Stress Found in outsourcing work

Employees have benefited with higher salaries. The wages of Indian business process outsourcing workers are nearly double the average wages in other sectors of the Indian economy, according to the study titled “Offshoring and Working Conditions in Remote Work.” In the Philippines, BPO employees earn 53 per cent more than workers of the same age in other industries.

On the flip side, the ILO study confirms to a large extent concerns raised by social workers and trade unions in India about stressful working conditions at business process outsourcing companies.

Workers have to cope with heavy and variable workloads driven by performance targets, tight rules and procedures enforced through electronic monitoring, and unpleasant tasks such as dealing with difficult customers over the phone, the study said.

Efforts by trade unions to introduce collective bargaining in the business process outsourcing industry in some key outsourcing places such as India and the Philippines have not been successful.

“We have not had any success in introducing collective bargaining in call centers and other business process outsourcing companies in the Philippines,” said Anna Fos, who heads research at the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

A key reason is that BPO workers in the Philippines find it easy to move to another business process outsourcing job if they have a problem with their current employer, Fos said. “They will not come to us, if there is a problem, as there are lots of jobs available”, she added.

Workers in business process outsourcing companies also do not join trade unions because they are scared of reprisals from employers, Fos said.

Moves to unionize Indian business process outsourcing workers have also been frustrated by lack of interest from employees, according to analysts.

The business process outsourcing industry employs about 1 million people in India, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).

The work conditions faced by business process outsourcing workers constitute a “tailor-made recipe” for stress-related hazards, according to the ILO study. These problems are also clearly linked to the high rates of staff turnover in the industry -- which can be as high as 100 per cent annually in some companies -- and represents a serious problem for business process outsourcing companies for outsourcing work, it added.

The study suggests a number of measures that governments and companies can take to improve working conditions, including measures to protect workers' health and safety at night. It also suggests a redesign of work processes, particularly in call centers, in order to allow business process outsourcing employees more discretion to “make use of their often considerable qualifications.” ILO also recommends policies and practices aimed at improving workers' dialog with management.

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