I know firsthand how intriguing it can be to wonder about salaries. As someone who had been a part of the call center industry in the Philippines for four years, I thought it would be great to talk about one of the most common questions on every call center newbie’s mind – how much do call center agents actually earn?

In this post, I’ll show you a detailed breakdown of a Philippine call center agent salary, the factors that affect it, and how it compares to salaries in the US.

Average call center agent salary in the Philippines

The average salary for a call center agent in the Philippines is more or less ₱20,000 to ₱30,000 ($400-$600) per month. However, this could significantly vary due to bonuses, benefits, and commissions. How much you earn also depends on your level of experience, the company or account you work for, its location, and the complexity of your tasks.

Call center agent compensation breakdown

Here’s the usual breakdown:

  1. Basic Salary: This is like the foundation of your earnings. It’s the money you get just for doing your regular work. This usually starts at 15,000 to 25,000 PHP ($300-$400) per month.
  2. Incentives and Bonuses: Call centers offer these as extra rewards to motivate their agents to go to work with perfect attendance and zero tardiness. Depending on the account, this usually ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 PHP (roughly $20-$60). It’s like a little pat on the back for your hard work.
  3. Transportation/Load/Rice Allowances: Some companies offer these while some don’t. This could range from 500 PHP to 1500 PHP.
  4. Night Differential: Call centers work around the clock to help clients from different time zones. So if you work during the night, you’ll get extra money. It’s a way to say, “Hey, thanks for being a night owl!” The night-shift differential rate in the Philippines is 10% of your hourly rate for every hour you work between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM.
  5. Benefits and Perks: On top of Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth benefits, you’ll also get an HMO (health maintenance organization). What PhilHealth can’t cover, your HMO mostly can.
  6. Performance-Based Pay: If you’re really good at what you do, call centers reward you with even more money. Your performance bonus often depends on your average AHT (average handling time), number of closed sales or appointments (for sales account), and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) score for CSRs.
  7. Overtime Pay: During peak seasons, you might be required to work more hours than usual, especially from September to December. Depending on whether it’s a regular working day, a special holiday, your rest day, or a double holiday, your overtime pay could range from 25% to 500% your hourly rate.
  8. Holiday Pay: Depending on your rest day and the type of holiday (non-working or special holidays), you get either an extra 30%, 50% or double your daily rate. Note, however, that overtime and holiday pay applies to all employees in the Philippines, not just in the BPO industry.

Factors that affect call center agent salaries

Alright, let’s start with the basics. How much a call center agent earns can vary for a bunch of reasons like the following:

  • Experience: While your salary grows as you gain experience, a decent starting salary point should be able to support your cost of living in the location where you work. Do not accept jobs that could barely support your basic needs. Call centers are everywhere in the Philippines, after all. You can also work online if needed.
  • Location: Where you work matters! Call centers in big cities like Metro Manila or Cebu usually pay more than those in smaller towns because the cost of living is higher.
  • Type of Industry: Call centers serve all kinds of businesses, from banks to tech companies. Some industries like banking, Telco, and healthcare pay better than others (food delivery), depending on how complex the tasks are.
  • Language skills and specialization: While being fluent in English is definitely a must, you have more potential to earn more if you’re also bilingual or speak multiple languages. I notice that multilingual agents who speak not only English but also other languages (French, Spanish, or Mandarin) tend to get paid higher if the account specifically requires it.
  • Education: While a college degree is not always needed, having one might give you a better starting salary during the negotiation stage.

Different types of call center jobs and their salaries

Now, let’s explore the different jobs you can find in a call center and how much they might pay:

Customer Service Representative (CSR): As a CSR, you’ll be assisting customers with their questions and problems. Irate customers will be your main challenge. As a newbie, you’ll earn around 15,000-25,000 PHP ($300 to $500) per month. As you gain experience though, you could make up to 30,000-40,000 PHP ($600-$800) per month or more.

Technical Support Representative (TSR): If you’re good with tech stuff, this job is for you! Tech support agents might start with about 20,000-30,000 PHP ($400 to $600) per month. With skill and experience, you could earn up to 40,000-50,000 PHP ($800-$1,000) per month.

Sales Representative: If you’re a natural salesperson, this job might be your calling. Sales agents often get commissions and incentives on top of their basic pay. I would not recommend accepting a sales job that earns only from commissions, especially if you’re a newbie. You could start with around 25,000-40,000 PHP ($500-$800) per month, but skilled salespeople can make up to 40,000-75,000 PHP ($800-$1,500) per month or even more.

Team Leader/Supervisor: As a team leader, you’ll be in charge of guiding a group of agents to meet their tasks, quota, and metrics. You’ll also have to keep a record of their performance and coach them at least monthly about their performance. As a Team Lead, you might earn around 40,000-60,000 PHP ($800-$1,200) per month. Some experienced and skilled Team Leads can make up to 75,000 PHP ($1,500) or more.

Quality Assurance Analyst: If you have a keen eye for detail, this job could be perfect for you. You’ll be listening to agents’ recorded and live calls, rate the quality of their customer service, and determine any areas of improvement. Quality assurance analysts usually earn around 30,000 to 45,000 PHP ($600-$900) per month. Back when I was a QA in 2017, I only earned around 21,000 PHP ($420).

Team Manager/Department Head: If you’re ambitious and skilled, you could become a team manager or head of a department. This means heavier responsibilities like supervising all the department’s Team Leads, QAs, and trainers but you could earn 75,000-125,000 PHP ($1,500-$2,500) per month or more.

Training and Quality Management: Training and quality management roles can earn around 75,000-100,000 PHP ($1,500-$2,000) per month.

Operations Manager: As you climb higher up the ladder, you could become an operations manager with salaries ranging from 125,000-200,000 PHP ($2,500-$4,000) per month.

Senior Management and Director Roles: For the real go-getters, there are senior management and director positions. These leadership roles come with hefty salaries starting from $4,000 per month and going up to significant six-figure annual incomes.

Philippine salary compared to the US

On average, call center agents in the USA can earn anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 per month or more. Some agents with specialized skills and experience may earn even higher.

On the other hand, Philippine call center agents, typically earn around 20,000-30,000 PHP ($400-$600) per month on average. Due to the Philippines’ lower cost of living and labor rates, it allow companies to take advantage of the cost savings while still accessing a skilled English-speaking workforce.

Conclusion

As you can see, the difference in salary is miles away from first-world countries like the US. However, there’s a reason why Filipinos flock to call center jobs: it still pays way better than most jobs in the Philippines. Not as high as other online freelancing jobs but more stable and reliable than most jobs.

Do I recommend that you stay in this job until you retire? I absolutely don’t. Upskill, learn, upgrade; that’s what I recommend. You don’t necessarily have to leave the industry. For you, it could just mean aiming for a promotion. Or if promotion’s not your thing, acquire assets that can earn you passive income. The point is, do not rely on only one source of income.

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