Pinoy Call Center Agents Suffer From Insomnia and Fatigue

A significant percentage of workers employed in the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector — majority of whom working in call center facilities — are suffering from work-related health problems, a recent study showed.

Although it noted some negative aspects of the country’s BPO sector, the study, conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO), also said working conditions and pay remain of “good quality" for BPO workers in the Philippines.

“[The study] reveals that 42.6 percent of BPO employees in the Philippines work the night shift, which is associated with occupational safety and health concerns, such as sleep disorders, fatigue, eye strain; neck, shoulder and back pains; and voice problems," a statement in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) website quoted the ILO study as saying.

10 Tips on Surviving Nightshift

Preparing going onto nightshift 

1. Try to do something physical “the day before the day before”. Physical activity is good for your general wellbeing anyway, and it will set you up for a decent “pre-nightshift” sleep. I would go swimming, running, boxing or have a mega-housework blitz. Then get a decent amount of sleep prior to starting nights:

Method 1: Stay up really late (at least 3am – 6am) the night before (calling/Skyping mates in different timezones or a TV marathon can help) then sleep for the majority of the day before your first nightshift.

Method 2: Go to bed as usual the night before , sleep in until late morning, have a big feed for lunch then go back to sleep for an afternoon/evening nap.
On nightshifts

TIPS ON SAVING MONEY AS A CALL CENTER AGENT

75% of call center employees spend their salaries within five days upon receiving it. Then they end up counting the days till their next paycheck.

This is a study that was done by me (so technically imbento lang yon). But based on my humble observation, call center agents have poor discipline when it comes to money.

They end up splurging on Taxi's, Starbucks, cellphones, designer clothes, pokpok's and whatever -- simply because of the "malaki naman sahod ko mentality" and the "mag-iipon ako next sweldo" mindset. And in the end years pass and nothing financially solid is gained.

So what are the money saving tips I applied?

1) Realize that the call center is an unstable working environment.

The call center is a very unstable environment. Your salary, account, status, titles, training, office romance, depend solely on the next “end of life” of your account. I have seen Managers, TL's, and whoever lose their jobs in an instant due to the US clients closing/transferring to other Business units.

The Morning Banana Diet Plan

Discovered by Sumiko Watanabe, pharmacist and her husband Hitoshi Watanabe, Morning Banana Diet plan is one of the most popular fad diet plans prevalent in Japan.

Mrs. Watanabe herself lost massive 18 kilograms (almost 39 pounds) by using the weight loss plan.

The diet plan allows you to consume as many bananas as you want. After making a healthy beginning of the day with bananas, you can have anything you want in your lunch and dinner.

She-Lost-18-Kilograms

That being said, should you want to melt weight, instead of having high-calorie foods such as pizza, burger etc., eat low calorie and highly nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables.

If you are longing to consume something sweet, you can have that in afternoon snacks only, not after that. The only thing you have to be very careful is, you have to have your dinner before 8 PM.

And you are not permitted to eat anything after your dinner, even desserts such as ice creams, alcohol, dairy products etc. are not permitted after dinner.

One factor of this diet that has many people going bananas is that there are no exercise requirements. While exercising is not prohibited, they advise to do it only if you want to. And if you do exercise, they suggest that it be done in a manner that is the least stressful.

Why Bananas Have Been Chosen in the Diet Plan?

Since banana has been considered the main fruit of the diet plan, the whole plan seems to revolve around bananas, which is also evident from its name. Bananas inevitably are opulent in potassium and many other essential nutrients.

Their fiber and water content being very high render them amazing capability to keep you contented for longer duration. High fiber property of the banana enables them to absorb numerous calories before passing to the digestive tract.

Besides that, special enzymes in bananas strip off several pounds from your body and bring you in perfect shape. Bananas also have resistant starch, which not only keeps you contented for longer but also assists your body in burning fats.

Morning Banana Diet Rules

Eat a banana for breakfast

• You can eat more than one, and in fact the inventor of the diet often ate four (smallish Philippines) bananas in the morning, but don’t stuff yourself to the point of fullness or discomfort.
• Eat only raw, uncooked, unfrozen bananas.
• Other fruit may be substituted.
• If other fruit is substituted, some variants require it be restricted to one type of fruit per meal.
• If you are still hungry 15 or 30 minutes after your banana, you can eat other food (the Japanese inventor of the original Asa Banana Diet sometimes ate a rice ball two and a half hours later, about 200 calories worth; Morning Banana forum members have suggested oatmeal, although it’s not as portable as a rice ball).

