Has the BPO bubble burst?

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Has the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) bubble burst?

Tanveer

@tanveer.indian

Explorer

Posted: 17 years ago

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2527359.cms

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Tech_News/Careers/Jobs/Has_th e_BPO_bubble_burst/articleshow/msid-2527359,curpg-1.cms

NEW DELHI: It's a story lost in translation. Yet, till sometime back, call centres were about 'India Rising'. Every caller was being connected to Ralph, Rosy and Rita in India. The sunrise industry had nightingales working through the night.

It's the midnight hour in Gurgaon, outside a call centre. A flush of activity signals a lifestyle that's now getting jaded.

It's a life lived on the edge. There's a new Chemistry of Challenge. And only the fittest survive.

If you're wondering, what's one night @ the call centre, these days, we'll tell you, much has changed since Chetan Bhagat wrote his book on the new sweatshop culture of call centres in India.

The crucial questions: has the bubble burst? Is young India feeling fatigued by the call centre job? Why is suddenly everyone looking down on working at a call centre?

The answers, my friend, aren't blowing in the wind. They are right here. Meet Rachel Brooks, (her real name, Rachna). Her target: To make 50 calls everyday. Her personal life: Single, very messed up.

Number of cigarettes smoked daily: 15. Salary: Rs 25,000, after working for two years. Stress: High. Work satisfaction: Low. Her aim: To quit this job by 2008.

Would Rachna recommend this line to anyone? "Maybe, for six months. Just to get a feel. But this is not a profession. Your body gets all messed up."

She's not the only one, there's Henry (Hari Sundaram), Peter (Pranav Mehta), Natasha (Natasha Kapoor). The list is endless. The midnight gossip, snacking and sex haven't helped. They're alone, singular voices echoing a fed up and stressed out emotion.

Interestingly, TIME magazine reports, India's college graduates and young job seekers just aren't interested in working at call centres.

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Tech_News/Careers/Jobs/Has_th e_BPO_bubble_burst/articleshow/msid-2527359,curpg-2.cms

Flashback 2004: You either got a high-paying job at a call centre or no job at all. Cut to 2007: Call centre jobs are least priority jobs. Some colleges in Delhi -- Sri Venkateswara College, Ramjas, Hansraj and LSR -- discourage call centre people coming to their colleges for recruitment.

Dr A Sankara Reddy, principal of Venkateswara College says, "The students aren't interested in call centres anymore. There's no job satisfaction. No longer do big salaries alone lure youngsters. The BPO culture and lifestyle have led to disillusionment. Earlier, students were running after these jobs, now BPOs are running after them. Also youngsters have higher expectations. The story of Indian mind, American accent is old. My college banned call centres from coming to our campus."

Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College, agrees, "Students want a better job and lifestyle, they don't want to compromise. They want to be leaders with intellect and make money. They've just woken up to a new sense of power."

True. Forbes reports, call centre jobs in India, which have limited job security and entail odd working hours, are losing their sheen as new sectors like hospitality, aviation and retail gain popularity.

Payal Gogia (name changed), who works with a leading consulting firm says, "The bubble has burst. Youngsters are no longer feeling empowered working with call centres. The freedom and fun they experienced earlier isn't giving them a high now. They don't mind exploring new talents -- singing, dancing, retail, insurance. Young India want security, they want to flaunt its intellect."

Sleepless at a call centre isn't a great feeling anymore. When we asked top-notch call centre experts, BPO gurus, they denied this 'fatigue' feeling, saying emphatically 'everyone still wants to work at a call centre'.

Guru of BPOs, Raman Roy, chairman & MD of Quatrro says, "We're outsourcing to the world. We're not hiring from elite colleges. We're hiring from smaller towns."

This is a world of hi-tech lifestyles, facebook networking, job-hopping, text-relationships, instant success and back-seat romping in SUVs, while being dropped back from work.

Deepak Kapur, founder of BPONews says, "Lifestyle is about making a choice. I don't think call centre jobs have lost their charm. They hold a great promise."

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Tech_News/Careers/Jobs/Has_th e_BPO_bubble_burst/articleshow/msid-2527359,curpg-3.cms

That's something, Vrinda Walavalkar, VP, FirstSource agrees, "We've got 12,000 people working for us, we keep hiring. We give a great global environment to work in."

That's the official story. The unofficial story is different. It's about ambitions and dreams. It's about young Indians who aren't satisfied within the call centre environment anymore.

Dr Kanika Khandelwal, professor of psychology at LSR College agrees, "Today, there's a new confidence. Youngsters want to achieve more. They want to empower themselves. They aren't just excited by the glamorous, moneymaking call centre jobs. The kids know that there is a lot of stress, collar abuse and stagnation if you stick around too long."

The disillusionment comes with a price. Fact is young Indians are engineering their dreams more professionally.

Sam Chopra, president, Business Process Industry Association of India tells, "Youngsters come to us with certain aspirations. Working at a call centre is about having a vocation, not a career. If you want to be here for two or three years, become confident, be groomed with a well-rounded personality, patience and other skills -- this is the place to be in. But, everyone cannot move up. We've got a larger base at the bottom. This is a great industry to get exposure in."

Tanveer 😊

Edited by abide - 17 years ago

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