Lawson's Hiring

Ramp up. The phrase is insufficient to capture what some hiring managers face when they go from 100 to 900 employees in less than two years. Here's one company that's a microcosm of what's going on in the Philippines:

Lawson Philippine Solutions & Services Center (PSSC) Inc. last year opened its office in Fort Bonifacio Global City with less than a hundred employees. [Lawson Vice President James] Sanderson said they would be spending $5 million in payroll for their targeted 400 employees this year. [Lawson Philippines President John] Mulchrone said they have upped that number to 900 by May next year. Lawson currently employs 350 Filipino software engineers, quality engineers, and business process outsourcing staff for internal support.

In choosing between the Philippines and India, Lawson clearly prefers a nation of 90 million versus a sub-continent of 1 billion:

[Lawson's decision] to transfer operations in the Philippines is based on results of their investigation on the country’s cost advantage. Aside from tax incentives, Lawson said the “an intelligent workforce with high energy and good work ethics” can easily be tapped in the Philippines.

Mulchrone said the firm’s experience in India has much larger costs compared to the Philippines. “So for the past five years, we began transitioning our operations from India to the Philippines,” he said.