Eat normally for lunch and dinner

• Dinner must be eaten by 8 p.m. at the latest (6 p.m. is better).
• There are no explicit limits on the types of food you can eat for lunch and dinner, or the amount. But in practice dieters report on Mixi that they try to cut the amount of rice they eat and find substitutions for fried foods. As with many diets, the mere fact you have decided to go on a diet tends to make you more aware of what and how much you are are eating and how healthy it is. The diet avoids strict food rules to prevent a sense of deprivation.
• However, you should not eat a dessert with dinner or any of your meals; you’ll need to satisfy your sweet tooth during a snack, but we’ll get to that later.
• At all meals you should eat only until you’re satisfied but not full or stuffed. The Japanese have a proverb, Hara hachibu ni isha irazu, “A stomach eight-tenths full needs no doctor.” American dietitians define this level of fullness or satiety as a 7 on a 1-to-10 “hunger scale,” and they teach their clients to recognize this feeling.

Drink only water

• The only beverage allowed at most meals is water, preferably mineral or filtered.
• The water must be at room temperature, not chilled or hot. The water should be drunk in small sips and not used to wash down food.
• There is no quota of water to drink, and you should not drink it in excess.
• Outside of meals non-caloric beverages like tea, coffee, and diet soda are generally allowed but somewhat frowned upon, and in general water is encouraged as much as possible; frequent consumption of milk products is discouraged.
• On social occasions you may drink beer or wine.

Eat your food mindfully

•  Chew your banana and other food thorouoghly and be mindful of its taste.

You may eat an afternoon snack

• A sweet snack of chocolate, cookies, or the like is allowed at about 3 p.m.
• Ice cream, a donut, or potato chips are not recommended.
• Some substitute fresh fruit for their snack, but if you want sweets you should not deny yourself.
• Some Japanese who like salty snacks eat salted konbu (seaweed) snacks and some Japanese who are very hungry in the afternoon substitute a filling, fist-sized rice ball for sweets.
• A good alternative if a salty or more filling snack is needed is popcorn according to Morning Banana forum members, but watch out for excessive fat content.
• If you are hungry after dinner, you may have a second snack of fresh fruit, but this should not be a habit.

Early to bed

• Go to bed by midnight. If you can manage to go to bed earlier, all the better.
• Try to aim for a four-hour period between your last meal or snack and bedtime (which is why 8:00 p.m. is the latest you should eat dinner).

Exercise only if you want to

• Put no pressure on yourself to exercise.
• If you want to exercise, go ahead: the test is to do what puts the least stress on you.
• But try to get some walking in every day if possible (but again, don’t force yourself if it stresses you out).
• If you want a traditional Japanese light workout, consider taking up the kendama.

10 Common Habits that Damage Your Kidneys

The kidneys are one of the most important body organs, because they are responsible for the urination process in our organism by filtering the excess of water and body waste. Even though they are so important for our body, we don’t take proper care for them, which is testified by the fact that millions of people die of kidney disease every year. In order keep our kidneys healthy many of us must give up of their habits. This is a list of some habits you need to avoid for healthy kidneys:

1. Pain–killer abuse

A bad habit that many people have is taking pain-killers for low-grade pain, because most pain-killers can damage different organs, such as kidneys and have severe side effects. A recent research has shown that taking pain – killers pills for a longer period of time reduces blood flow and deteriorates kidney’s function.

2. Too much protein

Over-consumption of protein-rich foods and red meat can deteriorate the damaged kidneys condition. A protein-rich diet is essentially healthy unless you suffer from kidney damage and your doctor recommends a protein-restricted diet. The intake of too much protein through the food increases the metabolic load on our kidneys.

3. Smoking

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that smoking is bad for almost every organ of the body, including the kidneys. The connection between kidney disease and smoking has been shown in several studies.

4. Consuming too much sodium

Another job for our kidneys is metabolizing the sodium we consume. The majority of our sodium intake needs to be excreted, andthe salt we eat is the prime source of sodium, which means that when we eat excessive salt the kidneys are kept busy excreting sodium, causing long term stress on our kidneys.

5. Ignoring flu and colds

A habit that can cause kidney damage is ignoring the common flu and cold. Studies show that people who have a history of avoiding resting while sick,have kidney disease.

6. Consumption of too much caffeine 

 It is common that whenever we are thirsty we choose to drink other beverages like sodas and soft drinks rather than water. Many of these beverages contain caffeine. High blood pressure puts strain on the kidneys which can damage them, and caffeine can elevate blood pressure.

7. Too much alcohol consumption

When we drink alcohol we often ignore the proper quantity suitable for good health. Too much alcoholic intake is a habit that can severely damage your kidneys. Alcohol is full of toxins that stress our kidneys thus damaging them.

8. Sleeplessness

During the night when you sleep, the organs tissues are repairing themselves. Therefore, every time you don’t get good quality sleep, therenewal process is interrupted, resulting in damage to the kidneys and other organs.

