BPOs get serious, axe ‘fun job’

With Rising Client Expectations, BPOs Expect Employees To Toe The Line

From call centres to BPOs to KPOs — this is how the BPO industry claims to have evolved. When the call centre wave touched Indian shores, they projected themselves as a ‘fun’ place to work in. Some of them claimed to be an extension of college life. But as the nature of the work became complicated and the quality of work being outsourced became better, CEOs realised that the time to change workplace culture had arrived.

Murali Swaminathan, chief people officer, 24/7 Customer, blames the industry for creating such an image. The image resulted in youngsters regarding BPOs as stop-gap jobs. For them, the salary was their pocket money. So, they switched jobs on a regular basis, even for a Rs 500 hike. To retain employees, some BPOs went overboard with the fun theme. They even hired ‘fun officers’ who were paid to organise parties more often. With this, the seriousness related to doing business had gone, says Mr Swaminathan.

According to Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Progeon, the BPO arm of Infosys, such an image was projected on purpose. The call centre industry was new to India and people were not ready to work in a new industry. Moreover, it was difficult to get people to work for voice-based business, where they were supposed to take calls one after another. So the concept of ‘having fun at work’ was promoted and sold as it was the only way to get people to work in the booming industry. Also, for the first time, so many young people were coming together to work, so there was a need to have a culture accepted by them.

Is it still the same? No, say both Mr Swaminathan and Mr Chaudhry. The fun days are over. The ‘fun and party’ concept was promoted to get the workforce but now even the quality of the workforce employed has changed. “In the last 18-24 months, the industry has been working to change the image of working in BPOs,” says Mr Swaminathan. The reasons for this, says Mr Chaudhry, are that employees have also realised that BPOs are not fun places to work and companies have realised that they had stretched the fun concept too far. Clients were unhappy with this because for them, outsourcing is not fun but serious work.

Neelu, a BPO employee has been with her company for the past five years. She joined as an agent and is now a trainer. “I’m happy with my job and have no intentions of changing my job anytime soon. My company lets me grow, they have sponsored my MBA degree so why should I think of leaving them,” she says.

Siddharth, another BPO employee, who has been working in the industry for two years, says the work environment is very strict. “We have to report on time, else the manager will throw us out.” The parties happen only once a month.

At 24/7 Customer, the first signs of change came in August ’04 with implementation of a dress code in the office. Earlier, the employees used to come in torn jeans and plunging necklines but now they are to wear business casuals.
Source: http://www.timesjobs.com/Mailers/CareerDialogue/april14/landing/landing.html#g4a