How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Why Church opposed to Tele-commuting is really Much Ado About Nothing

“It is time for us to have those pieces of legislation adjusted so that legally those arrangements can be put in place”

Minister of Labout David Kellier at a Press Briefing on Thursday June 6th 2013 at Jamaica House in St Andrew

I dispense this article as the Minister of Labour David Kellier is finally making progress on the approval of approval of Flex-Work for Jamaica as stated by the GOJ (Government if Jamaica) News Agency, the JIS (Jamaica Information Service) in their article “Policy on Flexible Work Arrangements Taking Too Long - Minister Kellier”, published Friday, 07 June 2013 10:44, The Jamaica Information Service. In so doing, he’ll empower Millennials (ages 18 to 28) with a modern piece of work Legislation that’ll make Tele-working practical and possible.

The News Media has similar stories on this necessary amendment to the Labour Laws that are badly needed to modernize Jamaica to be made by the end of 2013 to allow for Flex-work week as stated in the article “Flexi work week by year-end, Kellier insists”, published Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM, The Jamaica Observer.  

Minister of Labour David Kellier has insisted during the Sectoral Debates 2013/2014 on Tuesday June 4^th 2013 that safeguards would be put in place to prevent abuse of Flexi-work arrangements as stated in the article “Labour Minister promises to implement flexible work arrangements”, published 5:23 pm, Tue June 4, 2013, RJR News.

Jamaica was promised in December 2012 that it’d be finalized in early 2013 as stated in “Flexi work week to be finalised next year”, published Thursday December 13, 2012 12:47 pm, by Monique Grange, Assistant News Editor, The Jamaica Gleaner. This has not been the case.

This Flexi-work week debate has been raging for almost eighteen (18) years as chronicled in my Geezam blog article entitled “Jamaica’s 100MBps Internet Silver Lining – Tele-commuting Workplace is coming”. Church interest groups have basically been using their considerable influence over the Minister to basically block its implementation.

This in a vain bid to protect their Church Coffers as pointed out in my blog article entitled “Data Outsourcing comes to Jamaica via MobileWorks and Freelancer.com - Flexi-Work propelled by Crowdsourcing and MicroWorking Anaconda”. Already, the decision by the GOJ to introduce Sunday Gaming as stated in the article “Lottery games to be sold on Sundays, public holidays”, Published Wednesday March 27, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner has been to the benefit of SVL (Supreme Ventures Limited) but may be affecting the Churches.

Thus Flexi-Work Week may affect them even more, albeit I have no statistics that can attribute a decline in church attendance and tithing to Sunday Gaming as many other factors abound.

But Flexi-Work Week is badly needed if Telecommuting and Tele-working is going to be a reality, making it possible for companies to employ workers to work over the Internet, which requires Flex-Work week arrangements as argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “Jamaica’s 100MBps Internet Silver Lining – Tele-commuting Workplace is coming”.

This’ll involve changes in the rather archaic Labour laws to allow women to work overtime and even make sales legal on a Sunday by all businesses as stated in the article “Women must not work after 10 pm, states 'obsolete' law”, Published Wednesday June 5, 2013 by Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

All of this strikes me as ironic, as Flex-work has been a reality in the Call Center World from Day One, which I discovered while working there as detailed in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Job Agencies, Applications with Proposals and Reading the Sunday Gleaner for Fast and the Furious 6 Tips and Tricks”.

So it’s really for the rest of the 8am-5pm Working World to catch up to this modern marvel of the working world which has the following advantages for workers:

More leisure time, as you can chooses which day you wish to have as your weekend i.e. Day off

You can get more business done on these days-off as most business places are closed on the weekend

Tele-Working will thus benefit, as Flexi-work combined with high speed business grade 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) will facilitate being able to work hours at home via VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Jamaica’s 100MBps Internet Silver Lining – Tele-commuting Workplace is coming”. Thus the benefits of Tele-Working abound.

1.      More work at home i.e. Tele-Working, thus making it possible to be with your family

2.      Tele-Working also makes it possible to have Virtual Offices of Staff located all over Jamaica thereby reducing the need to have a permanent Office; rent Office spaces when needed

3.      Reduces the transportation costs associated with travelling to work as well as companies paying for you to travel to work

So now we’ve reached the point where Jamaica will finally shake off its Colonial Past and embrace the 20^th Century (note, not the 21^st Century, the 20^th Century), will it be stalled yet again over fears of a Call Center like culture developing in Jamaica? Many of my fellow workers while I was at ACCENT Marketing claim that albeit it a fairly easy-going workplace with pizza, candy and sodas being a regular part of every Management Meeting and access to the endless Fast Food Buffet in New Kingston, it’s basically a form of mental slavery. 

Thus Flexi-Working for them has left a bad taste in the mouths of most Millennials (18-28) mainly due to the low cost labour work environment that makes people very intolerant of others. But combined with Wireless Broadband Internet and access to low cost computers, Tele-working will modernize the Jamaican workforce with tools that’ll make everyone able to work their 40 hours work week whenever and wherever.

In the words of Minister of Labour, David Kellier, quote: “There should be no set ten or eight hour work day, but the work day should be capped at a maximum of 12 hours. The workweek should consist of 40 hours all seven days of the week should be considered as possible normal working days. Overtime should be owned after the worker has completed 40 hours and a public education campaign on flexible work arrangements is to be implemented”.

Plus my friends may not have much longer to enjoy the JA$200-JA$300 per hour “slave wages”, as in the future Call Center Worker may be replaced by IBM Watson, the Engagement Specialist as reported in my blog article entitled “IBM's Watson soon to be a Watson Engagement Advisor in Call Centers - The Internship of Ask Watson 40% faster search puts Customer Service Agents in Jeopardy at The World’s End”.

So the introduction of Flexi-Week, key to Telecommuting and Tele-working is again being delayed by influential Church peeps keen on lining their pockets with tax-free tithes. Hopefully Minister of Labour David Kellier can prevail and allow for this modern piece of legislation to pass muster, as its 18 years overdue.  Church opposed to Modernizing Jamaica via Flexi-Work and 4G LTE to introduce Tele-commuting is really Much Ado About Nothing (2013).