ZDnet/CNet: High burnout dims Indian call centers

[Atlant]

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5061438.html?tag=fdfeed

High burnout dims
Indian call centers

By CNETAsia Staff

Over half of all call center staff in India burn out and end up quitting due to tough working conditions, according to
a study done by market research firm NFO.

Erratic working hours, assuming false identities, copying foreign accents and
changes in social and family life take their toll, according to a report on the study
in The Economic Times.

Call center staff in India operate hotlines for Western banks, credit card and
tech companies. Because the bulk of calls originate from the U.S. and Europe,
staff members often have to change their names from Indian ones to ones that Westerners can relate to, as well as
adapt speech patterns through voice coaching.

<snip>

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is becoming one of India's rapidly growing sectors in recent times. The country's
revenue from BPO will grow from slightly under US$1 billion in 2002 to US$1.2 billion in 2003 and will represent 66
percent of the offshore BPO market.

[rocktivity]

1. BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Maybe they'd be more willing to stick it out if they were getting paid as much as we Yanks were, eh what? After dining sumptuously on the Issa/Arnold debacle, this like dessert! All together now--"Instant karma's gonna get you..."

rocknation

[madrchsod]

2. i`ve gotten alot of

these calls..they`re really bad. from now on i`m going to start asking them what country their`re from. what`s really funny is listening to them try and pronounce my son`s very swedish name..they have no clue. even my other son`s name which is very "biblical" they screw -up.

[hippiechick]

7. there's actually legislation

In a few states to make it possible for customers to request to be transferred to a customer service person 'who speaks English' so they don't have to talk to 'people with accents'.

This could ultimately cause ALOT of problems because, growing up in Wisconsin, I could conceivably object to getting a CSR with a South Carolina drawl & not be able to understand them.

OTOH, I work at a company that tried to outsource to India last year and it WAS horrible. Not only did they have incredible difficulty with the language, but the whole concept of insurance, premiums, and yes - even manning the IT Help Desk - was a disaster for all sides.


:hippie:

[quispquake]

3. I called Direct TV last week...

and they had someone on that I swear was using Stephen Hawking's voice box...was extremely freaky...

"Homer, I am intrigued by your theory of a donut shaped universe"...(Stephen Hawkings on "The Simpsons")

pp23

[BigBigBigBear]

4. Helpdesk

is grueling work. Burnout is common in the West also.

[Zero Gravitas]

5. Good

and I hope that the corporate pigs who are trying to export American middle class jobs to the 3rd world loose tons of money in the process.

[bleedingheart]

6. they will just write their losses off on their taxes

outsourcing has to cost a ton of money...

first they have to guarantee power sources because India has unreliable power...
second all this training for these people....
third managing them from the west isn't cheap.

[AnnabelLee]

8. My computer froze up on me

last week & I had to call technical support. It was awful; I think the person with whom I spoke was Indian, & I could not understand more than a word or two of what she was saying. After I had asked her to repeat herself about ten times, I finally told her she wasn't helping me & I wanted to talk to someone else. Then I sat on hold for almost twenty minutes, only to get another person I could understand only marginally better.:mad:

[KoKo]

10. Same here with "Earthlink" tech help. It's gone to hell and probably

because it's gone to India where the folks aren't being trained correctly. Used to love Mindspring tech help back in the old days.......but once Mindspring got bought out and changed name to Earthlink the techs changed. All have Indian accents and I've been given the wrong information so many times I just do Google searches now if I need help. That's not good for their business and screwing up folks computers with bad info costs their customer's valuable time.

I had to idea what was going on until the news broke about the transfer of tech jobs to India. I just thought they had lowered the standards for their workers after the Tech Bubble Burst.

[psychopomp]

12. I started in tech support

(yeeeears ago) and I used to pull the same sort of thing. Leaving people on hold while we searched for answers or tried to throw together a work-around. Transferring people from one level to the next level (somebody more qualified, really). I think this kind of thing is common in this line of work. It is not easy to do and the pay isn't so good.

