500+ and 50+ (in makati) (almost all in sta. rosa site) was “lay-off” including Team Leaders. Good thing my wife was part of the team that was transferred back to handling calls. It is sad to hear such news.

  18. Avatar for sunshine sunshine says:

    The die is cast… Better to just move on. just make sure you 600+ agents get what’s due to you. Crisis is truly happening now.

  19. Avatar for CPB Website Information Provider CPB Website Information Provider says:

    Naku!! Another set of lay-offs in the Philippine Job Industry. Sana simple lng buhay ng tao at tsaka matoto tayong gumawa ng anak na kaya nating tustusan. :(

  20. Avatar for eds eds says:

    ay sad nmn

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