Indian call center workers suffer from heart disease, family discord and depression: CNN

Indian call centers expanded in the late 90s and early 2000s and since then have served as a social laboratory of sorts… a few years ago a stream of articles covered Dell’s outsourcing of their tech support to India. Apparently the accents – despite the neutralization training – were not tolerable to customers in the US, who often adopted a fairly adverserial and rude attitude. And in their defence, they were having trouble with their computers which they needed fixed; they weren’t interested in, nor looking for, a cross cultural experience! Eventually, Dell shutdown the Indian call center after receiving a ton of borderline violent feedback.

But the call center saga continues. CNN reports that a myriad ills affect employees at Indian call centers. From weight gain, heart disease, depression to family discord! I wonder why it happens. Let’s see… you sit in a chair for 8-10 hours a day, speaking with people in a different country who you can never really relate to, supporting products or services that you may never have used or care much for! Often, the call center operators don’t even directly work for the companies whose brands they support. And often its more than a brand at a time. Very hard to see how anyone could stay motivated in an environment like this.

We’ve always thought the mass-market call center business is fairly brutal in its effects on employees. The industry has some of the highest turnover rates around. But, is suppor the kind of service companies SHOULD outsource to call-center “farms”? Should product support be handed over to dispassionate, low-paid employees? Maybe for trivial products and services it could work, but is the call center model the way its been adopted, viable in the long term? Have your say! Meanwhile, here’s some quotes from the CNN article:

Experts warn the brewing crisis could undermine the success of India’s hugely profitable outsourcing industry that earns billions in dollars annually and has shaped much of the country’s transformation into an emerging economic power.

Heart disease, strokes and diabetes cost India an estimated $9 billion in lost productivity in 2005. But the losses could grow to a staggering $200 billion over the next 10 years if corrective action is not taken quickly, said a study by New Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

The outsourcing industry would be hardest hit, it warned.