Are Bpo's adding better standard of living for youth in India?

Question

i saw the answers.. but dont you think .. howmany people can afford to get govt jobs or how many of us can actually pay MBA and engg fees... if compared to usa salary structures... dont u think for many of us they can now run their families sucessfully rather than workin a normal day job or rather than standing in a long queue... call centers would hv negative impact but isnt work pressure part of the job ...,, plus if we see and overall scenario now every one can afford stuff as what they want to have .. like cars, good phones, all amenities at home ... how many of us were able to get this before we had BPO's...

well i can say is human desires are never enuff anf we always look at the negative side not positive

Answer 1

The Indian media and business elite never tire of enthusing over India’s growing role as an IT and business-processing outsourcer to the world. Yet a recent study of working conditions in Indian outsourced call centres has pointed to the high levels of labour exploitation in the industry—including constant surveillance, long hours, health problems and burnouts.

The study provoked a hostile reaction from Indian business, highlighting the economic and political reliance of India’s ruling elite on the success of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. After limited reportage by some Indian newspapers, business lobbies and the media rapidly attacked its findings and the body that commissioned the study, the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute.

Typical were comments by Pramod Bhasin, the CEO of the outsourcing provider Genpact. He told the Financial Express: “The world is praising the Indian IT Industry... But we are bent on killing the golden goose. I am aghast at the findings of the report.”

Reflecting that sensitivity, the author of the research study, Babu P. Remesh, refused to provide the World Socialist Web Site with a copy of the study. Remesh told the WSWS that the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, which is funded by the Indian government’s Department of Labour, was not distributing the document.

Nevertheless, one can get a flavour of the study, which was entitled “Employment and Employment Relations in IT Enabled Services and Teleworking”, from a conference paper by Remesh that is available online and from the reports of the study in the press.

Call centre employees are under constant stress because of their workload, competitive pressures and surveillance. Workers are monitored for the number of calls, the average call time and time between calls. Closed circuit cameras and electronic timers monitor the time staff are away from their desk, including in the bathroom.

Yamini, a 20 year-old women working in HCL’s call centre in Noida, told the Guardian what conditions were like: “The pressure is tough. There’s such a volume of calls that we don’t have a second to pause, and the customers are often irate because they have been waiting for so long. The hours are regimented. If you need to go to the loo, you have to wait until your allotted break period. My parents want me to leave because they can see how my health has suffered.”

Team leaders randomly listen into calls to assess the emotions conveyed, accent, alertness, grammar and punctuation. Mistakes lead to immediate warnings that are recorded on “warning cards”. A number of warnings will lead to counseling or dismissal.

The study outlines that management often sets call rates at a level at which the employees have to “burn out” to fulfill. Workers regularly make or answer hundreds of calls per day, which the report equates to “assembly line manufacturing”. The most stressful aspect of the job is on the caller operator’s emotions. Workers are required to remain constantly pleasant and attentive, particularly when speaking to agitated and irate callers. According to Remesh, a considerable proportion of the Indian call centre workforce has a syndrome popularly referred to as “Burn Out and Stress Syndrome”.

Adding to the stress, management creates an environment of competition by assessing staff performance against the figures of the “good performers”.

The study, which surveyed 280 workers in six call centres in Noida, near New Delhi, found that the industry sought a “productively docile” workforce that had no job security or rights. The majority of call centre staff were considered “non-core” and dispensable. In some centres, Codes of Conduct discourage employees from discussing their salaries with peers and they are subject to disciplinary actions for breaching the code.

A number of states in India have exempted outsourcing companies from the Industrial Disputes Act, which provides, amongst other things, for unfair dismissal rights. West Bengal, headed by a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government, has stretched the work week (the number of hours after which companies are legally required to pay overtime) from 40 to 48 hours, and has changed labour laws to allow young women working at BPOs to do night shifts.

The typical employee in a call centre is university educated, aged between 18 and 30 and single. The industry attracts a large number of women, who take the jobs mainly because of the relatively good pay. Staff are paid between 8,000 and 15,000 rupees ($US175 and $330) a month. Although the rate is much lower than those of call centre workers in western countries, it is higher than many executive level government or engineering jobs in India.

The study found that the role of human resource staff in the call centres is that of “camouflaging work as fun” through the use of things such as popcorn booths and ping-pong tables. Management give call staff titles such as Call Centre Executive and Customer Care Executive in an attempt to portray the positions as being high level and privileged. The report outlined, however, that the pay and hype surrounding the jobs mask the fact that there is almost no career development in the industry. The report concludes that “most of these youngsters are in fact burning out their formative years as ‘cyber coolies’.”

Staff in the industry reported health problems such as nervousness, chronic fatigue, body ache, insomnia, nausea, anxiety, restlessness, irritability and depression due to odd working hours and stress. Sick days are difficult to obtain. The report found that staff were required to obtain the consent of team leaders for a sick day four to six hours before a shift or else it is marked as “unscheduled”, which is possible grounds for dismissal.

Another study of 100 women entitled “Women in Call Centres” published in the Economic and Political Weekly found serious health problems associated with the call centre industry, particularly for those working a night shift. At least 40 percent of staff reported indigestion, backaches, eyestrain and indigestion.

