Recently many organizations decided to move some part of their organization abroad. The most universal example is call centers. It plays a key role in the service industries. There has been an enormous increase in the number of large organizations entering India. The demand for call centers has become very popular among customers. For example, according to Forsyth, 2004 10 million consumers use telephone banking in Britain. As a result of such developments, over the past few years, call centers represent a new form of work and have been gaining academic attention.
This industry is subject to improvements and innovations. This industry includes language recognition and software managing to interact with customers to satisfy them. Presently this sector is having massive growth, particularly within developing countries like India and the Philippines. Call centers have brought an economic boom in India. The main reason for its development is the accessibility of well-trained, technology expert and inexpensive labor. Indians call center employees can handle troubleshoot computers, collect debts and conduct customer satisfaction surveys with ease as professionals speak English fluently that too with Western accents. Therefore, India meets the rising global demand services at a low price and customer-oriented call centers. It has been analyzed that by 2010 almost 200,000 jobs could be outsourced to India and $30 billion could be saved for future investments in the US. Call centers in India are performance-driven and have high quality outsourcing services. In comparison to India, China also has cheap labor but they lack the English language.
India based call centers offer various benefits and disadvantages to Indian society. The most important advantage is employment creation. These jobs offer standard starting salaries with a rise on the basis of individual performance. There used to be many people having a good educational degree but always remained unemployed or were unsatisfied with their salary. As the employees are paid well, they can now afford a modern standard of living. This has helped in increasing their motivational level.
On the other hand call centers have various disadvantages. Many of them maintain overseas operations and therefore it leads to night shifts due to time difference. Hence, working during odd hours, the employees face various health issues like sleep disorders, heart diseases, and depression. Late night commuting for jobs has also put the security of employees at risk. There has been a considerable increase in the number of call centre employees being victims of criminal activities in recent years. It is not a permanent contract job; there is always a possibility of job loss. Another reason can be the control of Indian employees by foreign managers.