[SoCalDem]

15. Was it "Judy" or "Paul"???

Isn't that a crock.. I could barely understand them when I had to call for help.. The help she gave me was not effective anyway.. She sounded surprised when I asked her what the temp was in India, and what time it was there (it was 3AM for me )..

[Atlant]

17. If that doesn't catch them ask them whether...

If that doesn't catch them ask them whether they're in Bangalore or
Hyderabad.

http://www.jobs-bank.com/jobdetails.php?jobid=976%20

Atlant

[Zech Marquis]

9. what a damn shame

first these US companies screw American workers out of jobs, then they misuse and burnut the overseas workers with overbearing demands and working long hours with low pay. Karma's gonna pay these CEOs back in a big ass way! :argh:

[mumon]

11. While I appreciate the sentiments...

I would like to point out that more people in India speak "English" than the Americans who speak "English."

It's really kind of provincial (xenophobic?) of us to criticize the English Indians speak, though it sounds strange to us.

That said, no job should be exported to another country unless multi-year (say, 5 years') compensation is paid to anyone who loses their jobs in America AND that the job provides a standard of living comparable in cost (in America) .

There ARE reasons why companies might want to expand employment in other countries, but it shouldn't be to kill American jobs.

[Heddi]

18. I don't think people are bashing "Indians"

for the way they speak, rather that tech support should place people on the phones that can adequately communicate with people they're talking to.

I live and attend college in Seattle. I'm in classes with many exchange students and foreign students with visas who speak a variety of languages and speak English with pronounced accents.

I don't think it's xenophobic to say that it is sometimes difficult to understand people, hard as you may try, over their accent.

In person, I find its much easier because I can see their mouth movements and can get a better grasp of what they're saying.

Over the telephone it's quite different--between reception of the line, background noise on their end and yours, it can be quite difficult to understand people.

I've spoken both with Indian Telemarketers that have placed calls to my house as well as Indian Tech Support for computers and other equipment that I have placed.

In many cases, I have no problem understanding the person on the other end of the line, but there are cases where I've been called by someone and I cannot understand a word they are saying. This isn't saying that I think all Indians speak horrible English, because I don't think that way at all, but it IS saying that Tech SUpport companies have people on their staff talking on telephones that do not speak clear English and make communication very difficult.

It's not about the language sounding strange. It's about being able to understand what the person is saying.

I took french for 4 years in High School. Went to France and had people LAUGH at me for my accent because it was so horrible and so hard to understand what I was saying. They were laughing WITH me, as I knew I was brutalizing what I was saying, but I would not have been the person to put on a French-based telephone system to talk to native french speakers. Just beacause you CAN speak the language doesn't mean you can speak it well, or well enough to make communication easy.

[kittykitty]

13. So don't buy a Dell....

They have outsourced to India. My friend with a Dell called tech support and couldn't understand a word the call center person was saying. Tried the next day, and they think the person they were talking to was in Turkey! They told them to buy a new computer. Big Help. I imagine this will be the case with most name-brand computers soon, if it isn't already.

[trogdor]

14. The fake accents aren't for increased understanding...

...it's so we don't catch on that they're hiring offshore.

It doesn't work.

[BiggJawn]

16. What's the matter? No worker can take abuse like a Murkan, eh?

Yeah, we're lazy, we're overpaid, but when you get down to it, the American Worker has NO equal on the whole planet when it comes to taking a lickin' of managerial ABUSE and be able to keep on tickin'....
Stress? We CRAVE stress...Sexual Harrassment? Bring it on, it won't be tolerated, but we WILL critique your style. Long hours for shitty pay? Thank you SIR, may we have some MORE?!?!? (don't want to go home to my harpy of a wife, anyway)

Yes! the pack-burro of the working world, ladies and germs, I give you:

The AMERICAN WORKER!