The report also found that call centre work seriously impinged social life. It said “90 per cent of the respondents did not balance work and family life. The respondents had no social life or interaction with people in the family.”

Answer 2

Do you mean to say that standard of living is only about getting fat package, what about the night shift and the adverse effect it has on the health of the individual, also the experience of the bpo job is not counted very seriously.

Answer 3

BPO's are here for business not to give better standard of living to youth of india.

Answer 4

1. The Indian media and business elite never tire of enthusing over India’s growing role as an IT and business-processing outsourcer to the world. Yet a recent study of working conditions in Indian outsourced call centres has pointed to the high levels of labour exploitation in the industry—including constant surveillance, long hours, health problems and burnouts.

The study provoked a hostile reaction from Indian business, highlighting the economic and political reliance of India’s ruling elite on the success of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. After limited reportage by some Indian newspapers, business lobbies and the media rapidly attacked its findings and the body that commissioned the study, the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute.

Typical were comments by Pramod Bhasin, the CEO of the outsourcing provider Genpact. He told the Financial Express: “The world is praising the Indian IT Industry... But we are bent on killing the golden goose. I am aghast at the findings of the report.”

Reflecting that sensitivity, the author of the research study, Babu P. Remesh, refused to provide the World Socialist Web Site with a copy of the study. Remesh told the WSWS that the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, which is funded by the Indian government’s Department of Labour, was not distributing the document.

Nevertheless, one can get a flavour of the study, which was entitled “Employment and Employment Relations in IT Enabled Services and Teleworking”, from a conference paper by Remesh that is available online and from the reports of the study in the press.

Call centre employees are under constant stress because of their workload, competitive pressures and surveillance. Workers are monitored for the number of calls, the average call time and time between calls. Closed circuit cameras and electronic timers monitor the time staff are away from their desk, including in the bathroom.

Yamini, a 20 year-old women working in HCL’s call centre in Noida, told the Guardian what conditions were like: “The pressure is tough. There’s such a volume of calls that we don’t have a second to pause, and the customers are often irate because they have been waiting for so long. The hours are regimented. If you need to go to the loo, you have to wait until your allotted break period. My parents want me to leave because they can see how my health has suffered.”

Team leaders randomly listen into calls to assess the emotions conveyed, accent, alertness, grammar and punctuation. Mistakes lead to immediate warnings that are recorded on “warning cards”. A number of warnings will lead to counseling or dismissal.

The study outlines that management often sets call rates at a level at which the employees have to “burn out” to fulfill. Workers regularly make or answer hundreds of calls per day, which the report equates to “assembly line manufacturing”. The most stressful aspect of the job is on the caller operator’s emotions. Workers are required to remain constantly pleasant and attentive, particularly when speaking to agitated and irate callers. According to Remesh, a considerable proportion of the Indian call centre workforce has a syndrome popularly referred to as “Burn Out and Stress Syndrome”.

Adding to the stress, management creates an environment of competition by assessing staff performance against the figures of the “good performers”.

The study, which surveyed 280 workers in six call centres in Noida, near New Delhi, found that the industry sought a “productively docile” workforce that had no job security or rights. The majority of call centre staff were considered “non-core” and dispensable. In some centres, Codes of Conduct discourage employees from discussing their salaries with peers and they are subject to disciplinary actions for breaching the code.

A number of states in India have exempted outsourcing companies from the Industrial Disputes Act, which provides, amongst other things, for unfair dismissal rights. West Bengal, headed by a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government, has stretched the work week (the number of hours after which companies are legally required to pay overtime) from 40 to 48 hours, and has changed labour laws to allow young women working at BPOs to do night shifts.

The typical employee in a call centre is university educated, aged between 18 and 30 and single. The industry attracts a large number of women, who take the jobs mainly because of the relatively good pay. Staff are paid between 8,000 and 15,000 rupees ($US175 and $330) a month. Although the rate is much lower than those of call centre workers in western countries, it is higher than many executive level government or engineering jobs in India.

The study found that the role of human resource staff in the call centres is that of “camouflaging work as fun” through the use of things such as popcorn booths and ping-pong tables. Management give call staff titles such as Call Centre Executive and Customer Care Executive in an attempt to portray the positions as being high level and privileged. The report outlined, however, that the pay and hype surrounding the jobs mask the fact that there is almost no career development in the industry. The report concludes that “most of these youngsters are in fact burning out their formative years as ‘cyber coolies’.”

Staff in the industry reported health problems such as nervousness, chronic fatigue, body ache, insomnia, nausea, anxiety, restlessness, irritability and depression due to odd working hours and stress. Sick days are difficult to obtain. The report found that staff were required to obtain the consent of team leaders for a sick day four to six hours before a shift or else it is marked as “unscheduled”, which is possible grounds for dismissal.

Another study of 100 women entitled “Women in Call Centres” published in the Economic and Political Weekly found serious health problems associated with the call centre industry, particularly for those working a night shift. At least 40 percent of staff reported indigestion, backaches, eyestrain and indigestion.

The report also found that call centre work seriously impinged social life. It said “90 per cent of the respondents did not balance work and family life. The respondents had no social life or interaction with people in the family.”

2. Do you mean to say that standard of living is only about getting fat package, what about the night shift and the adverse effect it has on the health of the individual, also the experience of the bpo job is not counted very seriously.