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Are ITeS Jobs Really Bad? |
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Written by Pravin SINHA
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
The advant of new technology have led to transfer of jobs from North to South. These jobs are, no doubt of demanding nature, are comparatively better as there exist a huge stock of employable workforce. The informal sector does provide employment opportunities but the same 'indecent' in the language opf the ILO. Unionising young and educated workforce more so in a labour surplus economy had been most difficult task, for example in South Asia. Not only there is lack of understanding, among union functionaries, of the contants of emerging labour market as also knowledge workers concerns but also that the new workforce does not fully appriciate the role of trade union as an institution. In this connection there is need for national unions to appreciate the concerns of the concern workers which may be different than what is projected at the global level.
During one of those morning walks, as I passed an attractive building housing a MNC Call Centre, I met few young workers who have finished their shift and were waiting for their “Quallis” to transport them back to their respective houses. “Tired", I inquired. Yes, it was hectic as I had to attend a large number of incoming calls, my eyes are burning and ears are hurting, replied Ramesh, a call centre worker.
How is the Office like?
The Office is quite modern and comfortable and the timings are also not bad as we work for eight hours with provisions for three breaks – one for lunch and two for toilet. The lunch is sumptuous as such I have gained weight…. you see I was not this heavy when I joined the Company.
How did you join this company?
Well! I was removed by the owner of a shop in Connaught Place. I was with them for almost three years but delays by DTCs costed my job. I used to get about Rs 5000 as monthly salary with no provision for leave and medical facilities. Each days delays or absence would imply deduction in salary for the concerned month. Timings too were very long, at times almost 10 to12 hours per day. I am just a graduate with no special and marketable skills and can’t afford to be unemployed due to my family circumstances. So I attended the interview and was offered the job with designation of “Customer Relation Officer” with unimaginable starting salary of Rs. 8000.
Did you start working immediately on employment?
No! I was given training for two months. I was imparted training on use of computers, language and pronunciations. It was fun as I was student again after a very long period and that paid ones. The idea of free lunch and transport too was new to me. You see I had faced real hard work conditions while employed in a shop. I have many friends who are working in various factories located in Okhala and other industrial areas of Delhi and I tell you that their conditions of work is most in humane. Many of them do not have even the formal letter of employment and are forced to work for longer hours under most unhygienic conditions. They neither have free lunch or transport.
But they keep you under strict supervision?
Yes! We know that the team leaders are keeping eyes on us and that each time we leave table for toilet, etc. the time spent away from table is deducted from the 8 hours schedule which we are expected to log in on the following day. Our conversation with clients are also under supervision to see how we are handling the calls.
Doesn’t it humiliate you?
Yes, initially I did feel bad and even had argument with the supervisor. But then it was explained to me and now it doesn’t bother me as I have got used to of it.
But why keeping eye all the time?
You see, this industry is customer driven who is not only impatient but also sensitive. Any unwarranted comment could cost the company dearly. This is also to see the track of work efficiency level of an individual employee. You there are over three hundred CRS under one unit and only three to four persons get promoted to the next level.
Are there sufficient promotional opportunities?
I think so. I am told that some of the people have got promoted five times in as many years. The increase in salary is phenomenon. Than there are incentives which at times are more than one’s salary for the month.
Financial Incentives?
Yes! Each time one exceeds the target one becomes eligible for an award. Then there are various award for better performance. Those dealing with collections [particularly credit card] receive certain percentage of realized collection from customer as incentives.
You mean there could be more than one operations?
A Call Centre basically has two major groups of employees, i.e. one who handles clients and the other which renders support services to enable the employee receiving or making the calls to undertake the work efficiently. It is possible that the front line employees [those who interact with customers] may be subdivided in various sub-groups each handling specific areas of the company’s operations.
Same or different Companies?
Well! It depends. Some call centre undertakes different operations of the same company while others handle same operation of different clients. The nature of operation also decides whether the operations are “incoming” or “outgoing”
Means!
Well in the case of outgoing, the initiatives are taken by the Call Centre to contact the client [like in the case of credit card business, the caller, on behalf of the company, informs about incentives to become a card owners or to move to a higher category]. In the case of incomming call, on the other hand, the client makes the call………… Look I have to go now otherwise the driver will leave me.
O.K., O. K. Just one last question, do you find the transport safe?
Ofcourse it is much safer, comfortable and reliable than the public transport. Its cheaper since I don’t have to pay any. Well, the drivers are some time in hurry as they have to meet the time schedule. This is at time dangerous.
Do you think your female colleagues are safe during transportation?
Well! We come in groups as such whether male or female all are exposed to the possible danger. But in case you are taking about the rape case that happened a few months back in Hyderabad, then for sure female workers’ danger are higher. I however feel that the police needs to be more vigilant and that there ought to be closure monitoring of people engaged in transport and other support services. AND NOW I HAVE TO GO and Thanks talking to you. I hope you are not a journalist!