9. Drinking inadequate water

The biggest contributor to damage that our kidneys bear everyday is not drinking enough water. The main job of our kidneys is to regulate erythrocyte balances and drain metabolic waste from the body. If the body is not properly hydrated, the renal blood flow decreases, resulting in accumulation of toxins in the blood.

10. Long–term full bladder

This is a habit that many of us have. Different complications in the urinary tract may arise, if we leave the bladder full of urine for an extended time: one example of such complications is Hypertrophy of detrusor muscle, which may lead to formation of diverticula. Another example which is caused by chronic back pressure on kidneys is Hydronephrosis (increase of urine pressure in kidneys), ultimately resulting in renal dysfunction and even the need for dialysis.

(Source: http://organichealth.co/10-common-habits-that-damage-your-kidneys/)

Common Illnesses and Diseases of Call Center Agents and How to Combat It

Call center agents working graveyard shifts face serious health problems. According to the DOH, the lifestyle-related illnesses such as stroke, heart disease and cancer have risen at an alarming rate among call center workers.

The Reason?

According to the 2008 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS), smoking does not just cause cancer and lung diseases but is also the number one cause of strokes and heart attacks. Smoking is estimated to have caused 50,000 deaths a year and caused more strokes and heart attacks than diabetes, hypertension, obesity and high cholesterol. (http://www.interaksyon.com/business/25067/call-center-agents-health-in-near-crisis---doh)

Flaws and Shortcomings of Network Marketing (Part 2)

Hi, ituloy natin ang pagtalakay tungkol sa kakulangan o kahinaan ng Network Marketing Business. (I-click mo lang dito kung gusto mong balikan ang First Part nito.)

#4: Only the top 3% - 20% on the MLM hierarchy make it big.

Marahil tanggap na natin na totoong 80% - 97% ng mga Network Marketers ay hindi nag tatagumpay sa MLM business. Na 20% - 3% lang na mga beterano at sikat na mga Networkers lang ang talagang kumikita sa ganitong industriya. Hindi naman kaya mas eksaktong sabihin na yung mga top 3% - 20% Networkers ay kumikita dahil sa 80% - 97% na nasa ilalim nila?

And so forth and so forth...

OO, marahil ay product sellers o product users ang karamihan sa 97% na Networkers. In a way ay may monthly income sila kahit papaano, sa product movement  pati na rin sa mga bagong memberships. Pero the more na sabihin  natin na successful pa rin ang bottom 97%, mas lalong successful ang nasa top 3% diba?

Ang sarap sarap talagang pag-aralan at balik balikan ng Marketing Plan ng mga company natin di ba? Napakasarap isipin kung gaano ka "Generous" at innovative ang Direct referrals, Binary and Repeat/Redundant Binary pairing/matching, Multilevel and Unilevel bonuses, etc di ba?

Honest question: Ilang tao ang kailangan para mabuo o kahit makalahati man lang ang Total possible income sa marketing plan? Kunwari sa Binary system, ilang tao ang kailangan sa left at sa right? Tig 2,000 sa kaliwa at kanan? O kaya tig 4,000 sa kaliwa at another 4,000 uli sa kanan?

Ibig sabihin para makamit mo ang Grand Total Bonus, kailangan mo ng at least 4,000 members sa left and right group under mo. Congratulations! Bigatin ka pag na achieve mo yan! Hindi ko sinasabing impossible, pero hindi yan madali, buong pusong binabati kita. Pangarap kong makamit yan sa totoo lang!

Magkano kaya ang kikitain mo kung tig 50 lang sa left at right mo? Total na tao mo nyan under you ay 100. Pag nakuha mo yang amount of money, that makes you 1% na kumikita nyan, out of 99% na members under you. Pero syempre yung mga top among sa 99%, may kita na kalahati ng sayo diba?

That is how MLM really works.

#5: Some MLM Companies only use their Products as a cover, so that their business will be “Legalized” or not be called Pyramiding.

Isa sa mga requirements para maging legal at hindi mabansagang Pyramiding ang isang Network Marketing business ay dapat may products kang matatanggap kapag nagbayad ka ng membership mo. Actually, dahil na rin sa RA 5601, dapat ay at least 73% ng pera mo ay para sa produkto.

Ito ang dahilan kung bakit ang produkto ng mga MLM companies ay medyo o kalimitang mas mataas kumpara sa mga produktong karaniwang nabibili sa merkado. Syempre, dahil kailangan ng Company na ibawas ang Direct Referral fee sa membership package mo, at pati na din pang bonus, o porsyento ng mga uplines sa pagbili at pagbebenta mo ng mga products.

