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Call-centre staff cop abuse from abroad

Staff CNETAsia

Published: 22 Dec 2003 10:35 GMT

Beyond protests and sending "hatemails", disgruntled workers are now taking to the phone to express their anger over the flow of jobs to lower-cost destinations like India.

Avinash Vashishta, managing partner of NeoIT, a US-based consultancy firm that specialises in offshoring, told Hindustan Times that they have already been receiving abusive email messages on outsourcing via their Web sites, but the backlash has now gone on to telephone calls.

As a result, call-centre workers in India are now reporting abusive clients who blame them for lost opportunities, and those who insist on speaking only to US-based workers.

One Hyderabad call-centre manager said the abusive telephone calls were becoming racist and sexist. However, none of the operators or senior executives would go on record for fear of losing clients due to the bad publicity.

Another call-centre executive in Gurgaon testified to such phone abuse. However, he claims this had no real impact on the business, according to the report.

When faced with abusive callers, customer-service supervisors said they can do little beyond asking their staff to remain calm and polite.

Increasing media coverage has helped to raise consumer awareness of the outsourcing issue. As a result, workers in US and Europe are increasingly voicing their displeasure and fear of losing their jobs to cheaper labour in countries like China and India. Industry reports however, have been conflicting in their assessment of the exact impact of offshoring.