New Delhi , Thursday , Jul 10 , 2008 : What was going on in the mind of the scriptwriter of the 2007 hit movie ‘Life in a Metro’ when he scripted the story around a call center? The protagonist of the movie wants to make big bucks and rise to the top in the call center he works for and he uses unscrupulous means to achieve that. The issue is that lack of seriousness and scruples is how the BPO industry is being perceived today.

Ten years ago it was unfathomable for a plain graduate to earn a good income -- forget extravagant pay cheques. You had to support that graduate degree with something that made you more saleable in the job market -- an MBA degree perhaps.

And then things changed when India discovered the great BPO opportunity. Sameer Mehta did not even have his graduation result before he had his first job with a leading international call center. “I suddenly moved from a life of a paltry pocket money of Rs 1000 to a neat 16 k in my pocket. It was amazing and I was barely 19,” he quips. He was going to the coolest office wearing shorts and flip-flops with his hair gelled, back-slapping buddies (including women colleagues) on the way to his desk.

Starting as a nascent industry in the early 1990s, BPO in India is today poised as one of the fastest growing industries at a growth rate of over 40%. The decade old BPO industry has seen $11 billion revenue, provided 700,000 people with direct employment and indirect employment to four times that number.

But despite the fantastic numbers there is a visible change in the BPO perception. Though initially the high salaries and sophisticated work environment in BPOs succeeded in attracting a large pool of youngsters, it failed to sustain the same. And the reasons behind it ranges from fatigue, psychological dissatisfaction to fear of an illusive future. The youngsters leave the organization within a short period of time and as a consequence—they harm not only their career but also the organization.

“Its true that that the general image of the BPO industry has taken a beating over time,” admits Sachdev Ramakrishna, Director Marketing of Steria India (erstwhile Xansa)According to latest findings in the book, ‘Business Process Outsourcing, Oh! BPO-Structure and Chaos, Fun and Agony’, the perception today is that almost anyone can find a job in a BPO and that the industry offers easy money while being a stopgap career arrangementIt is also unsafe for girls and a place where one’s career progression took a back seatAnd that BPO jobs may not necessarily be at par with the other premium jobs in the corporate sectorNot to mention the health related problems of a BPO employee

Ramakrishna believes that this is perhaps a result of too much too soon“About a few years ago when the other sectors in India were not growing at the same scorching rate, the BPO story was way more attractiveSecondly the past few years have seen a complete makeover in the urban youth and their aspirations

The increase in the number of coffee houses, malls, multiplexes or automobiles display the spending trend of the young Indians. And this perhaps contributes to the so called yuppie perception,” he says.

Kamal Chand, assistant vice president HR Operations and Training at Bangalore based BPO firm Cambridge Solutions believes that this perception perhaps stems from the ‘low level of work in the call centers’. “The behavioral problem arises in the voice based centers due to high stress, odd working hours with high salaries.” However he believes that the KPOs on the other hand offers a non voice, high pay and a good long term career to youngsters.

But the industry as a whole is waking up to the idea of the need to educate the media and the people about the value addition that a BPO employee is doing to the client and attracting the right talent. BPO is probably the only industry that can offer you 50 different roles during a 10 year career - it pays well - gives you rapid growth and learning - and yet it is not marketed as a dream job.

However, BPOs are not all about fun and cool cafeterias and funky parties. Indian BPO's have the toughest performance management standards and this adds to the pressure. An 85 % utilization to a layman looks achievable, but what this means is that a person needs to be on a phone for 51 out of 60 minutes in a hour and to do that for 8 hours is humanly impossibleBut this is what is expected. So in such high stress jobs parties prove to be the quick fix stress busters. But what companies are waking up to now is not to confuse employee satisfaction with fun and parties.

“We invite parents and spouse of first time BPO employees to come and see where there family member is working and to sensitize them to the cause and high pressures of a BPO job,” says Ramakrishna. It also helps that Steria India works for clients in Europe only and hence has no graveyard shift“Following a dress policy and guidelines on behavior are some of the areas that we focus on,” he adds

Cambridge Solutions, that handles financial services and back office operations for clients, focuses on core values and work culture to give direction to the freshers“The formal business dress code, work discipline, a through induction program, rules of conduct, etiquette and walking the talk by seniors sets them on track as far as socially acceptable behaviors is concerned,” says Chand

But foremost is the need for positive media and brand building. There is a need for change in management attitude and better treatment of employees with an emphasis on managing their aspirations and expectations. Also, a balanced approach to tackling common problems to retain talent and yet be competitive and rationalizing salaries is imperative. If the industry takes no action now, it may not be long before things get tougher for the Indian BPO industry with increased competition for talent in industries like hospitality, retail and aviation.