Bpo Employees Face The Heat From Their Clients
Though the outsourcing business has taken a considerable dip in recent times, it seems that city professionals working in the business might have the last laugh after all. Going by the reports of abusive and unsolicited feedback from callers in the UK and the US that these professionals often face in their working life, our city boys and girls might consider themselves lucky to be in outsourcing.
“Every now and then we come across an angry American posing as a client who yells at us for ‘stealing their jobs’, slamming down the phone before we can speak back to them,” says Avinash, a banking executive dealing with US based clients at a multinational firm in the City. While the trend is markedly noted in the call centres, irate first world citizens seemingly vent their ire through email and chat as well. Says Srinivas, a strategist at a Hyderabadbased IT firm on the trend: “It’s a way of venting their frustration over the telephone line or chat window for employees in the US, who presumably have been given the pink slip.” One of the causes behind such sporadic outbursts, reasons Srinivas, “is the differing nature of the Indian psyche, vis a vis the western mind.
Our first impulse while earning is to save up for rainy days. To my knowledge most Indian professionals don’t live off mortgages like the Americans do, which might explain why the economic slowdown affects them differently.” The phenomenon of outsourcing company employees facing such outbursts can be broadly classified into two groups, explains Srinivas. “The issue gets noticed while the employee tries to call prospective clients and then fall prey to their fits of rage, once the person realises that their call is being channeled through a BPO,” he says, adding: “Instances of people calling in to express their anger on the job scenario, however are less.” Though the harsher workplace environment for these Hyderabadi professionals has mingled their future with a shade of uncertainty; there seems to be a note of hope after all.
“Being from a developing nation, Indian employees are mentally equipped to handle financial crises,” opines Srinivas. Echoing his sentiment is call centre employee Nithya, who claims that “despite the gloom in the industry, this is still a great place to work in.” Source