Why?
Because they turn and twist the meaning of statements!
The Business Process Outsourcing [BPO] is one of the fastest growing industries. These are also called the Call Centres. The BPOs take care of TNCs’ worldwide routine activities such as credit card inquiries, invoicing, pay-rolls, application processing, reconciling daily accounting, write medical prescriptions, write cheques, etc. The BPOs in India transect business on behalf of my of the 100 Fortune Companies such as American Express, British Airways, Citibank, GE, etc. According to an estimate the industry has grown at over 70 per cent per year since 1997. With a period of mare five years as many as 336 BPOs have been setup employing over 0.1 million boys and girls and have generated a decent revenue of Rs 6,790 crore [$1.47 billion]. The business undertaken so far has already made India as world leader thus overtaking Ireland and Philippines. Further, according to NASSCOM and McKinsey – a private consultants- if India maintains its current rate of growth, the revenue from BPO operations could rise to Rs. 1, 15, 200 crore [$ 24 billion] by 2008. This would in turn imply that the sector will employee [directly or indirectly] over 2 million workers and generate approximately $ 24 billion as revenue.
Computer literate, communication skill, good typing skills and a good command over English is all that required to be employed in a Call Centre. After an orientation cum training of four to eight weeks they commence their work with a starting emolument of about Rs 5,000 to 10,000 per month depending on clientele. The working is undertaken on an eight-hour shift basis. They are allocate a cubical with PC and telephone and are expected to attend as many as one hundred calls in a work schedule of eight hours shift. During this time, the person is allowed to go twice to the toilet, have two breaks for meal and beverage the total time span of which should not exceed one hour. A BPO employee is also provided with door to door transportation, on the house refreshment, picnic and other entertainment.
The current trends show that the IT-ITeS industry in India is expected to have reached $6.3 billion at close of March 2006. India’s export of the sector in the financial year 2004-05 grew to Rs. 82,203 crores from Rs59,341 crores during the previous year. The boom has caused direct employment in the IT-ITeS sector to touch 1.3 million. It is expected that additional 3 million jobs would be created through indirect employment. It is further estimated that employment opportunities, in the coming months and years would grow in practically all sector. The human resource department would lead at 90% followed by payment services (47%); Customer care (40); Finance (26%); Administration (20); and Content development (19%). The ssurvey further indicates that there will be a shift from Business Process Outsourcing [BPO] to Knowledge Process Outsourcing [KPO] in India. In 2006, the engineering services and Research and Development [R&D] raked in $ 29.5 billion [Rs. 131621 crores] accounting for 18% (engineering) and 14% (R&D) of the ITeS-BPO sector. The R&D Sector offers the biggest potential in terms of jobs, with estimated market of $17 billion [Rs. 75849 crores], thus growing at the rate of 30-35% per annum. It is projected that manpower requirement for the content development would be around 197 thousand in 2012. With ITeS Sector shining, can India really complain!
The dominant features of employment and unemployment in India are typically those of less developed countries. There are low rates of open unemployment but much higher level of poverty. The poor can’t afford to remain unemployment. Consequently, nearly 33% of the employed workforce in 1993 were poor [almost similar to the all India level] on the other hand only 18-19% of those unemployed were poor. Implicate in this feature are higher rates of under-employment and low level of productivity and income, as also open unemployed among those above the poverty line. Predominantly, a large proportion of the workforce employed in the agriculture and a very large proportion of those employed both in rural and urban sectors report themselves as self-employed or casual workers. Of recent, however, there had been an increase in female work participation rates and increase in education level of the workforce. Unemployment of educated youth is gradually becoming a serious problem.
The 2001 Census has classified workers into main workers and marginal workers. Accordingly, 77.8% of the total workers were main workers while 22.2% were marginal workers. The Census further reveals that 77 percent of the workforce are resident in rural areas. Among the main workers the proportion of rural workers was about 73 per cent and that of urban was 27 per cent. On the other hand, 91 percent of the marginal workforce were in rural areas. Another aspect of Indian workforce is its classification into organised and unorganised sectors. The above table indicates that by 1994 only 8.0 per cent of the total workforce constitute part of the organised sector where as the unorganised sector account for 92.0 per cent. Agriculture and allied occupation are the single largest employer of the Indian workforce, about 99.2% of which are in the unorganised sector. In the manufacturing sector also the workers in the unorganised sector account for almost 75% of the workforce. Similarly, the 98% of the workers in trade and commerce belong to the unorganised sector.
The Planning Commission’s mid-term appraisal report for the 10th Five-year Plan [2002-07] concludes in its very first paragraph of Chapter on ‘Labour and Employment’ that “…the pace of creation of employment opportunities may not exceed the addition to the labour force”. The conclusion was for the period 2002-05. Further, the employment in the organised sector has decreased during the period under reference.
