The Call Center Culture – Impact on a New Generation
A new world where the call center culture is the order of the day, accented English the current lingo, and big bucks and glitzy lifestyles the norm…that’s the outsourcing lands for you. But what exactly is the impact of the outsourcing industry on the socio-economic dynamics of countries like India, China, and Philippines which are benefiting most from this new inflow of work. It can’t all be a bag of goodies, but then neither is it fair to fling all the brickbats at the outsourcing industry. So what is the actual scene? We have the answers right here!
Money, money, money all around
The mushrooming of BPOs at a breathtaking pace has created an unprecedented money inflow in developing countries. Because of clients who pay in dollars, BPOs see a significant turnover compared to home country operations (usually in the region of 50% or more) and this permeates to the employee levels in the form of higher salaries. What a highly qualified banker or lawyer with five years’ experience might be earning, complete greenhorns with minimum qualifications earn in the beginning of their career at a call center. The icing on the cake is the whopping incentives, a goodwill gesture from companies to share profits. This in turn means opportunities for youngsters to support families single handedly even while gaining exposure to international markets. As a senior call center professional points out, " …call centers (the so called low end job of taking calls) have created employment for the masses who otherwise would have ended up as mechanics, security guards, drivers and plumbers."
Young men and women buy cars, televisions, computers, cell phones, and western clothes without a second thought – things their parents may not have dreamt of doing in their lifetime. A growing number of shopping malls, coffee shops and nightclubs cater to this extravagant urban landscape. Good money also amounts to better infrastructure, and this is another thing the BPO culture is bringing to outsourcing countries. Technology at par with the super powers, work places that dazzle the eye and equipped with every facility ever required, transportation and other amenities that ensure worker comfort, the works!
Work your way to glory!
Gone are the days when work meant a nine to five job. Just as the geographical horizons have expanded, so too have the actual work culture undergone a huge upheaval. Work intensity translates into the ‘work till you get it right’ motto and results have the final say. Flexibility in location and time is offered and employees are encouraged to adapt a work mode most suitable to their temperament. In some outsourcing outfits, work can be carried home and completed at one's convenience. More importantly, a reverse brain drain phenomenon is in view, with foreign professionals flocking to outsourcing countries to make use of the opportunities available there.
But the intensity of these jobs cannot be emphasized enough – strenuous and draining as much as they are exciting and challenging. Many a times, work happens round the clock and even holidays and weekends are compromised. Long winded schedules, permanent night shifts, and incredibly high work targets are unavoidable, with no relief in the horizon.
Who am I, where am I?
Call center culture boils down to an ‘unlearning’ of the native cultural and value systems, and adapting western ethos. This could be justified as a bridging of the gap between developing countries and the West and also a widened exposure to the culture, accent and customs of the West. The customers in most call centers are western countries and being on the same wavelength as them is crucial for smooth business.
But what of the alarming impact of call centers, both psychological and behavioral? The reconstruction of identity with western pseudonyms and a forced accent during a work shift at odd timings has an adverse effect on impressionable youngsters who form the bulk of call center employees. Multiple personality disorder is on a rise, with Lee and Lloyd and Hari and Harry playing havoc with the minds of those involved. A researcher from India describes the situation succinctly, “Call center employees have no social life – indeed, they are hardly able to exchange more than a few words with their families, far less spend time with friends on working days. On days off, most of them do not even read the newspaper or watch anything more than mindless programmes on TV. Many of them show symptoms of bipolar disorder with going to work each day as the "high"– when they are at home, they are listless, bad-tempered and depressed." Stress, depression, panic attacks, alcoholism relationship troubles, and eating disorders are all part of the bargain. A study in Philippines shows that employees in the outsourcing industry are reeling under the effect of nocturnal shifts, reversed sleep cycles, take-out food and the new way of speaking. The BOSS ( burnout stress) syndrome – with symptoms like chronic fatigue, insomnia and complete alteration of 24-hour biological rhythm of the body – is quite common among them. The youngsters in turn try to cope through smoking, drinking, aggressive pubbing and by doing drugs, which in the long run only add to their troubles.
Another cause of concern is the number game among countries. Today India rules, but China is slowly catching up with the outsourcing leader. Tomorrow it might be another dark horse dethroning both these countries. The result? Millions of young people who’ve taken up call center work at the expense of higher studies or other career options to earn hefty salaries will be thrown out of employment. They will not be equipped for the high-end BPO sector nor will they have the skills for other professional work.
Way out!
Outsourcing countries have to dispel the notion of ‘stolen jobs’ and make sustainable efforts towards creating stability in the BPO industry. Employees must be given sustained support in the form of counseling, periodic health risk assessment and other benefits. Attempts must be made to achieve a synchrony between the mental and physical body rhythms of all workers. The importance of a balanced approach is crucial, with the positive effects of outsourcing like wealth creation and widened exposure reinforced through public policies. And once sound principles are in place, there can be no stopping the outsourcing economies!
Vidhu Panicker
Outsourcenews.com network
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