Kalimitan din, hindi and products ang incentive ng isang tao para mag-join sa isang MLM business. Nag me-member sila hindi para sa products, o discounts, mas madalas ay para sa Compensation o Marketing Plan.

I have a good question for you. Pag ginagawa mo ang Network marketing business mo, ano ang ibinebenta o ipinupush mo? Yung mismong MLM Company ba? Products ba? o yung Marketing Plan or kitaan ng company?

Isingit ko lang dito yung 8 Point Test na ginagamit ng Direct Selling Association of the Philippines para malaman kung Pyramiding ba o legal ang isang MLM business:

1. Is there a product?
2. Are commissions paid on sale of products and not on registration/entry fees?
3. Is the intent to sell a product not a position?
4. Is there no direct correlation between the number of recruits and compensation?
5. If recruitment were to be stopped today, will the participants still make money?
6. Is there a reasonable product return policy?
7. Do products have fair market value?
8. Is there a compelling reason to buy?

If the answer to all the questions is YES, then the company being evaluated is a legitimate company.  But if the answer is NO, then there is a high probability that it is a pyramid scam.

(sorce: http://www.dsap.ph/the-industry/how-to-differentiate-a-legitimate-direct-selling-company-from-pyramiding-using-the-8-point-test.html)

Last but not the Least:

#6: Market Saturation

Naku, hinding hindi ito aaminin ng mga Uplines natin! “There is no such thing as Market Saturation!” daw talaga. Example nila is Coca-Cola, na hanggang pinakang dulo o sulok ng lugar sa Pilipinas, kahit gaano pa ka  ay napapasok. Bakit daw hanggang ngayon ay may bumibili pa din  ng Coke?

Well ang sagot ko dyan is Branding! At di kagaya ng nasa #5, ang Coke ay focused sa product movement, hindi kagaya ng MLM na focused on selling positions (with 73% in products para di maging pyramiding).

Bakit ko nasabi na meron talagang Market Saturation ang isang MLM Business?

• First 2 reasons na nabanggit ko last post: #1 (Sa una lang yan!) at #2 (Pioneering tayo!). Marahil magpatuloy ang product movement, pero I’m not sure kung magtuloy ang MLM organization, kasi the deeper the organization grows, the more people (times two) ang kinakailangan to continue.

• MLM tends to overhire, overextend, or oversupply a market. Nakaranas ka na ba na gusto mong mag post ng products o Business opportunity ng company mo pero meron nang ibang nauuna, o kaya naman ang dami dami nyo nang nag post tungkol dito? Nangyayari ito kasi as people join more and more, even a lot more people are being prospected, asked, and offered to join. In binary plans for example, for everyone that joins, that person will need at least 2 more to  feel that he is earning a bit.

• No protected territory/distribution program - Lahat ng franchising business ay merong location limits/protection. Kung may McDonalds na sa isang lugar, wala nang ibang McDonalds dapat malapit sa branch o outlet na iyon (with some exceptions, like malls, etc). Walang ganito sa MLM businesses. Nakakita ka na ba ng apat na McDonalds sa apat na corner ng intersection? Sa MLM pwede ito, dahil lahat ay welcome maging distributor.

Conclusion:

1.     May limit ang lifespan ng mga MLM Companies.    
2.     Mahalaga ang Launch Date ng isang MLM Company, mas bago mas saleable.
3.     Mahalaga din na mauna ka sa organization o position.
4.     Only the Top 3% -  20% succeeds.
5.     Ginagamit ng ibang Company na “cover” ang Products para hindi mabansagang Pyramiding.
6.     Market Saturation (Wala talagang forever, kahit sa business na ito!).

Agree ka ba sa mga conclusions ko? Marahil ay mali ako, I would love to be corrected. Kung tama naman ito, worth pa ba talaga ituloy ang Network Marketing business? Siguro mas magiging professional tayo kung ise-set natin ang expectation ng mga gustong mag-join, na ito ang katotohanan sa MLM business.

Knowing this, nag-decide parin ako na ituloy ang Network Marketing business ko. Ipapaalam ko sa lahat ng tao under my organization ang mga katotohanang ito. Sasabihin ko sa kanila na mahalaga ang commitment sa company, pero dapat nilang malaman na may life cycle din ang mga MLM companies.

Meron akong program sa MLM business ko on how to move products, hindi membership, to make sure na it is through product movement ang intention ng pagbubusiness at hindi ang mag-recruit. Sa program ko ding ito ay ini-aapply ko ang Online Marketing, na kung saan ay nai-pupush ko ang MLM business, kahit hindi ko binabanggit ang 3P's ng company: wala akong binabanggit na company Profile, Products, at marketing Plan. 

Kung gusto mong malaman ang program ko, pwede mo akong i-message sa baba:

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