The 10th Five-year Plan envisaged the creation of 50 million employment opportunities over the Plan period, against a total addition to the labour force of 35 million persons. A clear distinction was made between employment growth that would come about through the normal process (approximately 30 million during the Plan period or 6 million per year on the average) and additional employment that could be generated if the pattern of growth could be altered by implementing special initiatives in identified labour intensive sectors (approximately 20 million during the Plan period or 4 million per year on average)
These compulsions places one in dilemma every time one stands to speak about the booming IT industry and employment opportunities it has created for people with or without IT skills in India. The dilemma is as to whether one ought to be for or against outsourcing in India!
There is no denying of the fact that the India’s ever increasing workforce, needs to be employed. Particularly since in the absence of any social security, remaining unemployed in not an option. One has to work to survive. One may also like to look at the other options. Look at the informal sector that employees about 93 percent of the workforce.
Informality has been a way of life in this part of the world more so in India. The process of formalizing the production process as also relationship between employer and employee began with the enactment of the first factory act in the colonial India. Subsequent enactments, e.g. the Trade Union Act in 1926, etc laid foundation for the formalization of the employer/employee relationship as well. However, the applicability and the enforcement of these laws were confined to a small section of total economic activities. In the five decades since independence, the situation in India has not changed much as those covered by the provisions over 100 labour laws remained confined to relatively fewer numbers of establishments and the workforce employed therein. Resultantly, the vast area uncovered by the formal structure is playground for those who controlled resources. And in this adventurism the government machineries as also the elected representatives, including those of labour, connived.
The desperate state of affaires faced in particular by the workers in the informal sector [IFS] came to open with the adoption of market form of economic development by the Government of India [GOI] in June 1991. With the introduction of New Economic Policy [NEP], the GOI gave clear indication about its intention to move away from its traditional role of main economic / industrial players with employment generation as its main goal. Various studies by the government and academic institutions have drawn conclusions that the promises made in the various plans have remained promises as problems such as illiteracy, poverty and unemployment have magnified instead of vanishing. It has also been observed that the concerned bodies have been redefining concepts / issues with a view to misrepresent the prevailing situation, e.g. number of people below the poverty line, minimum wage, industry, etc.
Faced with the negligible job opportunities in the formal sector, most of the new and the unemployed workforce get themselves absorbed in the IFS. The informal sector employment could be considered as those that are home based workers, independent workers, own account establishment workers, employees of unregistered establishments as also of small scale units, contract / casual workers, workers employed in EPZs and ancillary units, etc.
At the all India level the share of own account enterprises [self-employment] in total non-agricultural employment is estimated around 33 percent. On the other hand, at the all India level, about 42 per cent of the total workers in establishments are engaged in small units [employing nine of less workers] that are taken to be part of the IFS. The following table show the proportion of employment in small establishments [of size one to nine workers] to total establishment employment, the proportion of hired workers, to total employment in all establishments of all sizes, and finally the share of IFS in total non-agricultural employment. This figure is on the lower side in the states of Assam, Gujarat and Haryana. The proportion of hired workers to total workers in the establishment is estimated at 87.7 per cent at the all India level, and across states also non of the figure is below 82 per cent.
The relative size of the IFS is estimated as the proportion of employment in the own account enterprises [self employment] and small establishments [less than ten workers] in the non-agriculture sector. So the share on the IFS in the non-agriculture employment works out to be around 61 per cent. Further, the ratio of employment in the own account enterprises to the total non-agricultural employment turns out to be 33 per cent, which means that at all India level with in the IFS self-employment category is slightly higher in size than that of small establishments. In some of the poor states like Orissa, the share of IFS is as high as 71% while in some of the industrialized states, such as Gujarat and Maharashtra, it is 48 to 52 per cent.
Recently, while in a flight to Europe, I had interesting conversation with a young lady working as a trainer in an MNC outsourced unit in Noida [Utter Pradesh]. On my quarry about the conditions of work, she responded by arguing that any one seeking employment in any concern is in principle agreement with the rules governing it. What is the debate about employees being asked to work in the night as also supervision by superiors! We live in a globalised world where investment as also people are expected to move wherever they get best returns. The BPOs came to India because it can undertake the entrusted work far cheaper than US or the countries in Europe. And it will move out the moment, the outsourcing companies can find countries which can undertake the earmarked cheaper than India, AND WE IN THE INDUSTRY KNOW ABOUT THIS.
On my pointed question about unionisation the reply was “What Union”.
The ignorance about the concept, role and functions of unions is a major factor in organisaing work that one proposes to take in the IT Sector. It is important that the promoters of unionisation work in the IT-ITeS sector understand the mindset and aspirations of the workers employed there in; the conditions prevailing in the organisations; and national compulsions as also international pressure.
We live in a fluid world and for that there need to be precision in one’s strategies and actions .
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