Let's think from a critics standpoint, if you look at critics of the Indian BPO segment most of them would have never seen a headphone before, it's like Muslim clerics criticizing Satanic Versus, Either just by reading a particular page or just yapping away because his elder cleric said so. But from an insiders stand point why is it not worth working in the industry. Hera are some of them :
Learning :
After a certain point of time, unless you're working with a core product support team of a major vendor, chances that you'll learn anything niche is in the negatives. Most of the employees, their day to day activities are linked to a canned set of instructions which on reality could be done by kids attending high school. So what is that you would end up doing, you'd be resetting passwords, re-installing applications, giving out information on products and warranties etc. Learning becomes a dream. Does any other industry offer learning that's something that we have to find out for ourselves, lets park it for the time being.
Growth :
Though growth is good, growing to be a manager doesn't actually mean much. All you have to do is to ensure that everyone comes to work, if they get to work they are doing it and last but not least no one quits. A typical team leader / Manager will rush into the office, check the attendance. Call up the ones on unplanned leaves and talk. Sample conversation :
Manager: Why are you not at work??
Agent: Sir, am not well stomach is upset.
Manager: Is it upset with you or your girlfriend??
Agent: What sir, It's aching badly.
Manager: When did you realize it's aching, Is it before the thought of work came in or after ??
Agent: Sir, I have gone to the doctor and it's food infection.
Manager: Where did you eat and what did you eat ??
Agent: (Thanking god that he is not requesting the sample of shit, answers) Sir in our cafeteria, I had upma.
Manager: Even I had the same, I am fine.
Agent: Sir, you are there for a long time.(Thinking about upma's condition in his stomach)
Manager: So shall I sent a cab, will you be able to come in late??
Agent: I am still not well, I have lose motions, cannot travel.
Manager : Will you call me when it's over?
Agent: What??
Manager: Motions ...
So growing to a managers level means having loads of shitty conversations like this, convincing someone to come to work after his fathers funeral etc. You will be part of reviews where in there would be questions even god cannot answer, a sample review:
Boss: So why did we get a D-Sat on that issue?
Reportee(TL/AM): Sir, our service pack got installed on her laptop and then it crashed. We had to format and she lost all the data including her kids photos.
Boss: So, why couldn't we convince her about the quality of support? You are all losers, the survey is not about the product, it's about the support.
TL/AM : Sir, while butchering some one we cannot talk about the quality of the knife being used. Even if the knife is the best on this earth, we are butchers.
Boss: So how do we go ahead, I do not want to hear stories, get out and get the numbers in place by next week or start updating your resume.
What could have been the learning from this conversation :
A) Deafness is a quality that you need to work upon, listening is a sign of weakness.
B) Updating your resume is a continuous process and should never be triggered by anyone.
C) Never argue with your Boss and never give picturesque examples as they would add to the agony.
D) All of the above are takeaways.
If your answer is D, you'd survive in the industry.
Work Timings:
Being a weekend dad, the five minutes husband, the Owl uncle are the prospects you could get by being in a BPO. Eating dinner at 9:00 in the night would make you as uncomfortable as being in a Mumbai local. While everyone orders deserts, you'd be swallowing hot piping tea, sweetened up stares of friends and relatives. Living apart from the society, from the agreed upon norms might not be everyone's cup of tea. Being in a joint family could nearly kill you, imagine whoever goes out of the home gives you a hug or wakes you up for a bye, you can no longer dream about sleep, cause you are deprived of the very own pleasure of sleeping. Work timings is a major spoiler, but not for the ones with a lot of heart !!!!
Social Status:
One of the major reason, why people quit a BPO is cause of the social stigma attached to it. The Indian middle class dream of a becoming a doctor and engineer, is so deep rooted that anyone doing anything other than pulling out teeth, writing code or building bridges is a violator of the unwritten yet powerful Indian middle class code of conduct. So however revolutionary you are, being looked down during wedding proposals, within the family during important decisions etc would make you turn your back against the industry.
Work Pressure :
I am amazed when, geeks complain to me about work load, work pressure etc. If you've ever received feedback on a failed sale attempt,though the only thing you did NOT try was to give the moron a lap dance to get his credit card information, you'd know what pressure is. Not the happy go lucky one, pressure that get's into your skin and irks parts of your body you never realized existed before. Pressure of being measured, monitored, rated everyday. Pressure of handling an illiterate customer yelling at the top of her voice, because the butterfly doesn't take her places(MSN does not work) or the coffee holder isn't seen anymore( DVD Drive not getting ejected) is something which you cannot explain to your mom or to your girlfriend. It's a land for the light hearted and if you take stuff to your heart I can vouch you'd die young !!!!.
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